Duke University. Dept. of Economics.

Economics classes were taught at Trinity College, the forerunner of Duke University, as early as the 1899-1900 academic year, but it was not a distinct discipline until 1902 when William Henry Glasson, Ph.D. from Columbia University, came to Durham as Professor of Political Economy and Social Science. In 1908 he became Head of the Department of Economics and Social Science.

The Department of Economics and Social Science was represented in Duke University's first bulletin (1924-1925) as consisting of two branches, Political Science and a combination of Economics and Business Administration. Faculty numbers within the department grew slowly at first, from one in 1899 to two in 1902 and three in 1923. In the late 1920s and the early 1930s the economics branch of the department began to operate more effectively due to the arrival and contributions of the following individuals, Calvin B. Hoover in 1925, Charles E. Landon in 1926, and Earl J. Hamilton in 1927, and in 1925 Robert Wilson who developed what was later (1934) to become the Department of Political Science. Economics and Business Administration were divided into two separate departments in 1967.

Beginning in the 1930s and continuing for several decades afterwards great emphasis was placed upon research despite high teaching load required by faculty members. Importance was also given to identifying weaknesses in the library holdings and promoting the acquisition of new items.

Economics classes were taught at Trinity College, the forerunner of Duke University, as early as the 1899-1900 academic year, but it was not a distinct discipline until 1902 when William Henry Glasson, Ph.D. from Columbia University, came to Durham as Professor of Political Economy and Social Science.