Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Information about Access
Ownership & Copyright
Cite As
Biographical/Historical Sketch
Description of the Collection
Arrangement
General note
Chronology
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: W.H. Cowley papers
creator:
Cowley, W. H. (William Harold)
Identifier/Call Number: SC0196
Physical Description:
200 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1913-1978
Date (bulk): bulk
Abstract: 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collection also includes published and unpublished articles, papers, speeches, and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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Gift of Mrs. W.H. Cowley and Ellen Cowley, 1978.
Information about Access
This collection is open for research.
Ownership & Copyright
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.
Cite As
W.H. Cowley Papers (SC0196). Department of Special Collections and University Archives,
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
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.
Description of the Collection
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.
Arrangement
The materials are arranged in eight 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).
General note
Cowley's collection of pamphlets was also reboxed, maintaining the numerical sequence of
the numbers he assigned them. No box listing was compiled for the pamphlets.
Chronology
Chronology
1899 |
born, Petersburg, Virginia |
1978 |
died, Palo Alto, California |
1964-1978 |
David Jacks Professor of Higher Education, emeritus, StanfordUniversity |
1954-1964 |
David Jacks Professor of Higher Education, Stanford University |
1951-1952 |
Fullbright scholarship to study academic government ofBritish
universities
|
1945-1954 |
Professor of Higher Education, Stanford University |
1942 |
Chairman, Committee of War Manpower Commission and U.S.Office of Education to
develope a plan for the wartimeuse of colleges and universities
|
1939-1943 |
member, Problems and Plans Committee, American Council onEducation |
1943 |
Received LL.D from St. Lawrence University |
1939 |
received L.H.D. from Hobart College |
1938 |
received L.L.D. from Hamilton College |
1938-1944 |
President of Hamilton College |
1935-1938 |
Professor of Pyschology, Ohio State University |
1934-1935 |
Associate Professor of Pyschology, Ohio state University |
1934 |
married Jean McCampbell |
1929-1934 |
Research Associate and Assistant Professor of Pyschology,Bureau of Educational
Research, Ohio State University
|
1930 |
earned Ph.D. in pyschology from the University of Chicago |
1927-1929 |
employed on administrative staff, University of Chicago; Board of Vocational
Guidance and Placement
|
1924-1925 |
employed by Bell Telephone Labs., New York |
1924 |
graduation from Dartmouth College, A.B. in English |
|
editor, The Dartmouth, the Dartmouth College newspaper |
Subjects and Indexing Terms
College teachers.
Educators.
Education, Higher.
Cowley, W. H. (William Harold)
University of Chicago.
Cowley, W. H. (William Harold)
Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y.)
Stanford University
Ohio State University.