Bogardus, Emory S. (Emory Stephen), 1882-1973

Dr. Emory Stephen Bogardus was the founder of the Department of Sociology and the School of Social Work, Dean Emeritus of The Graduate School at the University of Southern California, and world-renowned authority on "social distance". Begun in 1926 and completed in 1967, Dr. Bogardus' monumental study of "social distance" involved interviewing more than 8000 persons to survey cultural and ethnic attitudes in the U.S. Rated as the only project of its kind ever undertaken, the lengthy study resulted in the development of the famed Bogardus Ethnic Distance Scale, used the world over. With the help of professors from 25 colleges and universities, persons were interviewed in 1926, 1946, 1956, and 1966. Conclusions of the study were that brotherhood and sympathetic understanding had increased progressively during that 40-year period. A native of Belvedere, Ill., Bogardus was born on February 21, 1882, and earned his A.B. (1908) and A.M. (1909) from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. (1911) from the University of Chicago. He had been accorded honorary Degrees by USC, the University of Arizona, the University of Redlands and Boston University. Dr. Bogardus was invited to join the faculty of USC in 1911. The invitation came from Warren Bovard, then President of USC. Serving for 42 years as a fulltime faculty member or administrator, Dr. Bogardus continued in retirement to have an office on the USC campus and to visit it at least once a week until a few months before his death in August 1973. Dr. Bogardus founded USC's Department of Sociology in 1915 and the University's School of Social Work in 1921. He was the first Dean of the School of Social Work and the second Dean of The Graduate School, where he is credited with having made significant contributions to solid graduate education. In addition to serving for a number of years as USC's University Editor, Dr. Bogardus is remembered as the founder of the Journal of Sociology and Social Research, which he edited for forty-five years, and was editor emeritus from 1961-73. He also was the founder of Alpha Kappa Delta, National Honor Society in Sociology. Dr. Bogardus was a charter member of USC's chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, all-University honor society which was founded in 1924. A member of many local and national professional societies, Dr. Bogardus contributed hundreds of articles to national journals in his field, dealing with such subjects as social theory, race relations, social research methods, personality and leadership, cooperatives, community organization, social control, social welfare and social work, and public opinion. He was the author of more than 24 books, some of which have been used as texts. A number were translated into several foreign languages including Chinese and Japanese. During his later years he wrote several books of poems, specializing in sonnets. Dr. Bogardus died in Los Angeles on August 21, 1973.

From the description of Emory Bogardus papers, 1911-1973. (San Leandro Community Library). WorldCat record id: 777652153

Biographical note

Dr. Emory Stephen Bogardus was the founder of the Department of Sociology and the School of Social Work, Dean Emeritus of The Graduate School at the University of Southern California, and world-renowned authority on "social distance". Begun in 1926 and completed in 1967, Dr. Bogardus' monumental study of "social distance" involved interviewing more than 8000 persons to survey cultural and ethnic attitudes in the U.S. Rated as the only project of its kind ever undertaken, the lengthy study resulted in the development of the famed Bogardus Ethnic Distance Scale, used the world over. With the help of professors from 25 colleges and universities, persons were interviewed in 1926, 1946, 1956, and 1966. Conclusions of the study were that brotherhood and sympathetic understanding had increased progressively during that 40-year period.

A native of Belvedere, Ill., Bogardus was born on February 21, 1882, and earned his A.B. (1908) and A.M. (1909) from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. (1911) from the University of Chicago. He had been accorded honorary Degrees by USC, the University of Arizona, the University of Redlands and Boston University.

Dr. Bogardus was invited to join the faculty of USC in 1911. The invitation came from Warren Bovard, then President of USC. Serving for 42 years as a fulltime faculty member or administrator, Dr. Bogardus continued in retirement to have an office on the USC campus and to visit it at least once a week until a few months before his death in August 1973. Dr. Bogardus founded USC's Department of Sociology in 1915 and the University's School of Social Work in 1921. He was the first Dean of the School of Social Work and the second Dean of The Graduate School, where he is credited with having made significant contributions to solid graduate education. In addition to serving for a number of years as USC's University Editor, Dr. Bogardus is remembered as the founder of the Journal of Sociology and Social Research, which he edited for forty-five years, and was editor emeritus from 1961-73. He also was the founder of Alpha Kappa Delta, National Honor Society in Sociology. Dr. Bogardus was a charter member of USC's chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, all-University honor society which was founded in 1924. A member of many local and national professional societies, Dr. Bogardus contributed hundreds of articles to national journals in his field, dealing with such subjects as social theory, race relations, social research methods, personality and leadership, cooperatives, community organization, social control, social welfare and social work, and public opinion. He was the author of more than 24 books, some of which have been used as texts. A number were translated into several foreign languages including Chinese and Japanese. During his later years he wrote several books of poems, specializing in sonnets.

