Access
Use
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Common Subjects in Harper's Subject File
Biographical Note
Scope and Content of Collection
Related Materials
Title: F. A. Harper papers
Date (bulk): 1930-1973
Collection Number: 85025
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
98 manuscript boxes, 6 card file boxes, 1 oversize box
(40.6 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, speeches and writings, memoranda, reports, clippings, and other printed matter relating to laissez-faire economic
and political theory, and to economic conditions and governmental economic policy in the United States.
Creator:
Harper, F. A. (Floyd Arthur), 1905-1973
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1985.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], F. A. Harper papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Common Subjects in Harper's Subject File
To access the content, look up the subject term in the card file (Boxes 54-56, 102), note the numbers on the cards, and consult
the files for those numbers (Boxes 13-49).
Academic freedom
Agriculture
Agricultural relief
Anarchy
Anti-trust
Authority
Bastiat, Frédéric
Bibliography
Britain
Business cycle (and fluctuations)
Capital
Capital formation
Capitalism
Censorship
Charity
Christianity
Churches
Civil rights
Clark, Colin
Closed shop
Colleges and universities
Communism
Competition
Conscription
Cooperation
Corporations
Creative thinking
Credit
Crime
Cycles
Debt
Democracy
Discovery
Discrimination
Economics
Education
Federal aid for education
Energy
Families
Federal Reserve
Foreign aid
FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
France
Freedom
Friedman, Milton
Germany
Gold
Government
Government costs
Government debt
Government, proper role of
Harper, F. A. publications (includes biographical material)
Hayek, F. A.
Health insurance, public
History
Human rights
Incentives
Income
Income distribution
Income tax
Individualism
Inflation
Insurance
Interest rates
Keynes, John Maynard
King, Willford I.
Labor unions
Language
Law
Liberalism
Liberty
Management
Marx, Karl (and Marxism)
Military training
Mises, Ludwig von
Money
Monopoly
Mont Pèlerin Society
Morals
National income
Natural lawNegroes and Negro problems (see also Don Warden file in box 51)
Organizations
Parks, Mercer H.
Peace
Philosophy
Politics
Population
Power
Price control
Prices
Principle
Productivity
Profits
Property rights
Read, Leonard E.
Rebellion
Religion
Research
Revolution
Rothbard, Murray
Russia
Savings
Science
Single tax
Slavery
Social science
Social security
Socialism
Sorokin, Pitirim A.
Subsidies
Sweden
Tariffs
Taxes and taxation
Unemployment
United Nations
Variation
Volker Fund
Wage rates
War
Wealth
Welfare
World government
Biographical Note
1905 February 7 |
Born, Middleville, Michigan |
1926 |
Graduated from Michigan State University |
1930 |
Married Marguerite Kaechele |
1930-1931 |
Research field agent, Federal Farm Board |
1932 |
Received Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Cornell University |
1932-1946 |
Taught at Cornell University as an instructor and professor of marketing |
1934 |
Business analyst, Farm Credit Association |
1937 |
Appointed acting head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Puerto Rico |
1943 |
Author,
Inflation Is on Our Doorstep (co-authored with W.M. Curtiss)
|
1945 |
Author,
The World's Hunger (co-authored with F.A. Pearson)
|
1946-1958 |
Assisted Leonard Read with founding Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and served on its staff |
1947 |
Attended first meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society |
1948 |
Author,
High Prices
|
1949 |
Author,
Liberty, A Path to Its Recovery
|
1955 |
Traveled to Sweden to study socialism |
1957 |
Author,
Why Wages Rise
|
1958-1961 |
Senior research economist, William Volker Fund |
1961 |
Founded the Institute for Humane Studies |
1962-1963 |
Visiting professor of moral philosophy, Wabash College |
1962-1966 |
Various positions, Institute for Humane Studies |
1966-1973 |
President, Institute for Humane Studies |
1969 |
Author,
The Crisis of the Free Market
|
1973 April 21 |
Died |
1978-1979 |
Institute for Humane Studies publishes
The Writings of F.A. Harper
|
Sources:
Harper, Marguerite K. "Reminiscence."
The Writings of F. A. Harper, Volume 1. Menlo Park: Institute for Humane Studies, Inc., 1978. Accessed through Ludwig von Mises Institute: http://mises.org/
Koch, Charles G. "Tribute."
