Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- W.H. Cowley papers
- Dates:
- 1913-1978, bulk 1930-1970
- Creators:
- Cowley, W. H. (William Harold)
- Extent:
- 200.75 Linear Feet
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[item] W.H. Cowley papers (SC0196). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Collection includes extensive correspondence with leaders in the pioneer field of higher education, administrative papers from Cowley's various positions in college administrations, materials on the history, administration and taxonomy of higher education, outlines from lectures given at Stanford, and a series of research notebooks kept by Cowley on the subject of higher education. The collection also includes published and unpublished articles, papers, speeches, and reports.
The Cowley Papers span the years 1922 through 1978, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the years 1940 to 1970. The papers have been divided into three series, with subdivisions within the particular series.
Series I consists of the personal papers and writings of Professor Cowley. These include'correspondence, both personal and professional, from 1922-1978, drafts of papers and articles', published papers and articles, speech outlines, book manuscripts in various stages of completion, and newsclippings. The highlight of this series is Professor Cow1ey 1s correspondence with other leaders in the then-pioneer field of higher education. Also notable are the many drafts from three as yet unpublished books. Written about the history, government, and taxonomy, respectively, of higher education, these books are the product of years of exhaustive research efforts on Professor Cow1ey·s part to disp~ the myths and establish the facts surrounding American higher education. In them are embodied many (but by no means all) of the ideas which engaged Mr. Cowley·s interest throughout his career. Professor Cowley had organized these materials chronologically, and this order has been maintained. For this reason, no attempt has been made to separate or organize this series by type of material (e.g. making the correspondence a separate series from his articles or papers).
Series II consists of Cowley's research 'tools': his system of PN, F and PT files, and the workbooks which organized and analyzed these files. The PN, or 'professional notes', files fill six filing cabinets and are notes taken from books. or articles read by Professor Cowley. The F files are similar in content to PN files, but are larger, measuring SJa" X 11" rather than 8" X 5" as do the PN's. The workbooks are binders on different topics that interested Professor Cowley. Each page in a binder was a subdivision of the ge~eral workbook topic. Each entry on a page was a short excerpt from a source whose bibliographic reference was always included. From these research aids, Professor Cowley produced the more than 250 articles and papers in Series I.
Series III consists of detailed lecture outlines, many of them bound and indexed, for courses in higher education taught by Professor Cowley at Stanford from the years 1945 to 1968.
- Biographical / historical:
-
WW.H. (Hal) Cowley was born in Petersburg, Virginia on May 28, 1899. Shortly thereafter his family moved to New. York City where he lived until the age of twenty-one. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1924, and received his Ph. D. in 1930 from the University of Chicago. Although he took his advanced degree in Psychology, an interest in higher education (which had been growing since his undergraduate days at Dartmouth) led to a succession of jobs in college administration: as Assistant to the President and Head of Placement Services, briefly, at the University of Chicago, as a professor of Psychology with the Educational Research Bureau at Ohio State University from 1931 through 1937, and as President of Hamilton College from 1938 to 1944.
Cowley found his work in higher education administration challenging, but saw an increasing need for quality researchers in the field. Thus, in 1945 he came to Stanford University as the the first professor of higher education in the United States, to devote the remainder of his career to teaching and research. He became David Jacks Professor of Higher Education at Stanford in 1954 and emeritus in 1968.
Chronology Date Event 1899 born, Petersburg, Virginia1978 died, Palo Alto, California1964-1978 David Jacks Professor of Higher Education, emeritus, StanfordUniversity1954-1964 David Jacks Professor of Higher Education, Stanford University1951-1952 Fullbright scholarship to study academic government ofBritish universities1945-1954 Professor of Higher Education, Stanford University1942 Chairman, Committee of War Manpower Commission and U.S.Office of Education to develope a plan for the wartimeuse of colleges and universities1939-1943 member, Problems and Plans Committee, American Council onEducation1943 Received LL.D from St. Lawrence University1939 received L.H.D. from Hobart College1938 received L.L.D. from Hamilton College1938-1944 President of Hamilton College1935-1938 Professor of Pyschology, Ohio State University1934-1935 Associate Professor of Pyschology, Ohio state University1934 married Jean McCampbell1929-1934 Research Associate and Assistant Professor of Pyschology,Bureau of Educational Research, Ohio State University1930 earned Ph.D. in pyschology from the University of Chicago1927-1929 employed on administrative staff, University of Chicago; Board of Vocational Guidance and Placement1924-1925 employed by Bell Telephone Labs., New York1924 graduation from Dartmouth College, A.B. in Englisheditor, The Dartmouth, the Dartmouth College newspaper - Acquisition information:
- Gift of Mrs. W.H. Cowley and Ellen Cowley, 1978.
- Arrangement:
-
The materials are arranged in twelve series: I-A Biographical material (1899-1978); I-B Correspondence, writings and speeches (1922-1978); I-C Miscellaneous correspondence (1922-1978); I-D Papers (1928-1971); I-E Lecture series (1945-1968); II-A Professional notes (1900-1978); II-B 'PT' files (pamphlets) (1813-1975); II-C Workbooks (1938-1978); III Indexes; Binders; Books; Addenda, 2002-048.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-09-15 11:41:59 -0700 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
- Preferred citation:
-
[item] W.H. Cowley papers (SC0196). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
- Location of this collection:
-
Stanford University Archives, Green Library557 Escondido MallStanford, CA 94305-6064, US
- Contact:
- (650) 725-1022