ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202
J. M. GILLETTE PAPERS
COLLECTION: OGL #48
DATES: 1880-1949
SIZE: 19.5 linear feet
INTRODUCTION
ACQUISITION: The J. M. Gillette Papers were deposited in the Orin G.
Libby Manuscript Collection. The acquisition records are unavailable.
ACCESS: Available for inspection under the rules and regulations of
the Department of Special Collections.
RELATED PUBLICATIONS:
Culture Agencies of a Typical Manufacturing Group: South Chicago.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1901.
Call number: HN80.C5 G5
Eighty Years a Plainsman: An Autobiography. by John Morris Gillette,
edited by Kenneth J. Dawes. Grand Forks: UND Alumni Association: 1989.
Call number: HM22. U532 G54 A3 1988
Essentials of Human Personality (Excerpts of his Ph.D. dissertation,
presented to the Chicago Theological Seminary). 1898.
Call number: B824. G54 (Rare Book Collection)
The Family and Society. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1914.
Call number: HQ728. G4
North Dakota Weather and the Rural Economy. Bulletin of the
Department of Sociology, University of North Dakota: 1945.
Call number: HM15. N6 no. 11
North Dakota Farm Enlargement: Reasons and Causes. Bulletin
of the Department of Sociology, University of North Dakota: 1946.
Call number: HM15. N6 no.12
The North Dakota Harvest of the Nonpartisan League. New York: The
Harvest, 1919.
Call number: HD1485. N4 G54x
Poor-Relief and Jails in North Dakota. Quarterly Journal of
the University of North Dakota. vol. 3, no.2: 1913.
Call number: HV98. N9 G5
Problems of a Changing Social Order. New York: American Book Company,
1942.
Call number: HN57. G56
Rural Sociology. New York: Macmillan, 1936.
Call number: HT421. G53 1936
Sociology. Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1916.
Call number: HM66. G56
Social Economics of North Dakota. Minneapolis: Burgess, 1942.
Call number: HC107. N9 G5
Vocational Education. Cincinnati: American Book Company, 1910.
Call number: LC1059. G6
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
John Morris Gillette was born on August 9, 1866, near Maryville, Missouri.
He was the son of William and Jane (Radford) Gillette. He obtained a Bachelor
of Arts degree from Park College in Parkville, Missouri, in 1892. In 1895, he
graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary, in addition to receiving a
Master of Arts degree from Princeton University. Gillette continued his
education with a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Chicago Theological
Seminary in 1898. He earned a second doctorate, this one in sociology, from the
University of Chicago in 1901.
Gillette became an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1895, and served in
Dodge City, Kansas, until 1896. From 1898-1901, he acted as President of
Chadron (Nebraska) State Normal School. On September 4, 1901, he married
Margaret Carolyn Morgan in Chadron. He served as Principal of the Academy for
Young Women in Jacksonville, Illinois, from 1901-1903, before moving to Valley
City, North Dakota, to accept a position at Valley City Normal School. He was a
Professor in history and sociology at Valley City from 1903-1907.
Gillette became an Assistant Professor in sociology and an Instructor in
history at the University of North Dakota in 1907. The following year, he
founded and was named chair of the Department of Sociology. He was also
promoted to Professor. By 1911, the department had grown to such a point that
seventeen courses were part of the curriculum. The department was among the
first on campus to offer graduate degrees; the Universitys first Ph.D.
was granted to George R. Davies in 1914 with a degree in history and sociology.
Davies went on to teach in the Department of Sociology until 1928, when he
resigned to accept a position at the University of Iowa.
A major milestone in Gillettes career was the publication of Rural
Sociology in 1913. This book was the first formal textbook in the field,
won Gillette nation wide acclaim as the founder of this branch of sociology. In
1914, Gillette and the Sociology Club established the University Settlement
House. Sponsored jointly by Gillette and UND President Frank McVey, the house
cared for over eighty needy families.
