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Wesley C l a i r Mithhell

COMMITTEE ON THE HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Register of Papers
Processed: MA,IB
Date: 12/30/55

WESLEI CLAIR nlTCHELL
(1878 - 194-8)

The papers of Wesley Clair Mitchell, economist, author,
hesd of the National Bureau of Economic Research, brother-in-law
of Adolph Miller of the Federal Reserve Board, were given to the
library of Columbia University, New York City, by his wife, Lucy
Sprague Mitchell. They are kept with the Special Collections
Measure of size: 4-0 boxes
Approximate number of items:
An informal description and catalogue of the papers,
occupying 14.6 pages, has been made and is available for consultation at Columbia.
The papers are open to study by scholars.

o




Wesley Clair Mitchell

II

- 2 Biographical Note

1878, Aug. 5

Born, Rushville, Illinois

1896

A.B., University of Chicago

1899

Ph.D., University of Chicago

1897-98

Graduate work at Universities of Halle and Vienna
M.A., Oxford

1899-1900

Census Office, Washington, D. C.

1900-02

Instructor in economics, University of Chicago

1902-12

Assistant professor of commerce, then professor
of political economy, University of California

1908-09

Lecturer on economics, Harvard

1912, May 8

Married Lucy Sprague (then Dean of Women,
Univ. of Calif.) U children)

1913-44

Lecturer, then professor of economics, Columbia
University

1918-19

Chief, Price Section, War Industries Board

1919-21

Lecturer,flewSchool for Social Research

1930-31

Visiting professor at Oxford, England

1934

Hitchcock professor, Univ. of California

194-8, Oct. 29

Died

Author of:

A History of Greenbacks. 1903•
Gold Prices and Wages under the Greenback Standard. 1908.
Business Cycles. 1913.
Business Cycles, the Problem and its Setting. 1321•
The Backward Art of Spending Money. 1937.

Co-Author of;

Income jLn .the U.S., its Amount and Distribution* 1921.
Recent Economic Changes. 1929.
Recent Social Trends. 1933.
Measuring Business Cycles. 194-6.

Editor:

History of Prices During the War: Business Cycles
and Unemployment. 1923.

See:




Internal memorandum -with Lucy S. Mitchell re Adolph Miller
Who Was Who in America, 1943-50, vol. II, Marquis

Wesley Clair Mitchell
III

- 3 Description of Series

The papers are divided into nine groups as follows:
A
B
C
M

Economic Theory and its History (see also 0)
Business Cycles
Correspondence
Money, the Money Economy, and Economic History
(see also A)
N
National Planning
0
Anthropology and Psychology (see also A)
P
Published materials not by WCM
P-WCM Published materials by VCM
X
Miscellaneous

8 boxes
4 boxes
8 boxes
2
1
2
9
3
3

boxes
box
boxes
boxes
boxes
boxes

Within those groups, they are catalogued alphabetically or
chronologically, and sometimes (as in the correspondence division)
both ways. Scholars looking for material touching on Federal Reserve
history will find a few possibilities in most of the divisions. While
Dr. Mitchell had no direct connection with the System, he was an active
professor of economics during some of the System's most difficult
years. His files bear evidence of much thought on System problems
and considerable correspondence with certain System personalities.
Correspondence with Benjamin Strong, Sir Henry Clay, Walter Stewart,
Carl Snyder, Dr. A. C. Miller, Paul Warburg, H. Parker Willis among
others holds promise.
Series M contains notes and chapters for a proposed book on
the money economy.
Series P includes notes made by Dr. Mitchell on his reading
and affords a Quick survey of economic thought from 1910 to 194$•