Wharton School. Industrial Research Unit

The Industrial Research Unit of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1921 as the Industrial Research Department with a mission to "study the economic and social problems of business." Sponsored by the Trustees of the University and financially assisted by the Carnegie Corporation, the Department worked in close relationship with a group of representative Philadelphia firms, which furnished data for research and analysis. From its inception to World War II, the Department, under the direction of two faculty members, Joseph H. Willits and Anne Bezanson, attracted world-wide attention for its pioneering studies of industrial relations. Its research results were well received by employer associations, government agencies, and international organizations. Major research associates working under the two directors during this period were C. Canby Balderston, Hiram S. Davis, Eleanor L. Dulles, Marion Elderton, W.E. Fisher, Miriam Hussey, Gladys L. Palmer, and George W. Taylor.

Budgetary problems after the War caused a restructuring of the institution. In 1953, the Department became a unit of the Wharton School's Department of Industry (later known as the Department of Management). Gladys L. Palmer was appointed director of the newly formed Industrial Research Unit. The Unit made new progress in areas of labor mobility, pricing, and productivity. In 1964, Herbert R. Northrup succeeded Palmer as IRU director. Under his leadership, the Unit gained resources to fund new initiatives. By the summer of 1968, the Unit completed two book series, the Racial Policies of American Industry series and the Studies of Negro Employment, and established three new series--the Labor Relations and Public Policy Series, the Multinational Industrial Relations Series, and the Manpower and Human Resources Studies.

...