In later years, Gillette led the Department of Sociology towards a great
emphasis on statistics, while also reintroducing the study of anthropology,
which had not been part of the curriculum since 1907. Gillette was also
involved with an increased emphasis on the study of social work.
Following the retirement of UND President Thomas Kane in 1933, Gillette was
offered the presidency by North Dakota Governor William Langer. After thinking
it over for a while, Gillette turned the offer down, but was successful in
persuading Langer and the Board of Administration to hire John C. West, former
superintendent of Grand Forks public schools.
Gillette was active in a number of academic groups and organizations,
including Phi Beta Kappa, the International Sociological Society, and the
Czechoslovakian National Academy of Agriculture. He was involved with the
American Sociological Society, and served as President of the organization in
1928. He served North Dakota through activity with the North Dakota State
Historical Society, the North Dakota Workmens Compensation and
Unemployment Insurance Division, and the North Dakota State Child Labor
Commission. During the Great Depression, Gillette was the State Supervisor of
Rural Research for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
Gillette was also a social reformer who was a member of the American
Association for Labor Legislation, the National Child Labor Committee, and the
North Dakota Mens League for Womens Suffrage. Gillette was
especially interested in issues surrounding jails and poor farms. His research
was published in a 1913 edition of the Quarterly Journal of the University
of North Dakota. Gillette recommended that poor farms be eliminated, while
also calling for more inspections of jails, and a greater supervision of local
and state charities.
Gillette retired from UND in 1948, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of
Humanities degree in 1949. He died in Grand Forks on September 24, 1949. The
former Chemistry Building was re- dedicated in his honor on October 7, 1983.
Sources:
University of the Northern Plains: A History of the University of North
Dakota, 1883-1958. by Louis Geiger. Grand Forks: UND Press, 1958.
(History of the Department of) Sociology, Anthropology-Archaeology,
Social Work. by Kenneth J. Dawes. Grand Forks: University of North Dakota,
1983.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The J. M. Gillette Papers date from 1880-1949, and have been divided into
two series as follows:
Series I: Correspondence
This series contains Gillettes professional and personal correspondence,
dating from 1895-1949. Box 1, Folder 1 - Box 4, Folder 22
Series II:Research Files, Manuscripts, Publications, and
Miscellaneous
This series is divided into several sections:
Gillettes research files can be found in Boxes 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14, and
15. The vast majority of the files are sociological in nature, although there
are several files related to theology, the University of North Dakota,
agriculture in North Dakota, and the Nonpartisan League.
Manuscripts of various books and scholarly articles written by Gillette are
found in Boxes 9, 10, 11, 14, and 15. This includes drafts of both published
and unpublished works, including Rural Sociology, Eighty Years a
Plainsman, Social and Economic History of North Dakota, and
North Dakota Weather and the Rural Economy.
Reprints of Gillettes articles from scholarly journals are found in
Boxes 13, 15, and 16. Gillette was a prodigious scholar, whose work appeared in
many journals, including Publications of the American Sociological
Society, Quarterly Journal of the University of North Dakota,
North Dakota Historical Quarterly, and American Sociological
Review.
Diaries and appointment books dating from 1894-1920 can be found in Box 7,
although not every year in the date range is included. The diaries record
Gillettes service as a minister in Dodge City, Kansas, his time at the
Chicago Theological Seminary, and his first two years at the University of
North Dakota.
The text for various speeches and presentations delivered by Gillette are
found in Box 13, and Box 12 contains research papers written by Gillettes
sociology students. Most of the student papers date from the 1930s.
Two photographs were separated and added to the Orin G. Libby Photograph
Collection.
BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY
Box 1
Folder
SERIES I: Correspondence
- Letters of recommendation: 1895 - 1903
- 1899 - 1908
- 1909
- 1910
- 1911
- January - June 1912
- July - December 1912
- January - March 1913
- April - August 1913
- September - December 1913
- January - March 1914
- April - August 1914
- September - December 1914
- January - April 1915
- May - August 1915
- September - October 1915
- November - December 1915
- January - February 1916
- March - May 1916
- June - September 1916
- October - December 1916
- January - February 1917
- March - May 1917
- June - September 1917
- October - December 1917
Box 2
Folder
- January - March 1918
- April - July 1918
- August - December 1918
- January - March 1919
- April - August 1919
- September - December 1919
- January - June 1920
- July - December 1920
- January - June 1921
- July - December 1921
- January - May 1922
- June - December 1922
- January - June 1923
- July - December 1923
- January - June 1924
- July - December 1924
- January - March 1925
- April - September 1925
- October - December 1925
- January - April 1926
- May - August 1926
Box 3
Folder
- September - December 1926
- January - April 1927
- May - September 1927
- October - December 1927
- January 1928
- February - March 1928
- April - May 1928
- June - September 1928
- October - December 1928
- January - March 1929
- April - June 1929
- July - September 1929
- October - December 1929
- January - April 1930
- May - September 1930
- October - December 1930
- Mayo Clinic Health Report on, 1930
- January - April 1931
- May - August 1931
- September - December 1931
- January - June 1932
- July - December 1932
- January - April 1933
- May - August 1933
- September - December 1933
Box 4
Folder
- January - April 1934
- May - August 1934
- September - December 1934
- January - March 1935
- April - December 1935
- January - June 1936
- July - December 1936
- 1937
- 1938
- 1939
- 1940
- 1941
- 1942
- 1943
- 1944
- 1945
- 1946
- 1947
- 1948
- 1949
- Correspondence regarding Gillette sent to Dr. P. A. Munch from J. M.
Reinhardt
- Post-mortem correspondence and honors regarding Gillette
Box 5
Folder
SERIES II:Research Files, Manuscripts, Publications, and Miscellaneous
- University of North Dakota salary survey: 1914 - 1932.
- Survey on the effects of the World War II on Grand Forks churches and
North Dakota city schools: 1942
- Survey on attitudes of the liquor problem
- Casselton (North Dakota) church and school survey: 1936
- Deaths and death rates: 1932-1934
- Village statistics
- North Dakota farm tenancy statistics
- Population loss and gain percentages: 1920 - 1930
- Immigration statistics
- North Dakota death rate statistics and charts
- Tabular material on rural health problems
- North Dakota temperature and rainfall statistics and correlations: 1892 -
1936
- Growth of cities in the United States: 1880 - 1910
- Gillette's anthropometrics
- Income statistics of the United States: 1930
- Tabular material on population loss in urban areas: 1920 - 1930
- Unsorted sundry and unlabeled charts and statistics
- North Dakota agricultural and climatic charts and statistics
- Oakes (North Dakota) survey: 1930s
- Agricultural statistics: 1890 - 1930
- Miscellaneous data
- Report of the Socio-Economic Committee of the North Dakota State Planning
Board: 1935
- Village population statistics: 1920
- Statistics regarding the efficiency of North Dakota schools
- Precipitation data: 1903 - 1924
- North Dakota State Planning Board maps
- FERA DRS 77 survey of rural relief in North Dakota: 1934.
