The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the University of Chicago Department of Sociology Records 1924-2001
© 2018 University of Chicago Library
Title: | University of Chicago. Department of Sociology. Records |
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Dates: | 1924-2001 |
Size: | 6.5 linear feet (7 boxes, 1 folder) |
Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
Abstract: | The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago was founded in 1892 and was the first academic department of sociology in the United States. This collection contains materials related to the administration of the Department such as meeting minutes, student rosters, examinations, materials relating to the passing of Louis Wirth, and materials relating to the non-reappointment of sociology professor, Marlene Dixon. It also contains programs, brochures, and photographs related to the Centennial Conference, 1892-1992 as well as a map depicting East and West Garfield Park (1924). |
The collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: University of Chicago. Department of Sociology. Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
The Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago was founded in 1892 and was the first academic department of sociology in the United States. Albion Small was appointed Head Professor, and he played a key role in developing sociology as an academic discipline, also helping to establish the American Journal of Sociology (1895) and the American Sociological Association (1905). Other prominent members of the Sociology Department in the early twentieth century included W.I. Thomas, Robert Park, and Ernest Burgess. Park and Burgess co-wrote the influential textbook, Introduction to the Science of Sociology (1921). During the 1920s and 1930s, Park and Burgess along with other members of the faculty, focused on eclecticism as well as process and change as opposed to fixed social structures. They also revolutionized studies of urban spaces and their social institutions. This era became known as the first Chicago School. After World War II, a new generation of sociologists such as Everett Hughes, Lloyd Warner, and Herbert Blumer emphasized methods of urban ethnography and interpretive sociology, and formed what came to be known as the second Chicago School.
Some documents in the collection relate to the death of Louis Wirth (1897-1952). Wirth was a professor in the Sociology Department from 1926 until his death, and published several books and articles, including The City (with Robert Park et al, 1925), The Ghetto (1928) and Urbanism as a Way of Life (1938). Wirth passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on May 3, 1952 at age fifty-four after delivering a speech at the University of Buffalo.
Other materials in the collection are related to the controversy surrounding the non-reappointment of Marlene Dixon, a sociology professor under consideration for contract renewal. On November 13, 1968, during a faculty procession for the inauguration of Edward Levi, the University’s eighth president, Dixon stood with approximately one-hundred students who chanted, “Work, study, get ahead, kill!” outside of the Conrad Hilton. Later, in early January, 1969, her colleagues in the sociology department declined to renew her appointment for a second term, arguing that the intellectual quality of her work did not meet the university’s standards. In response, Dixon maintained that she had been fired due to her radical feminist political views and also because she was a woman.
As a result of the decision to not reappoint Dixon, student activists launched a series of demonstrations on her behalf. They sent an open letter to the Maroon, demanding that Dixon be rehired and that students be given an equal say in decisions to hire and fire professors
On January 30, 1969, students staged a sit-in at the Administration building and remained there until February 11. They demanded various reforms including the reservation of half the places in each freshman class for working class students, a faculty consisting of 51 percent women, and the establishment of programs in Black studies, women’s studies, and working-class studies.
The students’ demands were not met, although the Administration appointed a faculty committee to review Dixon’s dismissal. The committee upheld the previous decision that Dixon lacked the appropriate credentials to receive tenure, although they offered Dixon a one-year extension of her contract, which she rejected. Meanwhile, the Administration expelled 48 of the student strikers.
Some materials in the collection relate to the Centennial Conference 1892-1992: Sociology and the Public Agenda: In the Second Century, May 1 to 3, 1992, at the University of Chicago. This event was an attempt to review the effect of the sociological profession on the public agenda.
The University of Chicago, Sociology Department collection is organized into four series: Series I: Administrative files; Series II: Course materials; Series III: Centennial Conference, 1892-1992; and Series IV: Maps. The collection contains materials related to the administration of the Sociology Department such as meeting minutes, student rosters, examinations, materials relating to the passing of Louis Wirth, and materials relating to the non-reappointment of sociology professor, Marlene Dixon. It also contains programs, brochures, and photographs related to the Centennial Conference, 1892-1992, as well as a map depicting East and West Garfield Park (1924). Materials date between 1924 and 2001.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
Series I: Administrative files |
This series contains material related to the administration of the Sociology Department including memos and correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, student rosters, and BA, MA, and PhD examinations. It also contains documents related to the passing of Louis Wirth as well as to the non-reappointment of Marlene Dixon in 1969.
