Pacific Sociological Association records, 1958-2016

Summary

Abstract:

The collection begins with records from 1929 when Emory Bogardus of the University of Southern California founded the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) and continues to the present. Contents of the collection include correspondence and emails, minutes of the business and executive council meetings, all newsletters, all annual meeting programs, all bound volumes of the association's journal, election materials, committee reports, copies of the annual presidential addresses, early accounting and financial records including federal tax forms, a list of all past presidents, officers, executive council members, editors, secretaries, treasurers and executive directors, a history of the association (75 Years of the Pacific Sociological Association 1929-1994) and two volumes of the journal The American Sociologist devoted to discussing the culture and issues of the PSA. Currently, Dean S. Dorn maintains the collection.

Extent:

13.75 Linear Feet (11 record cartons)

Language:

The collection is in English.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Pacific Sociological Association records, MSS 2006/13. Donald & Beverly Gerth Special Collections & University Archives, California State University, Sacramento

Background

Scope and content:

Collection files begin with PSA history, including a biography of Emory Bogardus. Historical updates appear in 2002, 2004 (publication of the book by Dean Dorn, "75 Years of PSA, 1929-2004") as well as a "projection" of what PSA will be like in 2029. Files on PSA Constitution and Bylaws (1935-2007) reflect organizational development. Membership grew from 40 in 1935 to almost 1300 by 2006. The composition of the membership shifted from a professorial group to include non-academic sociologists, graduate and undergraduate students. Geographic boundaries include Hawaii, Alaska and the western Canadian provinces, Pacific coastal states and several inland states.

A constitutional requirement of the association is that one annual Business meeting for the general membership and two Executive Council/Advisory Committee meetings be conducted. Minutes from business meeting are on file from 1940 to 2008 and for the executive group from 1953 to 2008.

PSA activities are driven by committees, both standing and ad hoc. Their reports and proposals are then presented at Executive and Business meetings for final policy determinations. Examples of active committees include: Audit, Awards for Scholarship and Teaching, Award for Social Conscience, Committee on Committees, Contract Monitoring, Endowment, Freedom of Research and Teaching (COFRAT), Membership, Nominations, Publications, Status of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender persons, Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities, and Status of Women. The records from the Committee on the Status of Women includes files on specific women sociologists who requested that the PSA investigate allegations of discrimination at universities e.g., Redlands, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis.

Annual Meeting files include a handbook, master calendar, and attendant duties of advertising, local hosting issues, site selection policies, and annual agendas for the period 1931-2008. Between 1959 and 1962, spring and fall "mailings" were sent to members announcing the dates, site and call for papers for the meeting. In January 1993 this procedure was replaced by the first issue of the Pacific Sociologist newsletter (see Publications Committee file). Augmenting the newsletter is the correspondence file between meeting planners and presenters on a given program. Traditionally, the PSA presidential address is given at the annual meeting. On file are copies of many addresses from 1930 to 2003 as well as an analysis of each speech. (See Dean S. Dorn's "75 Years of the Pacific Sociological Association, 1929-2004", pages 146-149 for President and title of speech.) Unfortunately, some speeches were never published, therefore, those copies are unavailable. The collection includes also audiotapes of some of the speeches.

The financial records in the collection reflect the income and expenses of the PSA from 1935 to 2007 as well as the balance sheets for their bank accounts.

Biographical / historical:

BACKGROUND

Emory Bogardus, Ph.D. of the University of Southern California founded what is now called the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) in 1929. In the fall of that year, Bogardus called together professors of sociology in southern California to form a regional sociological association. The name adopted at this meeting, Pacific Southwest Sociological Association, was changed in 1931 to the Pacific Sociological Society and the constitution was changed to provide for an enlarged membership that would extend from southern California to British Columbia. By vote of the membership in 1960, the name of the organization was changed to the Pacific Sociological Association. The purpose and object of the association is to promote both sociological research and the teaching of sociology in universities, colleges, community colleges, and high schools in the Pacific area. It accomplishes its mission by convening an annual meeting and publishing its journal. The Pacific Sociological Review was launched in 1958 with the intent to publish articles presented at the society's meetings as well as a few manuscripts submitted independently. In 1983, the journal was renamed Sociological Perspectives.

THE COLLECTION

The collection begins with records from 1929 when Emory Bogardus of the University of Southern California founded the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) and continues to the present. Contents of the collection include correspondence and emails, minutes of the business and executive council meetings, all newsletters, all annual meeting programs, all bound volumes of the association's journal, election materials, committee reports, copies of the annual presidential addresses, early accounting and financial records including federal tax forms, a list of all past presidents, officers, executive council members, editors, secretaries, treasurers and executive directors, a history of the association (75 Years of the Pacific Sociological Association 1929-1994) and two volumes of the journal The American Sociologist devoted to discussing the culture and issues of the PSA. Currently, Dean S. Dorn maintains the collection.

Acquisition information:

The Pacific Sociological Association records were acquired as a gift in 2007.

Processing information:

Processed by Reiko Nagumo, 2011. Updated by Lynn Drennan, July 2017. Updated Background information, June 2025.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Sociology.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Some restrictions may apply.

Terms of access:

Copyright is protected by the copyright law, Chapter 17 of the U.S. Code. Requests for permission to publish, quote, or reproduce from collections must be submitted in writing to the Head of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the department of Special Collections and University Archives, The Library, California State University, Sacramento as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Pacific Sociological Association records, MSS 2006/13. Donald & Beverly Gerth Special Collections & University Archives, California State University, Sacramento

Location of this collection:

California State University, Sacramento Library

University Library, MS 6039

6000 J Street

Sacramento, CA 95819, US

Contact:

916-278-6144

lib-scua@csus.edu

Website