The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the University of Chicago Society for Social Research Records 1923-1956
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | University of Chicago. Society for Social Research. Records |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1923-1956 |
| Size: | 3 linear ft. (6 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | The Society for Social Research was established in 1921 as an association of graduate students in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. The records of the Society consist of constitutions, minutes, correspondence, and abstracts of papers from the Society's regular meetings, as well as correspondence, programs, and abstracts from its annual Summer Institute. |
No restrictions
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: University of Chicago. Society for Social Research. Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
The Society for Social Research was established in 1921 as an association of graduate students in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Unlike the Sociology Club, an earlier group which had admitted students, instructors, and others acceptable to two-thirds of its members, the Society limited membership to graduate students and those who had "attained professional standards of research" (1:1). Robert E. Park, a leader in forming the organization, was elected the first president of the Society and played a significant role in defining its goals and programs. Other faculty members who served as officers or participated actively in the Society's affairs included Ernest W. Burgess, Fay-Cooper Cole, Ellsworth Faris, Everett C. Hughes, Gordon Laing, William F. Ogburn, Stuart Rice, Lloyd Warner, and Louis Wirth. While intended originally to encourage empirical research in sociology, the Society's interdisciplinary approach also attracted support from anthropologists, economists, historians, and political scientists at the University.
In 1923, the Society held its first Summer Institute, a forum for papers and round-table discussions by students, faculty, and alumni of the University and leading social scientists from other institutions. Themes for individual Summer Institutes ranged from "Regionalism and Crime" (1932), "Morale" (1941), and "Wartime Trends and Post-War Planning" (1943), to "Communications and the Urban Community" (1949). Reports on sessions of the Summer Institute and regular meeting programs of the Society appeared in its Bulletin, a publication which also provided abstracts of selected scholarly papers, lists of books available through the Society at reduced rates, and brief notices on the research interests and activities of Society members.
The Society for Social Research continued as the graduate student organization of the Department of Sociology and as publisher of a new series of the Bulletin initiated in 1975.
Series I: GENERAL ADMINISTRATION
Although incomplete, the administrative records of the Society for Social Research contain important information on the development of social science research at the University of Chicago. Minutes of the executive committee (1:2) record suggestions by Park and other faculty members on the Society's role and programs. The general minutes (1:3-4) provide brief summaries of lectures delivered at the Society's meetings, including Albion Small on distinctions between types of research (May 1924); Fay-Cooper Cole on the culture area (March 1928); Harold Lasswell on the objectification of psychoanalytic interviews (June 1933); Ernest W. Burgess on family research in Russia (December 1933); John Gaus on social science and social planning (June 1934); and Thomas French on a psychodynamic analysis of Karl Marx (February 1945). Membership applications to the Society (1:7-2:2) contain biographical data and notes on individual research projects, while the general correspondence (2:3-5) deals with the scheduling of guest speakers and the operation of the Society's book sales program. Guy Johnson, Max Rheinstein, Hans Speier, and Walter Sulzbach are among the scholars represented in a group of more complete abstracts (2:6) from 1936-1937.
Series II: SUMMER INSTITUTE CORRESPONDENCE AND PROGRAMS
All correspondence, memoranda, and programs for the Society's Summer Institutes have been arranged chronologically beginning with the Fifth Institute in 1927. In the case of four Institutes (1932-1934 and 1942), abstracts of papers by Edward Buehrig, Evelyn Crook, Philip Hauser, Homer Hoyt, E. H. Sutherland, Louis Wirth, Florian Znaniecki, and others are included.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/select.html
The Archival Serials Files contain incomplete sets of the original series of the Society's Bulletin from 1926 to 1957 and of the revised series of the Bulletin begun in 1975. A brief history of the Society by Dick Scott appears in Vol. 19, No. 1, (November 1, 1957).
Series I: General Administration |
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Constitutions of the Sociology Club (1916, amended 1923) and the Society for Social Research (undated) |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Executive Committee minutes, 1924-1929, 1938-1944 |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | General minutes, 1924-1933 |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | General minutes, 1934-1935, 1943-1945, 1952 |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Financial records, 1927-1945 |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Membership lists, 1925, 1945, and undated |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Membership applications and renewals, 1926-1942 |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | Membership applications and renewals, 1943 |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Membership applications and renewals, 1944-1945 |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Membership applications and renewals, 1946 |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | General correspondence, 1926-1932 |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | General correspondence, 1933-1939 |
| Box 2 Folder 5 | General correspondence, 1942-1945, 1951-1953 |
| Box 2 Folder 6 | Abstracts of papers delivered at regular meetings, 1936-1937 |
| Box 2 Folder 7 | C. R. Henderson Criminology Society, financial records and membership list, 1949-1950 |
Series II: Summer Institute, Correspondence and Programs |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | 1927 |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | 1928 |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | 1929 |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | 1930 |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | 1931 |
| Box 3 Folder 6 | 1932 (includes abstracts) |
| Box 3 Folder 7 | 1933 (includes abstracts) |
| Box 3 Folder 8 | 1934 |
| Box 3 Folder 9 | 1934 abstracts |
| Box 3 Folder 10 | 1935 |
| Box 3 Folder 11 | 1936 |
| Box 3 Folder 12 | 1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 13 | 1938 |
| Box 3 Folder 14 | 1939 |
| Box 4 Folder 1 | 1940 |
| Box 4 Folder 2 | 1941 |
| Box 4 Folder 3 | 1942 |
| Box 4 Folder 4 | 1942 |
| Box 4 Folder 5 | 1942 abstracts |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | 1943 |
| Box 5 Folder 2 | 1944 |
| Box 5 Folder 3 | 1945 |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | 1946; 1947 |
| Box 5 Folder 5 | 1948 |
| Box 5 Folder 6 | 1949 |
| Box 5 Folder 7 | 1950 |
| Box 5 Folder 8 | 1951 |
| Box 5 Folder 9 | 1952 |
| Box 5 Folder 10 | 1952 |
| Box 5 Folder 11 | 1956 |
Series III: Addenda |
| Box 6 Folder 1 | Zeta Phi Record Book |
| Box 6 Folder 2 | Zeta Phi correspondence, etc. |
| Box 6 Folder 3 | SSR correspondence and constitution |
| Box 6 Folder 4 | Newsletter |
| Box 6 Folder 5 | Annual Institute |
| Box 6 Folder 6 | Dept. of Sociology |
| Box 6 Folder 7 | Society for Social Research |
| Box 6 Folder 8 | SSR records |
| Box 6 Folder 9 | Society for Social Research, 1958-9 |
| Box 6 Folder 10 | Minutes of the Steering Committee, SSR |
| Box 6 Folder 11 | Institute for the Society of Social Research, 1960 |
| Box 6 Folder 12 | General correspondence |
| Box 6 Folder 13 | Executive Committee |
| Box 6 Folder 14 | Histories |
| Box 6 Folder 15 | Announcements |
| Box 6 Folder 16 | Talks |
| Box 6 Folder 17 | Financial |
| Box 6 Folder 18 | Sociology, University |
| Box 6 Folder 19 | Miscellaneous |