Melville Dalton (1907-1978) was a sociologist and UCLA professor of sociology who focused his career on studying staff relationships in industry. This collection contains manuscripts of Dalton’s professional writings and correspondence largely relating to publications, including the publication of Men Who Manage.

Melville Dalton was born in 1907 and spent his early years in Indiana, working as a hotel bellhop to support himself after being orphaned. Despite his inability to receive a high school or undergraduate education, Dalton took the Master’s qualifying exam for sociology for the University of Chicago in 1944 and passed. He was admitted to the program and received his master’s degree in 1946 and went on to receive his PhD in Sociology from the same university in 1949. Dalton spent several years teaching at Washington University and University of Kansas before accepting a faculty position in the department of sociology at UCLA in 1953. Dalton published his major work, Men Who Manage, in 1959 which still serves as a classic study of business management relations in the field of sociology. Following the book, Dalton continued to publish articles concerning staff relationships while also teaching at UCLA. Dalton retired from UCLA in 1971. Melville Dalton died on November 17, 1978 in Santa Monica, California.

0.8 linear ft. (2 document boxes)

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