By Patricia Lengermann and Gillian Niebrugge
Table 1. Founding Members of the District of Columbia Sociological Society 1934*
| Name, date, reason for being in D.C. in 1934 | Brief Bio |
| Arner, George Byron Louis
c. 1880-19 Census Bureau |
Columbia University PhD 1908 “Consanguineous Marriages In The American Population.” Taught at Princeton 1908-09; Dartmouth 1901-1911. Statistician at Ohio State Board of Health. Co-author with John Spargo, Elements of Socialism 1912 |
| Bellman, Earl S.
1903-2001 University of Maryland |
University of Kansas MA 1929 “Attitudes of college men towards careers for wives.” Did Rural Research for the Christian Rural Social Justice Fund; A Study of the Care of the Needy Aged in Maryland Counties 1933 |
| Burgess, Ernest
1886-1966 President of ASA |
University of Chicago PhD 1913 “The Function of Socialization in Social Evolution” President of National Council on Family Relations 1942. Chaired University of Chicago Sociology Department 1946 |
| Clague, Ewan
1897-1987 Department of Labor |
University of Wisconsin PhD 1929 “Productivity Of Labor In Merchant Blast Furnaces.” Author of After the Shut Down 1934. Director of the Bureau of Employment Security 1940. Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics 1946 |
| Dedrick, Calvert L.
1901-1984 Central Statistical Board |
University of Wisconsin PhD 1934 “Incomes And Occupations In Madison, Wisconsin” Born San Diego. Co-author with Kimball Young, John Lewis Gillin, The Madison Community 1934 |
| Dreis, Thelma A.
?-1995 FERA |
American University PhD 1951. Author of A Handbook of Social Statistics 1936. Contributed to U.S. Department Of Agriculture’s Sample Interview Survey As A Tool Of Administration |
| Edwards, Alan D. | Worked for the FERA |
| Edwards, Esther | Worked for the FERA |
| Forster, Milton
Works Progress Administration |
Yale University PhD 1934 “Temporal Relations Of Behavior In Chimpanzee And Man As Measured By Reaction Time.” WPA Coordinator of research and surveys |
| Frazier, E. Franklin
1894-1962 Howard University |
University of Chicago PhD 1932 “The Negro Family in Chicago.” Taught at Morehouse. Organized Atlanta University School of Social Work. Would be President of DCSS, ESS, and ASA |
| Name, date, reason for being in D.C. in 1934 |
Brief Bio |
| Furfey, Paul H.
1896-1992 Catholic University |
Catholic University of America PhD 1926 “The Gang Age; A Study Of The Preadolescent Boy And His Recreational Needs.” Ordained priest 1934. Involved with Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker Movement |
| Gerlach, Edgar M. C.
1897-? Bureau of Prisons |
University of Michigan BS 1922. Worked on WPA project Social Service Resource Directory published 1937. Warden at Danbury Federal Prison |
| Givens, Meredith
1899-1976 Committee on Government Statistics |
University of Wisconsin PhD 1929 “Productivity Of Labor In Merchant Blast Furnaces.” Member of Ogburn’s team for 1930s, Social Trends |
| Halbert, Leroy Alan
1875-1958 D.C. Unemployment Relief |
Chicago Theological Seminary, later Doctor of Law Washburn University. Superintendent for Welfare in Kansas City, then Rhode Island. Organized consumer cooperatives |
| Hauser, Philip Morris
1909-1994 FERA |
University of Chicago PhD 1938 “Differential Fertility, Mortality, And Net Reproduction In Chicago.” Demographer. Director of Population Research Center University of Chicago. Worked for Census Bureau |
| Hirschstein, Bertha T.
FERA |
New York University PhD 1933 “A Sociological study of the Public Library.” Worked for FERA |
| Leahy, Margaret
Children’s Bureau |
Published study on role of social workers in Japanese American internment (1946). Worked for Bureau of Public Assistance |
| Lorimer, Frank
1895-1985 American University |
Columbia University PhD Taught at Wells College. President of Society for the Scientific Study of Population |
| Magnus, A.R.
FERA |
Studied farmers on relief |
| Manny, Theodore B.
1897-1938 Department of Agriculture |
University of Wisconsin PhD 1928 “Rural Municipalities; A Sociological Study Of Local Government In The United States.” Professor and later head of sociology department at University of Maryland |
| Mayer, Joseph
1887-? Library of Congress |
Sociology consultant to the Library of Congress. Reviewer for ASR. Coordinator for “Projects for collecting, listing and preserving materials of scholarship” |
| McCormick, Thomas Carter
FERA |
University of Chicago PhD 1929 “Rural Unrest: A Sociological Investigation of the Rural Movement in the United States” |
| Name, date, reason for being in D.C. in 1934 | Brief Bio |
| Mueller, John H.
