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Committee on Post-War Planning records

 Record Group
Identifier: RG-16-010

Scope and Contents

The records of the Committee on Post-War Planning date from January 1943 to September 1944. Consisting of minutes, correspondence and a final report, the records are concerned with projecting the role of the university after the Second World War. Arranged chronologically, the minutes of the weekly meetings date from January 20, 1943, to May 31, 1944. In addition, there are curriculum reports, dating from April 7, 1943, to January 12, 1944, which were compiled by a different department each week. The correspondence consists of letters from the faculty, arranged in alphabetical order by author of letter; these discuss priorities and directions for education and proposals made in or submitted to the Committee addressing a variety of topics such as educational aims, finances, and the divisions of the university. The Committee also formed subcommittees concerned with relations between secondary schools and Hopkins, the departments within Hopkins, and a proposition called the Group System. From February 16, 1944, to May 31, 1944, the reports of the subcommittees are discussed by the Committee as a whole in terms of the philosophy, history and future of education. Finally, the record group contains the report which the committee made to President Bowman and a list of the specific recommendations made in it.

Dates

  • Creation: 1943 January-1944 September

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is housed off-site and requires 48-hours' notice for retrieval. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Collection is open for use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions. It is not necessary to seek our permission as the owner of the physical work to publish or otherwise use public domain materials that we have made available for use, unless Johns Hopkins University holds the copyright.

Biographical / Historical

The Committee on Post-War Planning (first known as the Committee on the Curriculum) was set up on November 12, 1942, by President Isaiah Bowman, who discusses the effects of war on education in his report of 1942. Some issues of concern were recent Ph.D. recipients who had been forced by the war to abandon their fields of primary interest, differences between college students resuming their studies after service in the armed forces and the rest of their classmates, and the changes that would have to be made in the curriculum to meet the needs of the students and the society in general after the war. Originally, the Committee was concerned only with the future of the Faculty of Philosophy. On January 15, 1943, it extended its concern to the School of Engineering. The members of the Committee were: Hazelton Spencer, chairman from January 20, 1943 to December 1943; Carl B. Swisher, chairman from December, 1943 to May 31, 1944; G. Heberton Evans, secretary during the first year; Malcolm Moos, secretary after the first year; Donald H. Andrews; Alexander G. Christie; Thomas F. Comber; Howard E. Cooper; Gerhard H. Dieke; H. C. Lancaster; Frederic C. Lane; Kemp Malone; P. Stewart Macaulay; G. Wilson Shaffer; J. Trueman Thompson; and Benjamin Harrison Willier. Seventeen meetings were held under the chairmanship of Hazelton Spencer, and eighteen meetings were held under Carl B. Swisher. The committee proceeded by learning the views of the faculty members and of other institutions, through individual meetings with members of the faculty and affiliates of other institutions, and by invitation of faculty members to appear before the committee. Initially, the meetings were each devoted to a separate department of instruction, with the departmental staff in attendance. Several subcommittees were also appointed, with membership as follows:

Training in the Field of American Institutions: Carl B. Swisher, chairman, Frederic C. Lane, and G. Heberton Evans Relations with Secondary Schools: P. Stewart Macaulay, chairman, Gerhard H. Dieke, and G. Wilson Shaffer Humanities and Social Sciences: Kemp Malone, chairman, and Gerhard H. Dieke Sciences: Donald H. Andrews, chairman, H. C. Lancaster, and Benjamin Harrison Willier

After the survey of the departments was complete, the Committee began to study the recommendations made by the subcommittees and to prepare its final report.

The committee made its report on June 5, 1944. It included recommendations for the creation of committees to study more closely various details of post-war planning, such as: effects of changes in individual fields on graduate education, breadth of training in education, additional appointments to the faculty, research institutes and projects, relations with state and federal governments, expansion of the university, and relations with school systems of Baltimore City and the State of Maryland. Many of the recommendations do not directly relate to the war but seem to have arisen from fundamental views of university education which were thought to be applicable to the post-war situation, including: insistence upon quality at the expense of quantity in matters such as scholarship awards, student employment, and graduate student admission; cooperation between University, industries and government; need for a more geographically and academically diverse student body; reorganization of the academic calendar; and establishing required courses for all students regardless of major.

Extent

0.19 Cubic Feet (1 letter half-size document box)

Language of Materials

Undetermined

Abstract

The Committee on Post-War Planning (first known as the Committee on the Curriculum) was set up on November 12, 1942, by President Isaiah Bowman. The records of the Committee on Post-War Planning date from January 1943 to September 1944. Consisting of minutes, correspondence, curriculum reports, and a final report, the records are concerned with projecting the role of the university after the Second World War.

Arrangement

The records are arranged in one series.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Most of the records were transferred from storage in Garland Hall. Robert Cyphers, Registrar, transferred a copy of the Committee's report, dated June 5, 1944.

Accruals

Accession Number: 79.31, 83.19

Processing Information

Processed by Aravinda Pillalamarri.

Title
Committee on Post-War Planning records
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
The Sheridan Libraries
Special Collections
3400 N Charles St
Baltimore MD 21218 USA