Call Number:

UPB 1.9 AmCiv

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center

Extent:

3.25 cubic feet

Language:

English

Date:

1967-1995 (inclusive) and 1949-1996 (bulk)

Abstract:

The American Civilization Department was an interdisciplinary program focused on the study of American culture from 1937 to 1994 at the University of Pennsylvania. The American Civilization Department records documents the administrative activities of the department for the period of 1970 to 1996.

The American Civilization Department was an interdisciplinary program focused on the study of American culture from 1937 to 1994. It was initially started in the Graduate School as an interdepartmental degree program in 1937, with the first chairman being English professor Arthur Hobson Quinn (1875-1960). In the early years, professors combined their courses to form a doctoral program conceived as a combination of history and literature. Students were required to prepare for an examination that combined the fields of American literature and history, English literature and history, and European history. Between 1938 and 1942 the program had a dual chairmanship held by Roy F. Nichols (1896-1973) and E. Sculley Bradley (1897-1987), which emphasized the focus on history and literature. In 1940 the M.A. degree was first offered, and the European history requirement was dropped. The program expanded to the undergraduate college in 1942 under the direction of the same committee as the graduate program, with Bradley as the chairman. The scope of the program was expanded with the inclusion of political science. To obtain the undergraduate degree, students had to complete 32 required course credits in the three departments, with a minimum of eight credits in each. In 1946 the first American Civilization specific course was introduced to the undergraduate program, American Civilization 100: Forces and Ideas in American Life was a senior conference course. Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s the program was continually reorganized to broaden the departments from which students could take courses. With these changes the program was moving towards a more broadly interdisciplinary structure. Anthony N. B. Garvan (1917-1992) was appointed as Fellow in American Civilization in 1949, having been awarded a two-year Rockefeller fellowship to design and teach a basic introductory undergraduate American Civilization course. Garvan was appointed Assistant Professor of American Civilization in 1951.

In 1954 the Carnegie Corporation awarded $150,000 to the American Civilization department to use over five years to develop and integrate the program. This resulted in the establishment of graduate fellowships, invitations to international scholars to teach at Penn, and funded two additional fellowships in the department. At the end of the Carnegie grant in 1960, the American Civilization program was made a department. Garvan was department chair from 1960 - 1969, and instituted changes to the curriculum and faculty. This included graduate courses in comparative cultures and historical archaeology. In 1951 the American Civilization department became the home to American Quarterly when Garvan became editor. The same year the American Studies Association adopted it as its official journal, strengthening the University's ties to the field of American Civilization studies. By the mid-1970s, the department offered an undergraduate program in museum curatorship. During the 1992-1993 academic year, the Dean of the School of Arts and Science met regularly with the School of Arts and Sciences Planning and Priorities Committee to determine the course of the School for the remainder of the twentieth century. This led to the report "Strategic Plan: Priorities for the Twenty-First Century, 1993-2000". Among the recommendations was the closure or merger of several departments. Supported by the President and Provost, the Board of Trustees voted on 1994 January 21 to close the American Civilization Department, effective 1994 June 30. Faculty members were transferred to other departments, with tenure continued. The graduate program and undergraduate studies were reorganized as interdepartmental programs. The interdisciplinary nature of the American Civilization Department makes it difficult to provide a comprehensive list of faculty. Among those who taught in the early years include Arthur Hobson Quinn (1875-1960), Conyers Read (1881-1959), Richard H. Shyrock (1893-1972), Arthur P. Whitaker (1895-1979), Arthur C. Bining (1893-1957), and Leonidas Dodson (1900-1977) from the History Department; Albert C. Baugh (1891-1981), Paul Musser (1892-1951), E. Sculley Bradley (1897-1987), Thomas P. Haviland (1897-1969) and Robert E. Spiller (1896-1988) from the English Department; Philip E. Jacob (1914-1985) from the Political Science Department. Noted faculty who were appointed to the American Civilization Department include Anthony N. B. Garvan (1917-1992), Murray Murphey (1928-2018), John Cotter (1911-1999), Neil Leonard (1927-2012), James Flink (??), Robert Zemsky (1941-), Monte Calvert (??), John Coughey (??), Patrick Malone (??), Melvyn Hammarberg (1938-2016), Gordon Kelley (??) and Drew Gilpin Faust (1947-).

For a fuller history of the early years of the department, consult: Murphey, Murray G., "American Civilization at Pennsylvania." American Quarterly, Summer, 1970, Vol. 22, No. 2, Part 2 (Summer, 1970), pp 489-502.

The American Civilization Department Records documents the activities of the department for the period of 1967 to 1996. The focus of the records is primarily administrative as they relate to the operational aspects of the department. The course files contain paperwork requesting changes to the courses, occasionally syllabi, and class lists (which are closed for 75 years). Fellowship and scholarship files document graduate students who received funding in the department. The majority of files relate to budget planning between 1978 and 1993. There are files related to the department's newsletter, Markings, however this relates to publication and distribution efforts, and does not contain any run of the newsletter. There are also a few faculty files related to their work, student papers, and promotions (student papers and promotion files are closed for 75 years). This collection is not a comprehensive documentation of the department's history. All records covered by FERPA or University Archives protocols related to students and faculty are closed for 75 years.

For additional records related to the American Civilization Department, researchers can consult the Office of the President records (UPA 4), Office of the Provost records (UPA 8), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Correspondence (UPB 7.4), Office of the Secretary records (UPA 8), History Department records (UPB 1.9H), News and Public Affairs records (UPF 8.5), and the Curriculum and Lecture Notes collection (UPW). Additionally, researchers might wish to consult the following personal papers collections: nthony Nicholas Brady Garvan papers (UPT 50 G244),Wallace Evan Davies papers (UPT 50 D257), Conyers Read papers (UPT 50 R282), Robert E. Spiller Papers (UPT 50 S756), and Thomas Childs Cochran papers (UPT 50 C663)

The American Civilization Department records are organized into one series - Administrative Records. This series is arranged alphabetically.