 | The University of Virginia record March 15, 1932 |  |
THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN THE
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Officers of Administration
JOHN LLOYD NEWCOMB, B.A., C.E.
Acting President of the University
WILSON GEE, M.A., Ph.D.
Director of the Institute
| JOHN LLOYD NEWCOMB, B.A., C.E. | Acting President of the University |
| ARMISTEAD MASON DOBIE, M.A., LL.B., S.J.D. | Professor of Law |
| WILSON GEE, M.A., Ph.D. | Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology |
| TIPTON RAY SNAVELY, M.A., Ph.D. | Professor of Economics |
| FLOYD NELSON HOUSE, M.A., Ph.D. | Professor of Sociology |
| FRANK ARTHUR GELDARD, M.A., Ph.D. | Associate Professor of Psychology |
| GEORGE WASHINGTON SPICER, M.A., Ph.D. | Associate Professor of Political Science |
| THOMAS PERKINS ABERNETHY, Ph.D. | Associate Professor of History |
| ALVIN BLOCKSOM BISCOE, M.A. | Research Associate in Economics |
| LESTER JESSE CAPPON, M.A., Ph.D. | Research Associate in History |
| ROLAND CLARK DAVIS, B.A., Ph.D. | Research Associate in Psychology |
| ROWLAND ANDREWS EGGER, M.A., Ph.D. | Head, Bureau of Public Administration |
| JOHN EDWIN HAMM, B.S. | Research Assistant in Labor Problems |
| DELBERT MARTIN MANN, M.A. | Research Associate in Sociology |
| EDWARD ALLISON TERRY, M.S. | Research Associate in Rural Social Economics |
Establishment.—The announcement was made by President Alderman
to the Rector and the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia during
the commencement exercises in June, 1926, that the Laura Spelman Rockefeller
Memorial had made a grant of $137,500 to the University for research in the
field of the social sciences; economics, government, sociology, history, psychology,
jurisprudence and related subjects. The grant extends over a five-year period,
$27,500 becoming available each of the years from July 1, 1926, through June
30, 1931. At the close of the first five-year period the grant was renewed by the
Rockefeller Foundation for another five years, contingent upon an increasing support
pledged by the University from its budget.
The work under the provisions of the grant has been organized as an
Institute for Research in the Social Sciences. The President of the University,
rank in the schools of History, Economics, Government, Jurisprudence,
Philosophy, Psychology, Rural Social Economics, and Sociology, and the employed
personnel constitute the membership of the Institute.
As outlined in the resolutions which were adopted by the Institute, "the
duty of this Institute shall be to promote research effort, both individual and
group, in the Social Sciences at the University of Virginia—at the outset
primarily in the field of Virginia problems. It shall further be the function
of the Institute to consider any matter that concerns the development of the
Social Sciences in the University of Virginia, making recommendations thereon
to the President of the University."
Social Science Building.—The Institute is housed in one of the original
Jefferson buildings of the University formerly known as the Old Medical Building.
The interior of the structure has been thoroughly repaired and put in
excellent condition for the activities of the Institute. Provision is made for
office space and equipment for the research workers, and also a general office
has been set up where supplies and secretarial assistance are provided.
Scope of Research Effort.—The grant to the University of Virginia is
being utilized at the outset primarily for research into a number of vital
economic and social problems in the life of the State. It has chosen this field
for two reasons. First, because Virginia is in a changing period in its history,
and needs full light on its problems to direct as wisely as possible the current
of transition. And secondly, the University of Virginia realizes that it is a
State University and desires to relate itself more and more intimately with
the people and the life of the State in general, feeling that such a relationship
will be mutually beneficial. However, the work of the Institute in its
full development will not be limited to the field of Virginia problems but large
provision will be made for scholarly research in the broader phases of social
science research without respect to geographical boundaries.
The research in the Institute is carried on as the professor's own research
project assisted by well-trained research workers. The plan is to limit the number
of problems to be studied, and to do these thoroughly, and in a way that
will make the investigations of an immediate or ultimate usefulness in the life
of the State, as well as constituting contributions to the broader field of social
science research. A definite portion of the grant is being allotted for the publication
of the studies when completed.
A List of Research Projects Undertaken by the Institute for Research
in the Social Sciences at the University of Virginia: 1926-1931.
PUBLISHED STUDIES
1. A Statistical Study of Virginia
By Wilson Gee, Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology, and
J. J. Corson, III, Research Assistant in Rural Social Economics.
Institute Monograph No. 1, 201 pages, 184 tables, and 18 charts. 1927.
2. Counties in Transition: A Study of County Public and Private Welfare
Administration in Virginia
By Frank W. Hoffer, Associate Professor of Sociology.
Institute Monograph No. 2, 256 pages, 60 tables, 13 charts and figures,
and 3 maps. 1929.
3. Public and Private Welfare, Roanoke, Virginia[1]
By Frank W. Hoffer, Associate Professor of Sociology.
