The Homan Papers

2 files of manuscript, typescript and printed papers:

1. London. Contains drafts, proofs, press-cuttings, correspondence, etc., relating to pieces in Economic Review, New Statesman, California Management Review, etc. Includes pieces by Homan on: Galbraith's Affluent Society; Socialist thought in Great Britain; What is British socialism? An American viewpoint; and letters from Kingsley Martin (1), Graham Hutton (2), J. K. Galbraith (2), and others.

2. Texas. Contains drafts, press-cuttings, correspondence, etc., relating to economic policy 1960 and the condition of Texas 1963-64. Includes papers by Frederick S. Carney, Joe B. Frantz and Homan

Paul Thomas Homan (1893-1969) was born in Indianola, Iowa. He took his AB at Willamette College. During 1914-16 and 1919-20 he held a Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford where he gained a BA in 1919. His time at Oxford was interrupted by attachment to the British Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia and then service with the American Expeditionary Force. He completed a Ph.D. at the Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government in 1926. Between 1921 and 1923 he was manager of the credit department of the Commonwealth National Bank, Kansas, but thereafter held academic posts: instructor in economics at Washington University, St. Louis (1923-25), Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley (1926-27), Assistant Professor of Economics (1927-29) and Professor (1929-47) at Cornell University. Homan spent three years at Brookings during the 1930s, followed by service with wartime agencies during 1941-47. Between 1947 and 1950 he was on the staff of the Council of Economic Advisors to President Truman and then returned to the University of California as Professor of Economics, from which he retired in 1959. He completed his academic career at Southern Methodist University in 1959-63. He was a pragmatist whose abiding interest was the application of economics to the problems of public policy, and his first book Contemporary economic thought (1928) was followed by four co-authored volumes dealing with topics such as the National recovery Administration, the Puerto Rican sugar economy, and the role of government in economic life. From 1941 to 1952 he was managing editor of the American Economic Review. (For an obituary, see American Economic Review, 60 (1970), 523.)

Items in the collection may be consulted for the purpose of private study and personal research, within the controlled environment and restrictions of The Keep's Reading Rooms.

Donated in 1969 by Mrs Matilda Etches Homan, who retains the copyright.

Prepared by John Farrant, September 2002.

An online catalogue is available on The Keep's website.

COPIES FOR PRIVATE STUDY: Subject to copyright, conditions imposed by owners and protecting the documents, digital copies can be made.

PUBLICATION: A reader wishing to publish material in the collection should contact the Head of Special Collections, in writing. The reader is responsible for obtaining permission to publish from the copyright owner.