Dr. Bogardus died in Los Angeles on August 21, 1973.

From the guide to the Emory Bogardus papers, 1911-1973, (USC Libraries Special Collections)

Manuel Conrad Elmer was born in 1886 and spent his youth in southern Wisconsin. He received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and mathematics from Northwestern College, in Naperville, IL in 1911. In 1912, he received a master’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois. Receiving encouragement from David Kinley at the University of Illinois, Elmer matriculated at the recently established Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in 1914, writing a dissertation entitled Social Surveys of Urban Communities.

During Elmer’s time at the University, the Sociology department, under the directorship of Albion Small, was moving in the direction of reconciling general theoretical and philosophical concerns with a growing awareness of the need for empirical data and field research. W.I. Thomas’ monograph: The Polish Peasant in Europe and America was a groundbreaking move toward placing a variety of data sources at the center of a sociological study and developing analytical tools sufficient to draw conclusions from the information gathered. This impetus would come to fruition at the University of Chicago in the collaboration between Ernest W. Burgess and Robert Park between 1916 and 1934.

Given this developing intellectual current within the department, M.C. Elmer’s own work was underappreciated by the faculty at Chicago. According to Martin Bulmer, the sort of social research initiated by Thomas and developed at Chicago following his departure was “distinguished [from social survey work] by its greater scope, its formulation of hypotheses or propositions about social action, and the attempt to formulate theories or laws to explain social phenomena.” Elmer’s difficulties at Chicago may be also explained, in part, by the close relationship between social survey work at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and progressive social reform movements. Though Elmer himself recognized the value of standardized methods of data collection and of integrating statistical analyses into his conclusions, the close historical relationship between his chosen method and political activism may have given the impression that it was insufficiently objective for the intellectual climate of the day. Whatever the cause, Elmer found himself spending a great deal of time at Chicago attempting to justify his chosen research orientation. Burgess and Park themselves had considered using social survey methods during the early phase of their collaboration, but soon abandoned them in favor of direct observation of social phenomena and the utilization of other forms of data such as censuses and maps. Elmer, for his part, continued making social surveys throughout his career, and did, in fact, link them at times with various political and social welfare causes.

M.C. Elmer’s first academic appointment was at Fargo College in Fargo, North Dakota in 1914. While in Fargo, he began a correspondence with Franklin H. Giddings of Columbia University. Giddings provided early advice and support for Elmer’s work, though the two did not meet until 1931, the year of Giddings’ death. While in Fargo, Elmer engaged in survey work of the area, some of which was linked with a political campaign to decrease the incidence of infanticide by redefining the legal status of children born out of wedlock.

After two years at Fargo College, Elmer took a position at the University of Kansas. Here, he continued his work on social surveys and developed some early interest in the area of criminology which did not come to fruition. In 1919, after three years at the University of Kansas, Elmer took a professorship at the University of Minnesota, where he would spend the next seven years. While in Minnesota, Elmer began research work on women in industry and juvenile delinquency.

Following this, Elmer accepted an offer to reorganize the Department of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. He was appointed head of the department and remained at Pittsburgh for the remainder of his career. Here, his interests in the sociology of the family developed, culminating in two books, Family Adjustment and Social Change (1932) and Sociology of the Family (1945). While at Penn, he also co-authored a textbook with Verne Wright: General Sociology: An Introductory Book. In 1931, he helped found the Graduate Division of Social Work at Pittsburgh and served as its head from 1932 until 1938. He died in 1988.

From the guide to the Elmer, Manuel Conrad. Papers, 1907-1980, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)