141 pages, 49 tables, 14 maps, 11 charts, and 29 illustrations. 1928.
4. Rural Depopulation in Certain Tidewater and Piedmont Areas of
Virginia
By Wilson Gee, Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology, and
J. J. Corson, III, Research Assistant in Rural Social Economics.
Institute Monograph No. 3, 104 pages, 59 tables, map and 2 charts. 1929.
5. Research in the Social Sciences: Its Fundamental Methods and Objectives[2]
Edited by Wilson Gee, Director of the Institute.
305 pages. 1929.
6. Life Insurance in Virginia
By C. N. Hulvey, Associate Professor of Commercial Law and William
H. Wandel, Research Assistant in Insurance.
Institute Monograph No. 4, 167 pages, 58 tables and 7 charts. 1929.
7. Bibliography of Virginia History Since 1865
By Lester J. Cappon, Research Associate in History, with a foreword by
Dumas Malone, Sometime Professor of History.
Institute Monograph No. 5, 900 pages. 1930.
8. Rural and Urban Living Standards in Virginia
By Wilson Gee, Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology and
William H. Stauffer, Research Associate in Rural Social Economics.
Institute Monograph No. 6, 133 pages, 58 tables and 2 charts. 1929.
9. Fort Lewis: A Community in Transition
By Floyd N. House, Professor of Sociology, F. W. Hoffer, Associate Professor
of Sociology, and others.
Institute Monograph No. 7, 56 pages, 14 tables, 1 map, illustrated. 1930.
10. Problems in Contemporary County Government
By Wylie Kilpatrick, Associate Research Professor of Government.
Institute Monograph No. 8, 657 pages, 100 tables. 1930.
11. Labor in the Industrial South
By Abraham Berglund, Professor of Commerce, G. T. Starnes, Associate
Professor of Commerce and Business Administration, and Frank T.
de Vyver, Research Assistant in Labor Problems.
Institute Monograph No. 9, 167 pages, 43 tables, charts, illustrated. 1930.
12. Criminal Justice in Virginia
By Armistead W. Dobie, Professor of Law, F. D. G. Ribble, Professor of
Law, and Hugh N. Fuller, Associate Research Professor of Criminal
Procedure.
Institute Monograph No. 10, 195 pages, 70 tables, 45 charts. 1931.
13. Workmen's Compensation and Automobile Liability Insurance
By C. N. Hulvey, Associate Professor of Commercial Law and William
H. Wandel, Research Assistant in Insurance.
Institute Monograph No. 11, 203 pages, 38 tables. 1931.
14. Regionalism in France
By R. K. Gooch, Professor of Political Science.
Institute Monograph No. 12, 129 pages. 1931.
15. Taxation in Virginia
By William H. Stauffer, Economist in the Department of Taxation, Commonwealth
of Virginia, Sometime Research Associate in Economics.
Institute Monograph No. 13, 309 pages, 145 tables, 3 charts. 1931.
STUDIES IN PROGRESS
1. Currency, Credit and Crises in Virginia Since 1860
By E. A. Kincaid, Professor of Finance.
A study of the financial reconstruction in the state designed to reveal the
evolution of the state banking system, the effect of the various monetary policies
of the federal government, including the resumption of specie payments, the
issuance of silver certificates, and the return to the gold standard; an analysis of
the several industrial crises; and the effect of all of these on the economic recovery
of the state from the devastation of the Civil War.
2. Ability in Social and Racial Classes
By Roland C. Davis, Research Associate in Psychology.
Social groups, such as Negroes, rural and urban whites, population of the
mountain regions, immigrant groups, etc., are seen to differ in general behavior
and way of life. Current intelligence tests have usually shown differences in
average scores obtained by such groups. The present study is an attempt to
analyze such differences in certain fundamental traits, presumably unaffected by
accidents of environment. The speed with which impulses are conducted along
nerves, the rapidity of voluntary movement, the rise and subsidence of activity
in the sympathetic nervous system, the modifiability of nervous pathways, and
possibly other traits, are being, or will be studied. While these are far from
settlement of differences between social groups.
3. The Jails of Virginia
By Floyd N. House, Professor of Sociology, Frank W. Hoffer, Associate
Professor of Sociology, and Delbert M. Mann, Research Associate in
Sociology.
The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive and accurate picture
of the equipment, population and administration of the county and city jails of
Virginia, and of the procedure of the lower courts which have much to do with
the selection of the jail population. It is a part of a larger departmental research
program having as its purpose the securing of a factual foundation for a welfare
program and legislation. Under present conditions the study is of necessity primarily
descriptive, laying a foundation for other more detailed studies.
4. The Cotton Cooperative in the South
By Wilson Gee, Professor of Rural Economics and Rural Sociology and
Edward A. Terry, Research Associate in Rural Social Economics.
