Dissertation Information for Louis John Pisha NAME: - Louis John Pisha
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Columbia University (USA) (1991)
ADVISORS: - Susan Otis Thompson
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Phyllis Dain
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Library collections at Harvard, Yale, and Brown from the 1780's to the 1860's
Abstract: From the 1780's to the 1860's, Harvard, Yale, and Brown were three of the leading institutions of higher education in the United States, and their libraries were among the largest academic book collections in the country. During this period Harvard and Yale evolved into universities, adding medical, divinity, law, and scientific schools to their original undergraduate liberal arts colleges. Brown, though nominally a university, remained an undergraduate college throughout this period except for about two decades when the institution included a medical school. The students and faculty of these three universities' several schools and colleges varied in the type and amount of demands they put upon their universities' libraries, and the libraries also varied in their ability to satisfy these demands.
The college libraries remained the largest book collections at each university, and they increased severalfold in size from the 1780's to the 1860's. About half the books in the college libraries were selected and purchased by the colleges' officers; the rest were gifts. The subjects most widely represented in the college libraries did not correspond to the subjects stressed by the undergraduate curricula. However, the teaching methods used with undergraduates rarely required and seldom encouraged them to use library resources. Although the college libraries grew increasingly secular, religion remained among the most important subjects in these collections. The emphasis on religion reflected the personal interests of many of the faculty who were clergy, but did not reflect the wide range of publications which these same individuals produced.
The undergraduates' literary society libraries contained a great variety of popular books, but few on either curricular or practical subjects. The law schools developed distinguished libraries, and the law professors required their students to make much use of these collections. The universities' divinity collections were equally strong and were also heavily used by the divinity students. The scientific libraries held few books but they were carefully selected. The medical libraries, consisting mostly of gifts, were much less satisfactory, but the medical students were not required and had little time to do extra reading.
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MPACT Scores for Louis John Pisha A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:02:04
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