Receipts and Disbursements, May 23, 1914-April 17, 1915 Balance on hand, May 23, 1914 Subscriptions Advertising $ 19.97 Receipts $632.20 184.63 Guaranty Fund. 1,175.00 1,991.83 Total indebtedness $2,147.41 $2,147.41 135.61 356.05 $ 491.66 Respectfully submitted, CLARENCE S. PAINE, Secretary-Treasurer REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENTS OF STATE HISTORY IN STATE UNIVERSITIES At the third annual meeting of the Association, held at Iowa City in May, 1910, the President was directed to appoint a Committee on the Establishment of Departments of State History in State Universities. This committee was later appointed, its members being C. H. Van Tyne, chairman, Albert Watkins, J. A. Woodburn, Evarts B. Greene, and F. M. Anderson. Mr. Greene later succeeded Mr. Van Tyne as chairman, and he in turn was succeeded, in 1914, by the present chairman, James F. Willard. The committee at present consists of Miss Grace R. Hebard, E. B. Greene, J. H. Reynolds, Jonas Viles, J. A. Woodburn, and J. F. Willard. During the year 1914 there was referred to the committee a resolution introduced at the Grand Forks meeting by the secretary-treasurer and there approved, to the effect that "an elective course in historical investigation offered by the departments of history in the state universities of the Mississippi Valley for which students might register and prepare papers, to be read at the meetings of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association or to be printed in its publications, would be a great incentive to history students and investigators.' In order to prepare the way for its recommendations the committee decided upon an investigation of the status of the teaching of state history in the state universities. Because of the fact that some instructors hold that state history lacks intrinsic and relative importance, it was also decided to examine the extent to which regional history has been substituted for state history in the same in stitutions. The chairman was directed to undertake these two lines of investigation, the results of which are given below. It may be that by restricting its investigations to the letter of its mandate the committee has not fulfilled the spirit of its instructions. Indeed it has been suggested that it take under consideration the larger subject of the ways and means of arousing interest in local history. This, however, seems to be inexpedient at present. There are at least two committees of this Association at work on special subjects which have a direct bearing on the larger problem, the Committee on State History as a Part of the High School Curriculum and the Committee on the Relation of Historical Societies and Departments of History. When these have reported it might be desirable to appoint a committee to inquire into the matter of the means used and to be used in interesting the people of the states in their own history. The present report, though restricted in scope, may serve to throw some light upon the subject by showing what the departments of history are doing, through the offering of courses of instruction, to disseminate a knowledge of local history. THE TEACHING OF STATE AND REGIONAL HISTORY In the preparation of the following tables state institutions only have been considered unless the contrary is stated. West of the Appalachian Mountains only state institutions of university rank have been given any attention. The statements of courses are based upon the announcements made in the catalogues of the various institutions. This latter method of procedure has its obvious disadvantages, which, however, could only have been overcome at the expense of much and seemingly needless correspondence. In a few instances, as will be seen, it was not found possible accurately to determine the credit hours given for a course. In other cases the number of semesters or terms could not be ascertained. And it is to be feared that the lack of descriptive summaries of some courses may have led to a failure to discover certain courses in regional history. These omissions, if they exist, should not seriously affect the validity of the results of the investigation. The classification of the state institutions in the tables is based upon the system used by the United States Census Bureau. The courses are undergraduate unless the contrary is stated. The Roman numerals indicate the number of semesters for which the course is offered. Whenever the three-term system is used by an institution, the number of terms is noted. The Arabic numerals indicate the number of credit hours given each semester for work done in the course. Whenever either or both of these indications are missing it was found impossible to get the necessary data upon which an accurate statement could be based. When no mention is made of the fact, the courses are listed in the department of history. I. State institutions and courses in state history offered, catalogues of 1913-14. 1. North Atlantic Division. In the catalogues examined no such courses were found. 2. South Atlantic Division. Delaware College. Studies in Delaware History. I. 2 or 3. University of Georgia. History of Georgia. II. 1. History of Georgia. II. (?). 3. University of North Carolina. North Carolina History. I. 2. West Virginia University. History of West Virginia. 1. 3. North Central Division. The History of Illinois. I. 2. |