Roger Sandilands may be right about Bowen and Dunbar, but I have reason to
doubt the scholarship and reliability of his source, Joseph Dorfman. Most of
the Veblen clan (of which I am a peripheral member) regard Dorfman's work on
Veblen with disfavor bordering on contempt. As to Dorfman on other topics,
Professor Michael Hudson of UMKC produced a paper in 2002 that, in my
judgment, pretty well discredits Dorfman on the history of thought. I can
supply it if requested.

Mason Gaffney

-----Original Message-----
From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Roger Sandilands
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2012 2:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Economist at Harvard, 1870-1876

Dorfman, _The Economic Mind in Economic Civilisation_ writes (p.65) that
Francis Bowen (1811-90) was removed from the teaching of economics at
Harvard in 1871 and that Harvard's President Charles Eliot appointed a
separate professorship of political economy to "the cautious free-trader and
sound-money man" Charles Franklin Dunbar (1830-1900).

See also E S Mason, "The Harvard Economcis Department from the Beginning to
WW2", QJE August 1982, who noted that Silas Marcus Macvane joined Dunbar in
1873-78. (Macvane was succeeded by J Laurence Laughlin.)

- Roger Sandilands

________________________________________
From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
[log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2012 5:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SHOE] Economist at Harvard, 1870-1876

Hello,
Could anyone tell me who taught political economy at Harvard during
the period of 1870-1877?
By reading William J. Barber's short piece,
I learned that James Laurence Laughlin taught this subject from
1878-1888.
Thank you,
Aiko Ikeo=