Department of Sociology records, 1910s-1998

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Series I. Administrative records and publications, 1945-1998

This series contains the minutes of the department's regular monthly (and sometimes luncheon) meetings. There is a selection of the Bureau of Applied Social Research (BASR) newsletters and other announcement sent to the department's main office for reference. The department was reviewed by the Committee on Instruction of the Graduate Faculty of Political Science and included in this series are copies of draft and final reports. Finally, there is a small selection of correspondence about graduate student progress and placement information from 1998.



Box 1 Folder 1 Department meeting minutes, 1945-1950

(Regular monthly meetings)


Box 1 Folder 2 Department meeting minutes, 1951-1960


Box 1 Folder 3 Department meeting minutes, 1961-1966


Box 1 Folder 4 The Bureau Reporter newsletters, 1962-1966

(Newsletter of the Bureau of Applied Social Research)


Box 1 Folder 5 The Bureau Reporter newsletters, 1967-1971


Box 1 Folder 6 Bureau of Applied Social Research announcements, 1963-1971

(Includes BASR project numbers, BASR library news, and list of unpublished reports.)


Box 1 Folder 7 Review of the Department of Sociology by the Committee on Instruction of the Graduate Faculty of Political Science,, 1974


Box 1 Folder 8 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences correspondence, 1998

(Includes information about the 1960 graduate students, the placement for 1992-1997 graduates, and the other information about students)

Series II. Publications, 1952-1967

This series contains a number of dittoed publications that belonged to Paul Felix Lazarsfeld. The publications relate to the work on research methodology and qualitative and quantitative analysis of social research data.


Planning Project for Advanced Training in Social Research publications


Box 1 Folder 9-10 Documentation Furnished to the Ford Center on Concepts and Indices in the Social Sciences,, 1953

(Documents for the Seminar on Concepts and Indices in the Social Sciences; 2 copies)


Box 1 Folder 11 Concepts and Indices in the Social Sciences: A Report on the Dartmouth Seminar,, 1953


Box 1 Folder 12 Organization, Plan of Work, and Present State of the Project, 1955


Box 1 Folder 13 Extracts from N. Rashevsky's "Mathematical Biology of Imitative Behavior" lecture,, 1952


Box 1 Folder 14 A System of Scales Derived from a Standard Traceline Model, notes by Paul F. Lazarsfeld and developed by David G. Hays,, 1952


Box 1 Folder 15 Memorandum re: New Mathematical Work on Latent Structure Theory since the RAND Memoranda Were Completed,, undated

(Memo from Paul F. Lazasfeld to Victor Hunt. Includes "Some Theories of Structor Algebra: Notes on Extensions of Matrix Algebra Necessary for Latent Structure Analysis.")


Box 1 Folder 16 The Present State of Latent Structure Analysis, undated


Box 1 Folder 17 Case Materials and Case Analysis in American Professional Training by Bernard Barber,, 1950s


Box 1 Folder 18 The Use of the Case Method of Instruction in Undergraduate History Courses by Elinor G. Barber,, 1953


Box 1 Folder 19 Case Materials: Some Comparative Analysis of their Use in Different Fields by Elinor G. Barber,, 1954


Box 1 Folder 20 A Survey of Activities in Urban and Minority Problems at Three American Universities by George Nash and Patricia Nash,, 1967

Series III. Graduate student cards, 1909-1979

Graduate students enrolled in sociology classes were asked to complete an information card, which was kept by the department. The information collected on the cards varies (the template changes over the years) but for the most part, the card includes information about the student's background, academic record, research interests, and future plans. The cards were updated by the office staff and include information about the students' lives after they left Columbia. The cards related to students from 1909 to 1916 and then after a gap, the cards resume with students in 1932. The cards from the 1940s and 1950s may include a copy of the student's registration photograph. Cards are organized alphabetically by the student's last name.



Box 2 A-La



Box 3 Le-Z