No part of the United States has been more severely affected by the postwar
agricultural depression than have the Southern States. Some experiments
are being made in the adjustment of national policies to provide farm relief; but
the success of them is considered quite dubious. In any plan of agricultural rehabilitation,
the farmer's own efforts must play a large part. The volume of
farm production must be greatly increased in efficiency. The most practical approach
to these matters is through cooperative associations. The best form of
cooperative marketing is that organized upon the commodity basis. Hence the
problem of what has been achieved along these lines and the hope for future
progress are matters of first importance in the economy of the South.
5. State Subsidies in Virginia
By Tipton R. Snavely, Professor of Economics, D. Clark Hyde, Associate
Professor of Economics and Alvin B. Biscoe, Research Associate in
Economics.
The purpose of this project is to study the apportionment of State funds
to the local subdivisions of Virginia. It involves an investigation of the policies
which are not followed and which might be followed in making grants-in-aid
from the State government to the counties and cities. The major purposes for
which such grants are made are public education, public highways and public
health. The study will naturally include also an inquiry into the taxable capacity
and the present tax burdens of the local subdivisions.
6. Labor and Labor Conditions in Virginia
By George T. Starnes, Associate Professor of Commerce and Business
Administration and John E. Hamm, Research Assistant in Commerce.
The purpose of such a study is to make a careful investigation of labor conditions
in the more important industrial centers of the state. Such problems as
labor supply, wages, living conditions, living costs, labor legislation, and the development
of labor unions in the state would be dealt with.
7. Land Jobbing and the Revolution
By Thomas P. Abernethy, Associate Professor of History.
The value and extent of the public lands rendered this one of the most important
questions dealt with by the legislatures of the Revolutionary and Early
Republican periods. The statutes passed in this connection throw unimpeachable
light upon the struggle between democracy and privilege which went on in the new
states. Speculations, sponsored by individuals or chartered land companies, often
give an insight into important political situations and the motives of public officials.
It is with the hope of discovering some of the secret springs of Virginian
politics during this important period that the study of the land question is undertaken.
8. Life of Mazzini
By Stringfellow Barr, Professor of History.
A biographical study of the nineteenth century nationalist, of whom no satisfactory
biography has been written in any language to date.
9. Experimental Study of Human Instincts
By Wayne Dennis, Assistant Professor of Psychology.
In spite of an enormous literature concerning human instincts, practically the
only experimental investigations of instinctive human responses are those of Watson.
These studies were limited to infants so young that many instinctive responses
may have been as yet undeveloped. The present project will utilize older subjects.
The difficulty of making certain that the response to be observed, such as responses
to strangers, to animals, to the sea, etc., have not been influenced by training will
be met by a careful selection of subjects from among hospitalized children,
institutionalized children, and children from isolated communities. When techniques
are developed and a general knowledge of instinctive responses acquired, the
problem can be widened to include a comparison of racial and social groups.
10. Scientific Interests in the Old South
By T. Cary Johnson, Jr., Associate Professor of History.
In working up this project an attempt will be made to answer, among others,
such questions as the following: What was the effect of the agricultural philosophies
of Jefferson's day, with their all-embracing interests, in stimulating a
genuine enthusiasm for science? Did the achievements in some special field by
Southerners, as for instance in geology by LeConte, or in hydrography by Maury,
or in ornithology by Audubon, or in anesthetics by Long, develop from this earlier
scientific curiosity by any discernible process of differentiation? How widespread
was this curiosity in regard to natural phenomena? What effect did it have on
schools and colleges? And what effect on ante-bellum religious beliefs? What
were its contributions to material well-being in the form of useful inventions?
What part did Southerners play in preparing for the Industrial Era and in bringing
about the Machine Age? These are some of the questions to be answered in
a volume of moderate size.
11. The Executive Power in Virginia
By G. W. Spicer, Associate Professor of Political Science.
In this study the development of the office of governor in Virginia will be
traced through its various stages, and a critical estimate given of the desirability
of the changes which it has undergone. Finally, special emphasis will be given
to the present status of this office in its relation to the legislative function, the
judicial function, the administrative function, political leadership, etc. In short,
the object of this study will be to tell, in a critical manner, the story of the
government of Virginia as it revolves about the office of the governor.
12. Guide to Manuscript Sources and Collections in Virginia
By Lester J. Cappon, Archivist and Research Associate in History.
The need of a guide to manuscripts in Virginia, to bring to light for the
research student materials hitherto unknown in libraries, government offices, and
in private hands, led to the inception of this project to make a state-wide inventory
of all original records available or which can be made accessible. This survey
includes detailed lists of records in the state, county, and city archives, in college
and university libraries, and in historical societies; also the original record books
and papers of business houses, churches and lodges, schools, banks, public utilities,
and other organizations. The survey also includes a list of Virginia newspaper
files throughout the state. A card index by county is kept so that the information
can be re-organized later for publication. In addition to the survey, the archivist
is collecting manuscripts for the Library of the University where they are
cataloged and filed for research work.
| The University of Virginia record March 15, 1932 | |