1935-1965 FERA |
University of Chicago PhD 1928 “The automobile: A sociological study.” Taught University of Oregon. Research analyst for FERA |
| Rice, Sarah A. | Married to Stuart A. |
| Rice, Stuart A.
1889-1969 Census Bureau |
Columbia University PhD 1924 “Farmers And Workers In American Politics.” Worked as political organizer Farm-Labor Party. President of American Statistical Society |
| Robert, Percy A.
Catholic University |
New York University PhD. Became DCSS President |
| Spicer, Hazel I. | Co-author of Study of Student Health Services for Committee on Cost of Health Care 1932; monograph becomes the example used by Johns Hopkins library website to illustrate different citation styles |
| Stouffer, Samuel A.
1900-1960 Central Statistical Board |
University of Chicago PhD 1930 “An Experimental Comparison of Statistical and Case-History Methods of Attitude Research.” Author of Studies in Social Psychology in World War II: The American Soldier 1949 |
| Stephan, Frederick F.
1903-1971 FERA |
Taught at University of Pittsburgh. Professor at Princeton University. Co-author of Sampling Opinions 1958 |
| Street, Elwood
1891-? D.C. Community Chest |
As reporter for a Cleveland paper, was assigned to do a story on organized charity and changed careers. Director of D.C. Public Welfare |
| Taeuber, Conrad
1906-1999 FERA |
University of Minnesota PhD 1931 “Migration To And From German Cities, 1902-1929.” Worked for U.S. Department of Agriculture; head of farm population and rural welfare, later Kennedy Institute, Georgetown University. Married to Irene Barnes Taeubner 1929; they did demographic research together. DCSS Student Paper Award named for her |
| Tattershall, Louise M.
Children’s Bureau |
Barnard University BA 1908. Statistician for the National Organization for Public Health Nursing |
| Taylor, Carl
1884-1975 Department of Agriculture |
University of Missouri PhD 1918 “The Social Survey, Its History and Methods.” Wrote first textbook on rural sociology 1926. President of ASA 1946 |
| Name, date, reason for being in D.C. in 1934 | Brief Bio |
| Tetreau, E.D.
c. 1900-1945 FERA |
University of Wisconsin PhD 1930 “Farm Family Participation in Lodges, Grange, Farm Bureau, Four-H Clubs, School And Church.” 1934 Social Forces article, “How to Study the Sociology of Direct Action Farmers’ Movement” |
| Thomas, Dorothy Swaine
1899-1977 FERA |
London School of Economics PhD 1925 “Social Aspects of the Business Cycle.” Worked for FERA. First woman President of ASA |
| Tolley, Howard R.
1889-1958 Agricultural Adjustment Administration |
Director of the Giannini Foundation at University of California–Berkeley. Author of The Farmer Citizen at War 1943 |
| Truesdell, Leon E.
1882-1973 Census Bureau |
Robert Brookings Graduate School PhD 1924. Published Analysis of the Farm Population 1920 |
| Willard, D.W.
c. 1880-1934 George Washington University |
University of Washington PhD “A Social Critique Of Current Tendencies In Health Education.” Died in October 1934 home accident when furnace explodes; Bellman and Rice are pallbearers at his funeral |
| Willard, Ella | Married to D.W. Willard |
| Williams, Faith M.
c. 1900-1958 Bureau of Labor Statistics |
Columbia University PhD 1924 “The Food Manufacturing Industries in New York and Its Environs; Present Trends and Probable Future Developments.” Chief, Office of Labor Economics, Bureau of Labor Statistics 1958; married to Frank Lorimer (see above) |
| Winslow, Emma A.
c. 1880-1941 Children’s Bureau |
University of London PhD 1923 “Budget Studies and the Measurement Of Living Costs And Standards.” Worked for USO in World War II |
| Wood, Martha
1891 -1948 Children’s Bureau |
University of Pennsylvania MA |
| Woodbury, Robert M.
Children’s Bureau |
Cornell University PhD 1915 “Social Insurance: An Economic Analysis.” Involved in statistical studies of infant mortality 1930s |
| Woolbert, Helen Griffin
FERA |
University of Chicago PhD 1930 “Type of Social Philosophy as a Function of Father-Son Relationship” |
*This Table is a work-in-progress and we would appreciate additional information or corrections to the information we present here.
