Burgess, Ernest Watson. Papers. Addenda, 1910-1966

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Sociology and Social Welfare

Files in Series XII are restricted for 80 years from the date of creation.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Burgess, Ernest Watson. Papers. Addenda, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Ernest Watson Burgess was born on May 16, 1886 in Tilbury, Ontario, Canada to Edmund J. Burgess and Mary Ann Jane Wilson Burgess. His father was a minister in the Congregational Church. Burgess attended Kingfisher College in Oklahoma and received his B.A. in 1908. The following year Burgess entered the University of Chicago as a graduate student in the Department of Sociology. He received his Ph.D. in 1913. After several years of teaching in several Midwestern schools and collaborating in numerous social surveys, Burgess returned to Chicago with an appointment as Assistant Professor in Sociology in 1916.

He has been called the first "young sociologist," since all the other professors had entered the field from other professional areas. His career spanned five decades from 1916-1957, when his emeritus appointment ended. Burgess remained active a number of years beyond this retirement, co-authoring a text on Urban Sociology with Donald Bogue as late as 1963. In 1927 he achieved the status of full professor, and in 1946 he became chairman of the department. Although he retired as professor in 1951 at the mandatory retirement age, he remained active and salaried as Chairman until 1952. It was during this same period that he founded the Family Study Center, which later became the Family and Community Study Center. Burgess was active in many professional organizations. The leading sociological organizations to which he was elected President include the American Sociological Society (1934), the Sociological Research Association (1942), and the Social Science Research Council (1945-1946). He took over the directorship of the Behavior Research Fund in Chicago from Herman Adler, from 1931 to 1934. In 1942 he became President of the National Conference on Family Relations, an organization that he had helped found in 1938 after his involvement with the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. His editing roles were extensive. He was managing editor of the American Sociological Society from 1921-1930, and editor of the American Journal of Sociology from 1936-1940. As Director of the Behavior Research Fund, he had the opportunity to edit a number of monographs from various areas of the social sciences, many of which represented pioneering efforts in their respective fields.

His involvement in a number of other distinctive organizations ranged from sponsorship to chairmanship. Among these were the American Law Institute, Vincent Astor Foundation, Chicago Census Advisory Committee, Chicago Urban League, Chicago Area Project, Chicago Crime Commission, Committee of Fifteen, Douglas Smith Fund, Illinois Citizens Committee on Parole, Illinois Academy of Criminology, National Recreation Commission, International Congress of Criminology, and The City Club. Ernest Watson Burgess died on

December 27, 1966. He was 80 years old.

The Ernest W. Burgess Addenda have been arranged into twelve series: Series I, Marriage Study Data; Series II, National Opinion Research Center; Series III, Committee on Communication; Series IV, Audiovisual; Series V, Magazine Advertising Bureau Study; Series VI, General Studies and Surveys; Series VII, Field Notes; Series VIII, Institutions; Series IX, Course Materials and Student Papers; Series X, Manuscripts by Others; Series XI, Oversize Maps and Data; and Series XII, Restricted.

Series IV: Audiovisual contains three subseries: 1. Microfilm, 2. Audio, 3. Burgess Reprints. Series VI: General Studies and Surveys contains five subseries: 1. Aging and Retirement Projects, 2. Marriage and Family Studies, 3. Personality Studies, 4. Urban Studies, and 5. General Sociological Studies. Series VII: Field Notes contains 2 subseries: 1. Paul Oien, and 2. Others. Series VIII: Institutions contains seven subseries: 1. Industrial Relations Center, 2. Chicago Area Project, 3. University of Chicago Department of Sociology, 4. Behavior Research Fund/Institute for Juvenile Research, 5. Chicago Crime Commission, 6. American Journal of Sociology, 7. Common Ground. Series IX: Course Materials and Student Papers contains four subseries: 1. Student Papers, Alphabetized, 2. Student Papers, by Course Number, 3. Student Papers, by Topic, and 4. Course Materials.

A substantial amount of the material extant in the present collection pertains to the research and work of Elihu Katz, Burgess's colleague in the Department of Sociology during the latter days of Burgess's career. Katz joined the faculty in 1954, two years after Burgess's formal retirement and remained a member until 1969, three years after Burgess's death. Series II, III, V, and XII seem to derive from Katz's own work and its original connection with Burgess is unclear, as is the process by which it came to be included in the present collection. Series X also contains materials that could plausibly have come from Katz's files.

For ease of reference, citations of the original Burgess collection (the Ernest Watson Burgess Papers) will be abbreviated as Burgess I. The present collection, the Ernest Watson Burgess Papers, Addenda, will be referred to as Burgess II.

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

• Names
  • Blau, Peter Michael
  • Bogue, Donald Joseph, 1918-
  • Burgess, Ernest Watson, 1886-1966
  • Cottrell, Leonard S. (Leonard Slater), 1899-
  • Hughes, Everett Cherrington, 1897-
  • Katz, Elihu, 1926-
  • Park, Robert Ezra, 1864-1944
  • Rossi, Peter H. (Peter Henry), 1921-2006
  • Wallin, Paul
  • American Journal of Sociology
  • Behavior Research Fund
  • Chicago Area Project
  • Chicago Congregational Union
  • Chicago Crime Commission
  • Chicago (Ill.). Dept. of Welfare
  • Industrial Relations Center, University of Chicago
  • National Opinion Research Center
  • Social Science Research Council (U.S.)
  • University of Chicago. Dept. of Sociology
  • University of Chicago. Division of the Social Sciences
  • University of Chicago. Society for Social Research
• Subject
  • Advertising
  • Communication
  • Crime
  • Delinquency
  • Depression -- 1929 -- llinois -- Chicago
  • Family
  • Gangs
  • Gerontology
  • Marriage
  • Migration
  • Ministers
  • Old Age
  • Parole
  • Personality and Culture
  • Poverty
  • Race Relations
  • Social surveys
  • Sociology, Urban
  • Sociology -- Study and teaching
  • Theological Education