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© 2012 University of Chicago Library
Series IX contains students grades restricted for 80 years. The remainder of the collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Gosnell, Harold F. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Harold Foote Gosnell (1896-1997) grew up in Rochester, New York, where he attended the University and graduated in 1918. He served briefly in the army, remaining in America, before pursuing graduate studies in political science at the University of Chicago. At Chicago Gosnell worked with Charles E. Merriam, graduating in 1922 and staying on as faculty. By 1932 Gosnell was an Associate Professor and closely associated with Merriam's approach to the discipline, which incorporated methods from economics, sociology, and psychology.
Gosnell's work during the 1920s and 1930s used statistical analyses to draw conclusions about voter behavior and political participation. He became known for his research into Chicago politics and the African-American vote; Negro Politicians: The Rise of Negro Politics and Chicago (1935) and Machine Politics: The Chicago Model (1937) were still considered authoritative texts in the 1990s. Gosnell also completed studies of American non-voters and voter turnout in Europe. His work was consistently valued for its "behaviorism" method, which made use of the quantitative models favored by the other social sciences, but modified their tendency towards determinism.
Despite this success, however, the Political Science Department came under increasing criticism from University President Robert Hutchins, who disliked Charles Merriam's political activism. In 1941 Gosnell accepted a job with the Bureau of the Budget. In 1946 he moved to the State Department, where he remained until 1960. He continued to publish on voter motivations, though his case studies of presidential leadership demonstrated a shift away from behaviorism.
During this period Gosnell also served as faculty at American University, where he conducted research on the Soviet Union for their Special Operations Research Office. In 1962 he was invited to teach at Howard University, where his scholarship on African-American politics was particularly admired. Gosnell retired in 1970, but continued to receive accolades for his contribution to the discipline, awarded the Charles E. Merriam Award from the American Political Science Association in 1981. Both APSA and the University of Rochester created fellowships named for him, and by the time of his death in 1997 Gosnell was widely considered to have made quantitative analysis mainstream in political science.
Gosnell was married to Florence Fake, who died in 1991.
The Harold F. Gosnell Papers are organized into nine series:
Series I: Personal and Biographical, contains artwork, address books, clippings, finances, memorabilia, and photos. It includes a draft of Gosnell's autobiography. Material spans 1886-1972 and is organized by subject.
Series II: Correspondence, contains Gosnell's professional, family, and personal correspondence. It is organized alphabetically and spans 1919-1997.
Series III: Academic Administration and Teaching, contains administrative reports, examinations, lectures, student work, and syllabi from Gosnell's time at the University of Chicago (1926-1941), American University (1946-1962), and Howard University (1962-1970). Graded student work and letters of recommendation have been restricted transferred to Series IX. Oversized material has been transferred to Series VIII.
Series IV: Writings, contains books, articles, and reviews written by Gosnell and others. Material is organized by title and by author, and spans 1921-1977.
Series V: Government Work, contains interviews, memoranda, press releases, and reports from Gosnell's work at the Bureau of the Budget and the Department of State, 1941-1960. This series is organized by department.
Series VI: Professional Activities, contains newsletters and correspondence from organizations to which Gosnell belonged. It is arranged by name and spans 1951-1990.
Series VII: Research Files, contains charts, clippings, interviews, memorabilia, newsletters, notes, publications, polls, propaganda, and surveys related to Gosnell's research on public policy and political theory. Oversized material has been transferred to Series VIII. This series is organized by topic and spans the 1910s through the 1970s.
Series VIII: Oversized, contains books, clippings, graphs, electoral maps, and campaigns posters, primarily related to American and British elections. Material has been transferred from Series III and VII. It spans 1922-1940.
Series IX: Restricted, contains graded student work and letters of recommendation.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
This series contains artwork, address books, clippings, finances, memorabilia, and photos. It includes a draft of Gosnell's autobiography. Material spans 1886-1972 and is organized by subject.
This series contains Gosnell's professional, family, and personal correspondence. It is divided into three subseries:
Subseries 1: Professional Correspondence, contains correspondence from publishers and academic colleagues. It is organized by name or topic and spans 1920-1987.
