For an historical essay I am writing on economic history in the economics 
department at U. of Chicago, I would like to know more about when economic 
history course requirements were first introduced at both the graduate and 
undergraduate level in Economics Departments in the United States. I am 
also interested in the arguments that would have been put forward at the 
time for these requirements. Can anyone provide any guidance on these 
issues? 
 
I see this as an issue in the curricular history in the teaching of 
economics at the university level in the U.S. So I am hoping that 
historians of economics could help with my query. This is why I am posting 
it to the HES list. My interest is in the positive questions of when and 
why economic history requirements were introduced in university economics 
programs in the U.S. not the normative question of whether these 
requirements are desirable or should be reinstated. 
 
While I am interested in these issues for the U.S. generally, I am 
particularly interested in the case of the University of Chicago Department 
of Economics.  So any comments on the Chicago case would be particularly 
welcome. 
 
Thanks, 
David Mitch 
University of Maryland Baltimore County