Gosnell, Harold F. Papers, 1886-1997

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African American Studies

Chicago and Illinois

Politics, Public Policy and Political Reform

Series IX contains students grades restricted for 80 years. The remainder of the collection is open for research.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Gosnell, Harold F. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Harold Foote Gosnell (1896-1997) grew up in Rochester, New York, where he attended the University and graduated in 1918. He served briefly in the army, remaining in America, before pursuing graduate studies in political science at the University of Chicago. At Chicago Gosnell worked with Charles E. Merriam, graduating in 1922 and staying on as faculty. By 1932 Gosnell was an Associate Professor and closely associated with Merriam's approach to the discipline, which incorporated methods from economics, sociology, and psychology.

Gosnell's work during the 1920s and 1930s used statistical analyses to draw conclusions about voter behavior and political participation. He became known for his research into Chicago politics and the African-American vote; Negro Politicians: The Rise of Negro Politics and Chicago (1935) and Machine Politics: The Chicago Model (1937) were still considered authoritative texts in the 1990s. Gosnell also completed studies of American non-voters and voter turnout in Europe. His work was consistently valued for its "behaviorism" method, which made use of the quantitative models favored by the other social sciences, but modified their tendency towards determinism.

Despite this success, however, the Political Science Department came under increasing criticism from University President Robert Hutchins, who disliked Charles Merriam's political activism. In 1941 Gosnell accepted a job with the Bureau of the Budget. In 1946 he moved to the State Department, where he remained until 1960. He continued to publish on voter motivations, though his case studies of presidential leadership demonstrated a shift away from behaviorism.

During this period Gosnell also served as faculty at American University, where he conducted research on the Soviet Union for their Special Operations Research Office. In 1962 he was invited to teach at Howard University, where his scholarship on African-American politics was particularly admired. Gosnell retired in 1970, but continued to receive accolades for his contribution to the discipline, awarded the Charles E. Merriam Award from the American Political Science Association in 1981. Both APSA and the University of Rochester created fellowships named for him, and by the time of his death in 1997 Gosnell was widely considered to have made quantitative analysis mainstream in political science.

Gosnell was married to Florence Fake, who died in 1991.

The Harold F. Gosnell Papers are organized into nine series:

Series I: Personal and Biographical, contains artwork, address books, clippings, finances, memorabilia, and photos. It includes a draft of Gosnell's autobiography. Material spans 1886-1972 and is organized by subject.

Series II: Correspondence, contains Gosnell's professional, family, and personal correspondence. It is organized alphabetically and spans 1919-1997.

Series III: Academic Administration and Teaching, contains administrative reports, examinations, lectures, student work, and syllabi from Gosnell's time at the University of Chicago (1926-1941), American University (1946-1962), and Howard University (1962-1970). Graded student work and letters of recommendation have been restricted transferred to Series IX. Oversized material has been transferred to Series VIII.

Series IV: Writings, contains books, articles, and reviews written by Gosnell and others. Material is organized by title and by author, and spans 1921-1977.

Series V: Government Work, contains interviews, memoranda, press releases, and reports from Gosnell's work at the Bureau of the Budget and the Department of State, 1941-1960. This series is organized by department.

Series VI: Professional Activities, contains newsletters and correspondence from organizations to which Gosnell belonged. It is arranged by name and spans 1951-1990.

Series VII: Research Files, contains charts, clippings, interviews, memorabilia, newsletters, notes, publications, polls, propaganda, and surveys related to Gosnell's research on public policy and political theory. Oversized material has been transferred to Series VIII. This series is organized by topic and spans the 1910s through the 1970s.

Series VIII: Oversized, contains books, clippings, graphs, electoral maps, and campaigns posters, primarily related to American and British elections. Material has been transferred from Series III and VII. It spans 1922-1940.

Series IX: Restricted, contains graded student work and letters of recommendation.

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

• Names
  • Gosnell, Harold Foote, 1896-
  • Howard University
  • American University (Washington, D.C.). Special Operations Research Office
  • United States. Bureau of the Budget
  • United States. Dept. of State
  • University of Chicago. Political Science Dept.
• Subject
  • African Americans -- Politics and government
  • Chicago (Ill.) -- Politics and government
  • Elections
  • Political parties
  • Political science
  • Political scientists
  • Voting