Subseries 2: Family Correspondence, contains correspondence between Gosnell and his family, primarily his mother, Sylvia Foote Gosnell, and his wife, Florence Fake Gosnell ("Bonnie"). It includes letters of condolence sent to Gosnell's son, David, on Gosnell's death in 1997. Of note is a Civil War letter from Gosnell's grandfather, Lemuel Foote, enclosed in Sylvia Gosnell's letter of 25 August 1935. It is organized alphabetically and spans 1919-1997.
Subseries 3: Personal Correspondence, contains incoming and outgoing correspondence between Gosnell and his friends and acquaintances. It is organized alphabetically and spans1919-1986.
This series contains administrative reports, examinations, lectures, student work, and syllabi. Graded student work and letters of recommendation have been transferred to Series IX. Series III is divided into two subseries:
Subseries 1: University of Chicago, 1926-1941 contains materials dating from Gosnell's time as a professor in the Political Science Department.
Subseries 2: Other Universities, 1946-1970, primarily contains materials dating from Gosnell's tenure at American University (1946-1962) and Howard University (1962-1970). Of note are the "political autobiographies" written by students for Gosnell's class on "Party Systems and Electoral Problems" at Howard University. This series includes syllabi from universities Gosnell was not affiliated with. Oversized material has been transferred to Series VIII.
This series contains books, articles, and reviews written by Gosnell and others. It is divided into three subseries:
Subseries I: Books, contains drafts, outlines, notes, research material, and correspondence for books by Gosnell. Material is organized by title and spans 1922-1983. American Parties and Elections and American Party Leaders and Followers appear to be early versions of Political Parties and the American Creed. There are two distinct drafts of Political Parties and the American Creed. Democracy Makes a Difference and Democracy: The Threshold of Freedom are also related drafts.
Subseries 2: Articles and Other Writings, contains articles and book reviews by Gosnell. These consist of both drafts and offprints, and in some cases related correspondence. Material is organized by title and spans 1921-1971.
Subseries 3: Writings by Others, contains books and articles written by others. Materials is organized by author and spans the 1920s-1977.
This series contains interviews, memoranda, press releases, and reports from Gosnell's work at the Bureau of the Budget and the Department of State, 1941-1960. This series is organized by department.
This series contains newsletters and some correspondence from organizations to which Gosnell belonged. It is arranged by name and spans 1951-1990.
This series contains charts, clippings, interviews, memorabilia, newsletters, notes, publications, polls, propaganda, and surveys related to Gosnell's research on public policy and political theory. Oversized material has been transferred to Series VIII. It is divided into seven subseries:
Subseries 1: National Elections, contains clippings, newsletters, notes, and propaganda related to presidential and congressional elections between 1926 and 1964. It is organized chronologically.
Subseries 2: Political Party Ephemera, contains memorabilia, newsletters, and notes related to American party politics between 1928 and 1976. It is organized chronologically.
Subseries 3: Voting, contains notes, publications, and polls related to voting and electoral behavior. It is organized by topic and spans the 1920s-1960s, though the bulk of the material dates from the 1930s.
Subseries 4: Public Opinion, contains interviews, notes, polls, publications, and surveys related to measuring public opinion, and its influence on policy. It is organized by research topic and spans the 1910s through the 1977.
Subseries 5: State and Local Politics, contains charts, clippings, notes, and publications related to state and local politics. It is organized by place and spans the 1920s-1980s, thought the bulk of the material dates from the 1930s.
Subseries 6: World Politics, contains notes and publications related to the political process outside America. It is organized by place and spans the 1920s through 1970s.
Subseries 7: General, contains varied research notes on politics and political theory, organized by topic. The bulk of this material is undated, but appears to span Gosnell's academic and political career, from the 1920s through the 1970s.
This series contains books, clippings, graphs, electoral maps, and campaigns posters, primarily related to American and British elections. Material has been transferred from Series III and VII. It spans 1922-1940.
This series contains graded student work and letters of recommendation. These date from Gosnell's employment at the University of Chicago (1926-1941), American University (1946-1962), and Howard University (1962-1970). Material has been transferred from Series III.