- FERA DRS 190 survey of changes in the rural relief population of North
Dakota
- North Dakota Socio-Economic submergence survey: 1939
Box 6
Folder
- Instructions concerning methods of research on FERA surveys
- Social psychology
- Origin of religion
- Cooley: Social organization
- The rural church
- Kidd, Comte, Spencer, Ward, Cooley
- Spencer: Theory of progress
- Vocational education
- Biblical sociology
- Social movements
- Ethnology
- Sociology of Lester Ward
- Statistics lectures
- Lectures on the problems of child welfare
- Lectures on the problems of child welfare
- Poor relief and jails in North Dakota
- Population statistics and charts: 1900 - 1910
- Population statistics and charts: 1910 - 1920
- Population statistics and charts: 1920 - 1930
- North Dakota county survey, 1907 - 1911, and 1922 - 1923 regarding
delinquency, defects, and dependents
Box 7
Folder
- Financial report on conditions by county in North Dakota: 1937
- FERA N - DRS-2 Project Part 1, survey of rural education in North Dakota:
1935
- FERA N - DRS-2 Project Part 2, survey of rural education in North Dakota:
1935
- "The Conception of Personality in Modern Philosophy," Gillette's
Ph.D. Dissertation, Chicago Theological Seminary: 1899
- Diary and notebook: 1894 - 1903
- Appointment and diary books: 1903, 1907 -1908
- Appointment and diary books: 1911, 1914, 1915, 1917 1919, 1920
- Early notes and sermons
- "How the Rev. Horatio Jenks Converted Dry as Dust by Laudable
Malady
- Stories and essays of Gillette's seminary days
- Sermons: 1890s
- Notebook on Salmagundi, Union Theological Seminary: 1893
- Theological notes: circa 1900
- Psychology notebook: 1894
- Child study and record of Margaret Gillette (daughter): 1904
- Child study notebook: 1904
- Miscellaneous notebook: 1892
- Miscellaneous notebook: 1904
- Miscellaneous lectures and talks
Box 8
Folder
- Talk on unknown nobodies
- Songs composed by Gillette
- Short speeches
- Class records: 1908 - 1920
- Notes on Haye's sociology
- Notes on Blackmar and Gillian's sociology
- Lectures on Thompson's Population Problems
- Lectures on the sociology of conflict
- Lectures on the methods of sociological investigation
- Lectures on the sociology of education and lectures on social legislation
- Lectures on the family
- Anthropology lectures
- Social problems
- Population
- Miscellaneous rural sociology notes
- Race problems
- Race notes
- Neighborhood activities
- Social control and social evolution
Box 9
Folder
- Manuscript: Social Conflict and War by Gillette
- American Sociological Society abstracts
- Essays and stories of personal events in Gillettes life
- Speeches, studies and writings of Gillette
- Book reviews written by Gillette
- Essay: How I Became Interested in Sociology by Gillette
- Articles, essays, and manuscripts written by Gillette
- Manuscript: Rural Sociology (incomplete)
- Manuscript: Rural Sociology, third edition, 1936
- Miscellaneous
- Miscellaneous (including correspondence)
Box 10
Folder
- Manuscript: Eighty Years a Plainsman (Autobiography) 1945-46 with
revisions from 1949
- Manuscript: "One World Only?: A Symposium of Shibboleths."
- Manuscript: "One World Only?: A Symposium of Shibboleths." (copy
2)
- Manuscript: "Mounds and Mound Builders of the U. S."
- Vera Kelsey manuscript, Labor in China
- Manuscript: "Social and Economic History of North Dakota," ch.
1-3
- Manuscript: "Social and Economic History of North Dakota," ch.
4-8
- Manuscript: "Social and Economic History of North Dakota," ch.
9-11
- Manuscript: "Social and Economic History of North Dakota," ch.
