• IdentificationICU.SPCL.WIRTH
  • TitleGuide to the Louis Wirth Papers1918-1952
  • PublisherUniversity of Chicago Library
  • LanguageEnglish
  • Date1918-1952
  • Physical Description34.5 linear ft. (70 boxes)
  • RepositorySpecial Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.
  • AbstractSociologist. The collection contains correspondence, reports, minutes, manuscripts, lecture notes, reprints, manuscripts by others, reprints, reviews, and newspaper clippings. Includes a 1918 term paper on social pathology Wirth wrote as a student for Ernest Burgess. Correspondents include Horace Clayton, Karl Mannheim, Charles Merriam, Gunnar Myrdal, Melchior Palyi, Robert Park, Robert Redfield, Hans Speier, Leopold von Wiese, and others. Contains outline and manuscript chapters of incomplete work, The City. Also includes teaching materials, committee records, and administrative files from the Division of Social Sciences and Department of Sociology while Wirth was at the University of Chicago. Organizations highlighted include the American Sociological Society, the International Sociological Association, the Social Science Research Council, and the Chicago Crime Commission. Topics covered relate to city planning, urban problems, racial discrimination, housing, and education.

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Sociology and Social Welfare

Chicago and Illinois

Architecture and Urban Planning

No restrictions.

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

Louis Wirth (1897 - 1952) was born in Gemunden, Germany, on August 28, 1897. He came to the United States at the age of fourteen. After completing high school in Omaha, he pursued undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Chicago, receiving a Ph.B. degree in 1919 and worked as a social worker from 1919 to 1922 in the delinquent boys' division of the Bureau of Personal Service; the M.A. degree in 1925, and the Ph.D. degree in 1926. Aside from an appointment to Tulane University for the year 1928- 29, he was on the staff of the department of sociology at the University of Chicago continuously since 1926, becoming assistant professor in 1931, associate professor in 1932, and full professor in 1940.

Wirth pursued a varied and productive professional career. His interests ranged widely, covering such fields as urbanization, community study, social planning, housing, social organization, human ecology, race relations, nationalities, minority groups, international relations, social theory, and the sociology of knowledge. In the variety of fields he studied social scientists, scholars, government officials, foundations, research agencies, and action groups often sought his advice and guidance. His writings include several books, of which the first is his justly renowned The Ghetto, and over one hundred learned articles. He was an inspiring and highly effective teacher and mentor, stimulating and guiding a surprisingly large number of graduate students who have since risen to prominent positions in sociology and in other areas. In 1938 he published a book entitled Urbanism as a Way of Life, which argued for urbanism as the prevailing way of life in modern society. Wirth argued that the very size and density of modern cities had changed modern people and their relationships.

His distinguished career is mirrored in the many posts of eminence that he came to occupy. Among them were the following: secretary of the American Sociological Society (1932) and president (1947); regional chairman of the National Resources Planning Board; director of planning, Illinois Post War Planning Commission; consultant and adviser for the Social Science Research Council of the National Resources Planning Board and the Federal Public Housing Authority; president of the American Council on Race Relations; editor, "Sociology Series" of the Macmillan Company; associate editor, American Journal of Sociology; and president, International Association of Sociologists. His election as the first president of the International Association of Sociologists - a position he held at the time of his death - is signal testimony to the high repute that he had achieved in world scholarship.

Wirth died suddenly and unexpectedly one spring day in 1952 in Buffalo, New York at the young age of 55. He had been in Buffalo to speak at a conference on community relations; he collapsed and died following his presentation.

The collection covers Wirth's work from the time of his dismissal from the faculty of Tulane University and his return to the University of Chicago in 1931 to the end of his life. Most of the collection is concerned with Wirth's very active professional life, both in and outside of the University.

It is organized into six series and two addenda. I. General Correspondence; II. Professional Activities and Organizations; III. Manuscripts and Research Material; IV. University of Chicago; V. Newspaper clippings; and VI. Addenda.

The General Correspondence, alphabetically arranged and covering the period from 1931 to 1952, is at its heaviest during the 1940's and early 1950's. As his "general" body of correspondence it relates to the whole range of Wirth's activities and overlaps those specifically listed in subsequent sections of these papers. These subsequent sections also contain additional correspondence of particular pertinence to the matter at hand, and should not be overlooked.

Grouped under Professional Activities and Organizations are a variety of records relating to Wirth's professional life outside of the University of Chicago. Arranged alphabetically by name of organization (usually a committee, institution, board but occasionally by subject) this section contains such data as minutes, reports, correspondence, and other relevant documentation relating to Wirth's participation. There is a heavy emphasis on professional societies and conferences, Wirth having served as president of both the American Sociological Society and the International Sociological Association. The material on the Chicago Crime Commission, the Chicago Plan Commission, the Chicago Urban League, the South Side Planning Board, and the Illinois State Housing Board among others reflects Wirth's involvement in the local affairs of Chicago and Illinois. On a national and international level, the Social Science Research Council, the American Council on Race Relations, UNESCO, and the National Planning Association are among the organizations represented. Throughout this section, city planning, urban problems, racial discrimination, housing, and education are the main themes.

The section on Research, including manuscripts, reprints, book reviews, and related correspondence contains Wirth's own writings, although occasionally there are articles by students and colleagues retained for reference. This material alphabetically arranged covers the period from 1930 to 1952, with an occasional earlier piece such as "Life at the Chicago Public Bathing Beaches," a term paper he wrote as a student in Ernest W. Burgess's Social Pathology class in 1918. The correspondence, comments, and a typewritten copy of Gunner Myrdal's The Negro in America is the only major piece in this section that is not Wirth's. During the last ten years of his life, he projected a major scholarly work on the city. An outline of The City was prepared and a few chapters drafted. Boxes 39-49 contain bibliographies, outlines, and other materials to have been used for the work that was never completed.

Wirth's activities specifically connected with teaching and administrative matters at the University of Chicago are arranged alphabetically in Series IV. As a representative of the Sociology Department, he played a large part in developing a one-year course in the Social Sciences. Wirth's records on the committee charged with this responsibility are included as are other records related to courses he taught, in particular on the Sociology of Knowledge. There are some University Committee records such as the Social Science Research Committee, the Committee on Communication, and the Committee on Values. These records often contain correspondence and minutes.

Series V, Newspaper Clippings, contains clippings which are dated and identified, accumulated by Wirth in the 1930's and early 1940's. Arranged by subject matter, they reflect Wirth's concern with community, national, and international problems.

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

  • Names
    • Cayton, Horace R. (Horace Roscoe), 1903-1970
    • Mannheim, Karl, 1893-1947
    • Merriam, Charles Edward, 1874-1953
    • Myrdal, Gunnar, 1898-
    • Palyi, Melchior, 1892-1970
    • Park, Robert Ezra, 1864-1944
    • Redfield, Robert, 1897-
    • Speier, Hans
    • Wiese, Leopold von, 1876-1969
    • Wirth, Louis, 1897-1952
    • Chicago Crime Commission
    • American Sociological Society
    • International Sociological Association
    • Social Science Research Council (U.S.)
    • University of Chicago -- Administration
    • University of Chicago. Dept. of Sociology
    • University of Chicago. Division of the Social Sciences
    • University of Chicago. Social Science Research Committee
  • Subject
    • Urban policy
    • Sociology, Urban
    • City planning
    • Race discrimination
    • Sociology