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Finding Aid for the Horace N. Gilbert Papers 1923-1987
10011-MS
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Title: Horace N. Gilbert Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1923-1987
Collection number: 10011-MS
Creator: Gilbert, Horace N. (Horace Nathaniel) 1901-1990
Extent:
7.5 linear feet
Repository:
California Institute of Technology. Caltech Archives
Pasadena, California 91125
Abstract: The correspondence, manuscripts, published papers, course lecture notes and special wartime (World War II) and postwar working
documents of Horace N. Gilbert (1901-1990) form the collection known as the Horace N. Gilbert Papers in the Archives of the
California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Gilbert was professor of business economics at Caltech from 1924 until his retirement
in 1969. During World War II he worked for the US Air Force in materiel production. In the postwar period he aided the rebuilding
of European industry by serving as economic advisor to the American High Commission for Germany.
Language of Material:
Languages represented in the collection:
English Russian German
The collection is open for research. Researchers must apply in writing for access.
Copyright may not have been assigned to the California Institute of Technology Archives. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Caltech Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the California Institute of Technology Archives as the owner of the physical items and, unless explicitly stated otherwise,
is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Horace N. Gilbert Papers, 10011-MS, Caltech Archives, California Institute of Technology.
The bulk of the Horace N. Gilbert papers were originally donated by Professor Gilbert himself in 1977 and supplemented by
him in 1986, 1988 and 1989. A box containing biographical material, a few publications, correspondence, and files on the Carnegie
Program in Science and Government was found in the Millikan Library at Caltech and was transferred to the Archives in June
2001.
Processed by Carol Finerman and Charlotte E. Erwin, 1980. Revised November 2003.
Original processing was done in 1980 by Carol Finerman. After receipt of the 2001 supplement to the Gilbert papers, it was
decided to begin a reorganization of the collection and to bring the bulk of the supplementary material into one section,
in spite of its mixed character and occasional overlap with series in the original donation. An exception is Series 5, Pamphlets
and Articles, the contents of which were fully rearranged and to which two new files (14.9-10) were added. A few pieces of
correspondence were interfiled into Series 1. Otherwise, the supplementary material stands alone. The revision of the collection
and finding aid was completed by Charlotte E. Erwin in 2003.
When Horace Nathaniel Gilbert, Professor of Business Economics, was first brought to the California Institute of Technology
in 1924 by Robert A. Millikan, his mission, as outlined by Millikan, was "...to give a course which would help the graduates
of Caltech who were going into industry to know something about it." (Horace N. Gilbert, Oral History with Mary Terrall, Archives,
California Institute of Technology, February 1978, p. 9.) That course, Economics 100, taught by Gilbert for many years, was
one of the most popular offered by the institute. Open to graduate students, the course aimed at bridging the gap between
engineering and business, and it relied heavily on the case method of instruction.
Born in Yakima, Washington, on June 15, 1901, Gilbert received the AB degree in 1923 from the University of Washington and
the MBA with distinction from Harvard in 1926. He taught industrial business policy and industrial business economics at Harvard's
Graduate School of Business before coming to Caltech in 1929. He remained at Caltech until his retirement in 1969. He returned
to Harvard as a visiting lecturer in 1940-1942, where he taught industrial management and mobilization, using aircraft companies
as case examples. From 1942 to 1945 he was the principal production supervisor for the Air Materiel Command of the US Air
Force. In 1945 Gilbert became bombing analyst for the US Strategic Bombing Survey, then industrial economic advisor for the
American High Commission for Germany under John McCloy (1949-1951). He later traveled extensively to developing nations and
socialist countries, studying their economies and methods of industrialization.
Gilbert died on December 16, 1990. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American
Economic Association, and the National Association for Student Affairs. He received an honorary DBA from the South Dakota
School of Mines and Technology in 1971.
Series 1-4 form the original portion of the Gilbert papers. The correspondence series (Series 1) documents Gilbert's association
with people at Caltech, especially the institute's presidents Robert A. Millikan and Lee A. DuBridge, and Dean Earnest C.
Watson. There is professional correspondence with colleagues off campus, persons in government, and prominent individuals
such as Herbert Hoover, Jr., and William O. Douglas. Correspondence with organizations is also included. The manuscripts section
(Series 2) contains files on Gilbert's book,
An Introduction to Business (1929), texts of talks, articles, and course notes, especially for Gilbert's celebrated Economics 100. Series 3 and 4 contain
material on Gilbert's role as advisor to the military during World War II on procurement and mobilization, especially for
the Air Materiel Command of the US Air Force. This type of advising work continued in the immediate postwar years, along with
involvement in the rebuilding of European industry, especially in Germany.
Series 5 contains a small amount of printed material representing publications by Gilbert, mainly from the 1940s. It was reorganized
during the revision of the papers after 2001.
The last series, Series 6, represents supplementary material from 1986 through 2001, and it has a mixed character. It contains
significant correspondence with Gilbert's Harvard Business School colleagues in the period 1936 to 1940, well past his departure
from Harvard for Caltech. Caltech material relates to committees and to programs of the Humanities Division (now Humanities
and Social Sciences), principally the business economics course, in which Gilbert played such a major role; and to the Carnegie-sponsored
program on defense and arms control. The latter group of materials may be compared with the papers titled Carnegie Program:
Science and Government, donated by Professor David Elliot. There is some overlap between the two collections, but the Gilbert
papers contain reports and transcripts not included in the Elliot donation. Notable among the papers on professional and civic
activities are those relating to the American Universities Field Staff (AUFS) to which Gilbert contributed through the 1970s
and 1980s. Also, files on trips to observe Russian (later Soviet) industry in 1931 and 1958, notably absent from the original
donation, are present in the supplement.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Correspondence and Documents
- Series 2. Manuscripts
- Series 3. Wartime Papers
- Series 4. Postwar, Special Advisor to Air Materiel Command
- Series 5. Pamphlets and Articles by H. N. Gilbert and Others
- Series 6. Supplementary Papers
An important related collection is the Records of the Carnegie Program: Science and Government. Pertinent interviews conducted
under the Caltech Oral Histories Project are
Horace Gilbert with Mary Terrall (1978) ; and David Elliot with Carol Bugé (1986).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
California Institute of Technology
Economics
Industrial management
Postwar reconstruction
World War II (1939-1945)
Economists