12-14
- Manuscript: "Social and Economic History of North Dakota,"
Miscellaneous notes and charts
- Manuscript: "North Dakota Weather and the Rural Economy"
Box 11
Folder
- Manuscript and research: "A Quarter Century of Trends in a Great
Plains State: North Dakota"
- Manuscript and research on Bowman, Burleigh, and Grand Forks counties:
"North Dakota Farm Enlargement: Reasons and Causes"
- Grant County church surveys
- Grand Forks County church and community surveys
- Kidder County church and community surveys
- Rolette County church and community surveys
- Sheridan County church and community surveys
- Stark County church and community surveys
- Wells County church and community surveys
Box 12
Sociology Student Term Papers Written for Gillette: 1930s-1940s
Box 13
Folder
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Agriculture
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Anthropology
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Education and society
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Education and rural society
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: The family (a social unit)
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: North Dakota
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Politics
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Population distribution,
fluctuation and growth
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Population, continued
- Miscellaneous correspondence and publications: Personal events
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Public health
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Regionalism
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: The rural church
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Rural society
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Rural society
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Sociology
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Teachers and teaching
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Teaching social sciences
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: The university and society
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Vocational aptitude
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Woman
- Miscellaneous publications and presentations: Youth
- Miscellaneous
Box 14
Folder
- Essays on different aspects of population
- Manuscript: Mounds and Mound Builders
- Student Papers: Anonymous - L
- Student Papers: M - P
- Students' Papers: R - W
- Manuscript and research: Population
- University of North Dakota Extension Division
- Publication: Rural Sociology, chapters 1-13
- Publication: Rural Sociology, chapters 15-31
- Urban sociology
- Manuscript: "The City"
- North Dakota Agricultural College
- Family adjustments during wartime
- World War II maps
- Social ethics newspaper clippings
- Home Owners Loan Cooperation case
- War aims and peace newspaper clippings
- University employee salary information
- Normal School extensions
- Miscellaneous correspondence and essays
Box 15
Folder
- Letters, brochures and articles concerning organizations and associations:
1910 - 1947
- Letters and articles concerning heart disease: 1908 - 1927
- Letters and articles relating to Rural Sociology: 1911 - 1948
- Papers relating to the presidency of Thomas F. Kane at the University of
North Dakota: 1918 - 1933
- General correspondence: March 10, 1917 - November 25, 1918
- Student paper: "Is There a law of Migration?" by W. C. Hanson,
1935
- Correspondence, Department of Sociology, University of Colorado: December
15 1937 - May 21, 1938
- Gillette appreciation dinner speeches, telegrams, and newspaper clippings:
November 13, 1940
- General correspondence: 1941 - 1945.
- Correspondence with U. S. Home Owners' Loan Corporation, concerning home
loan: September 26, 1934 - October 2, 1935
- Miscellaneous, notes, outlines, fragments of Eighty Years a
Plainsman
- Sample incidents in Eighty Years a Plainsman
- Some chapters of Eighty Years a Plainsman
- "Plainsman Episodes"
- Eighty Years a Plainsman: Tentative list of chapters from the 1949
revision
- Miscellaneous notebooks, and a report written by Catherine Davies
- Fragments from "Plainsman Episodes"
- Cape collection regarding Gillette
- Correspondence about Nonpartisan League (5 items): 1918-1919
- Notes and writings about Nonpartisan League (11 items)
- Pamphlets about "Townleyism"and Nonpartisan League (11 items)
- Newspaper clippings about the Nonpartisan League
- Publication: Ancestorless Man: The Anthropological Dilemma.
Scientific Monthly: December 1943
- Publication: Can We Plan Successfully for Normal Society?
Sociology and Social Research: November-December 1939
- Publication: Changing Relations Between Town and Country.
Publications of the American Sociological Society: 1927
- Publication: Church Membership in North Dakota. Quarterly
Journal of the University of North Dakota: April 1925
- Publication: City Trend of Population and Leadership.
Quarterly Journal of the University of North Dakota: October 1910
- Publication: Community Concepts. Social Forces: June
1926
- Publication: Conditions and Needs of Country Life. American
Academy of Political and Social Science: March 1912
- Publication: The Conservation of Talent Through Utilization.
Scientific Monthly: November 1915
- Publication: Culture Agencies of a Typical Manufacturing Group: South
Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1901.
- Publication: Democracy and Partisan Politics. Publications
of the American Sociological Society: 1919
- Publication: Discussion and Reports: Multiple After-Images.
Psychological Review: May 1901
- Publication: The Drift to the City in Relation to the Rural
Problem. Publications of the American Sociological Society: 1911
- Publication: Economic and Social Background of the University of
North Dakota. Quarterly Journal of the University of North Dakota:
October 1922
- Publication: Eighty Years a Plainsman. Edited by Kenneth J. Dawes.