Box 1 Folder 1 | Society for Social Research, 1930. Includes Program for the Ninth Annual Institute of the Society for Social Research, August 20-23, 1930 and The Growth of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project. |
Box 1 Folder 2 | List of graduate students in Sociology, 1933-1946, Part 1. |
Box 1 Folder 3 | List of graduate students in Sociology, 1947-1953, Part 2. |
Box 1 Folder 4 | Bachelor’s and Master’s Comprehensive Examinations, 1934-1941. |
Box 1 Folder 5 | Bachelor’s and Master’s Comprehensive Examinations, 1942-1944. |
Box 1 Folder 6 | Bachelor’s and Master’s Comprehensive Examinations, 1945-1953. |
Box 1 Folder 7 | Master’s Examinations, 1936-1938. |
Box 1 Folder 8 | Master’s Examinations, 1939-1941. |
Box 1 Folder 9 | Master’s Examinations, 1942-1945. |
Box 1 Folder 10 | Master’s Examinations, 1946-1952. |
Box 1 Folder 11 | Master’s Examinations, 1953-1957. |
Box 1 Folder 12 | PhD Examinations, 1936-1939. |
Box 2 Folder 1 | PhD Examinations, 1940-1942. |
Box 2 Folder 2 | PhD Examinations, 1943-1945. |
Box 2 Folder 3 | PhD Examinations, 1946-1948. |
Box 2 Folder 4 | PhD Examinations, 1949-1953. |
Box 2 Folder 5 | PhD Examinations, 1955-1956. |
Box 2A | Faculty Meeting Minutes, 1926-1938. |
Box 2A | Faculty Meeting Minutes, 1939-1949. |
Box 2B | Faculty Seminar Minutes (2 volumes) 1951-1952 |
Box 3 Folder 1 | Memos and Correspondence, Reports, and Newsletters.
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Box 3 Folder 2 | Materials Related to the Death of Louis Wirth, 1951-1953.
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Box 3 Folder 3 | Miscellaneous Memos, Reports, and Course Listings, 1966-1975.
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Box 3 Folder 4 | Announcements, Publications, Memos, and Reports, 1967-1973.
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Box 3 Folder 5 | Correspondence, Memos, and Reports related to Non-Reappointment of Marlene Dixon, 1969, Part 1.
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Box 3 Folder 6 | Correspondence, Newspapers, and Reports related to Non-Reappointment of Marlene Dixon, 1969, Part 2.
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Box 3 Folder 7 | Correspondence and Memos, Newspapers, Reports, and Statements related to Non-Reappointment of Marlene Dixon, 1969, Part 3.
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Box 3 Folder 8 | Student-Faculty Relations, 1969-1970, Part 1.
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Box 4 Folder 1 | Student-Faculty Relations, 1969, Part 2.
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Box 4 Folder 2 | Student-Faculty Relations, 1969, Part 3.
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Series II: Course materials |
Box 4 Folder 3 | Course Syllabi, 200 Level, 1976-1997. |
Box 4 Folder 4 | Course Syllabi, 200 Level, 1983-1996. |
Box 4 Folder 5 | Course Syllabi, 200 Level, 1985-1996. |
Box 4 Folder 6 | Course Syllabi, 200 Level, Related Courses, 1976-1996. |
Box 4 Folder 7 | Course Syllabi, 300 Level, 1984-2001. |
Box 4 Folder 8 | Course Syllabi, 300 Level, 1982-1997. |
Box 5 Folder 1 | Course Syllabi, 300 Level, 1978-1996. |
Box 5 Folder 2 | Course Syllabi, 300 Level, 1977-1997 |
Box 5 Folder 3 | Course Syllabi, 400-500 Level, 1977-1997 |
Box 5 Folder 4 | Course Syllabi, 400-500 Level, 1976-1997. |
Series III: Centennial Conference, 1892-1992. |
Box 5 Folder 5 | Centennial Conference, 1892-1992: Sociology and the Public Agenda: Into the Second Century, brochures and programs, 1992-1994. |
Box 5 Folder 6-9 | Centennial Conference, 1892-1992: Sociology and the Public Agenda: Into the Second Century, photos, 1992. |
Series IV: Maps |
Folder 1 | East and West Garfield Park Map, 1924. |