The Writings of F. A. Harper, Volume 1. Menlo Park: Institute for Humane Studies, Inc., 1978. Accessed through Ludwig von Mises Institute: http://mises.org/
On Freedom and Free Enterprise. Ed. Mary Sennholz. New Jersy: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1956. Accessed through Ludwig von Mises Institute: http://mises.org/
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers document the career of Floyd Arthur Harper, nicknamed "Baldy," an American educator and economist who founded the
Institute for Humane Studies and was a charter member of the Mont Pèlerin Society. In addition to being a fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, Harper was a life fellow of the International Institute of Arts & Letters in Switzerland.
In a memorial to Harper, Murray Rothbard wrote, "Ever since he came to the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946 as its
chief economist and theoretician, Baldy Harper, in a very real sense, has been the libertarian movement. For all these years,
this gentle and lovable man, this wise and Socratic teacher, has been the heart and soul and nerve center of the libertarian
cause." The collection contains correspondence, speeches and writings, reports, clippings, sound recordings, and printed matter
relating to laissez-faire economic and political theory, economic conditions, and governmental economic policy in the United
States.
Harper grew up on a farm in Michigan, an experience that influenced his interest in agricultural economics. In 1932, he received
his Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Cornell University and began his teaching career at that institution, eventually
becoming a professor of marketing in the Department of Agriculture. Course materials, lectures, research and other materials
from Harper's time at Cornell can be found in Boxes 91 through 94 and Box 104. From 1962 to 1963, Harper was a visiting professor
of moral philosophy at Wabash College. Some of his Wabash College seminar material can be found in Box 10 and Box 52.
In addition to being an educator, Harper was a prolific author. Many of his works discuss liberty, especially in relation
to free market economics. Harper's speeches and writings, which can be found in Boxes 1 to 11, Boxes 79 to 90, and elsewhere
as listed, contain drafts, lectures, correspondence, notes, outlines, conference materials, clippings, and printed matter.
Some of the files contain materials labeled as unpublished. Speeches from meetings of the Mont Pèlerin Society can be found
in these files. For Harper's Free Enterprise Institute lectures, see Box 95. For a bibliography of Harper's works, see Box
4 and Box 49. In 1955, Harper traveled to Sweden to study socialism and its effects on the Swedish people. With Frank B. Keith,
Harper compiled a Swedish-English glossary of social science terms. This glossary, materials concerning his study, and the
subject file on Sweden can be found in Boxes 53, 79, and 99 through 102.
In 1961, Harper founded the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS), an organization dedicated to research in the humane scholarly
disciplines, with a council of advisors that included Friedrich A. von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Murray N. Rothbard and
a board of directors that included Charles G. Koch. Much of the correspondence found in the collection is from the time period
when Harper worked for the William Volker Fund and the Institute of Humane Studies. The majority of the correspondence, left
in the order it was received, is arranged in two alphabetical lists by name of correspondent, organization, or project. Many
of the letters received after 1973 are address updates for the IHS mailing list (Boxes 60-78).
Harper created the Harper System for Libraries and Files, which he used to organize his own subject files. In his subject
files, individual clippings and other subject materials are numbered based on date of acquisition, with items acquired most
recently taking the next available number. Although most of Harper's files follow this rule, it appears the files do contain
interfiles, so that some later materials can be found with earlier materials of the same subject. In these cases and other
situations where multiple documents have been grouped together by subject, several documents have the same number attached
to them. A card file accompanies these items, listing subjects, authors, and other access points, then the name of the document
and number assigned by Harper. The card file for Harper's subject files can be found in Boxes 54 through 56. For more information
about this system, see "Harper System for Libraries and Files" (Box 13 and Box 81).
Harper's subject files contain clippings, printed matter, excerpts, correspondence, notes, quotations, and writings by Harper
and others. Subject materials for the White House Conference on Aging can be found at number 3146. Papers delivered at the
9th meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society are filed under 3425 to 3428, while a lecture by Karl Popper can be found under number
3753. Most of the earlier materials in the subject files, such as materials from the 1800s, are photocopies or transcriptions,
not original documents. There are a few instances of photocopies of works published in the 1700s. For common subjects found
in the subject file, see the list below.
The majority of the collection remains in the order it was received, except for moving sound recordings in Box 105 and sorting
of various folders for use.
Related Materials
Friedrich A. von Hayek papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Institute for Humane Studies miscellaneous records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Mont Pèlerin Society records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Foundation for Economic Education miscellaneous correspondence, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
James W. Clise papers, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Free enterprise
Economics
Liberty
Economists
United States -- Economic conditions
Institute for Humane Studies