University of North Dakota: 1988
- Publication: Essentials of Human Personality (Excerpts of his Ph.D.
dissertation, presented to the Chicago Theological Seminary). 1898
- Publication: An Examination of Criteria for the Determination of
Normal Society. American Sociological Review: August 1937
- Publication: Extent of Personal Vocabularies and Cultural
Control. Scientific Monthly: November 1929
- Publication: Farming Hazards in the Drought Area. By R.S. Kifer and
H.L. Stewart. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938.
- Publication: Immigration and the Increase of Population in the
United States. Social Forces: September 1926
- Publication: The Improvement of the Rural Communication
System. Quarterly Journal of the University of North Dakota:
October 1920
- Publication: Insanity in North Dakota. Quarterly Journal of
the University of North Dakota: January 1915
- Publication: Measure of Rural Migration and Other Factors of Urban
Increase in the United States. Quarterly Publication, American
Statistical Association: September 1914
- Publication: Mitigating Rural Isolation. Quarterly Journal
of the University of North Dakota: January 1917
- Publication: Mounds and Mound Builders of the United States.
North Dakota Historical Quarterly: July 1944
- Publication: Nature and Limits of Social Phenomena. Social
Forces: June 1927
- Publication: North Dakota Farm Enlargement: Reasons and
Causes. Bulletin 12, Department of Sociology and Anthropology,
University of North Dakota: January 1946
- Publication: North Dakota Weather and the Rural Economy.
North Dakota History: January 1945
- Publication: Notes on After-Images. The Psychological
Review: July 1890
- Publication: Notes on Breaking the Human Life Cycle.
Bulletin 13, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of North
Dakota: January 1946
Box 16
Folder
- Publication: On Breaking the Human Life Cycle. Sociology
and Social Research: November-December 1946
- Publication: An Outline of Social Study for Elementary
Schools. The American Journal of Sociology: January 1914
- Publication: Perspective of Public Health in the United
States. Scientific Monthly: September 1941
- Publication: Presidential Addresses: Urban Influence and
Selection. Publications of the American Sociological Society:
1929
- Publication: Quest for a Rejuvenine. Bulletin 10,
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of North Dakota: June
1945
- Publication: Reconstruction of History for Teaching Purposes.
The School Review: October 1909
- Publication: Rural Communities. Studies in Social Science, No.4.
Edited by William I. Thomas. Chicago: Zalaz Corporation, 1915.
- Publication: The Scope and Methods of Instruction in Rural
Sociology. Publications of the American Sociological Society:
March 1917
- Publication: Social and Economic Background of the University of
North Dakota in the Eighties of Last Century. Quarterly Journal of the
University of North Dakota: July 1923
- Publication: Social Economics of North Dakota. Minneapolis:
Burgess, 1942
- Publication: Social-Economic Submergence in a Plains State.
Rural Sociology: March 1940
- Publication: Sociologie Venkova. 1928 [Czech translation of
Rural Sociology]
- Publication: Sociology as a High School Subject.
Educational Review: March 1913
- Publication: Some Population Shifts in the United States,
1930-1940. American Sociological Review: October 1941
- Publication: A Study in Social Dynamics: A Statistical Determination
of the Rate of Natural Increase, and of the Factors Accounting for the Increase
of Population in the United States. Quarterly Publications of the
American Statistical Association: December 1916
- Publication: Training the ?Fittest: School and
Society: February 25, 1922
- Publication: The University in the Service of Society.
Quarterly Journal of the University of North Dakota: July 1917
- Publication: The Vocational Concept. Publications of the
American Sociological Society: 1918
- Publication: Woman and Her Future. Quarterly Journal of the
University of North Dakota: January 1918
SEPARATIONS RECORD
Two photographs were separated and added to the Orin G. Libby Photograph
Collection
OGL#48-1 Mel H. Ruder, United States Navy
OGL#48-2 Dr. J. M. Gillette
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