Albion Woodbury Small
10th President of Colby College
In office
1889–1892
Preceded byGeorge Dana Boardman Pepper
Succeeded byBeniah Longley Whitman
Personal details
Born(1854-05-11)May 11, 1854
Buckfield, Maine, US
DiedFebruary 12, 1926(1926-02-12) (aged 71)
Chicago, Illinois, US
Alma materColby College, 1876
ProfessionSociologist
Signature

Albion Woodbury Small (May 11, 1854 – March 24, 1926) founded the first independent department of sociology in the United States at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, in 1892. He was influential in the establishment of sociology as a valid field of academic study.[1]

Biography

Albion Woodbury Small was born in Buckfield, Maine, to parents Reverend Albion Keith Parris Small and Thankful Lincoln Woodbury. He lived in Bangor, Maine, and then Portland, Maine, where he attended public schools in both places.[2]

He attended Colby University, now known as Colby College, from 1872 until he graduated in 1876.[3] He studied theology from 1876 to 1879 at the Andover Newton Theological School. From 1879 to 1881 he studied at the University of Leipzig and the University of Berlin in Germany history, social economics and politics.[4] While in Germany, he married Valeria von Massow in June 1881,[3] with whom he had one child.

From 1888 to 1889 he studied history at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and was promoted in 1889 with a PhD thesis (The Beginnings of American Nationality) at the same time continuing to teach at Colby College. From 1889 to 1892 he was the 10th president of Colby.

In 1892 he founded the first department of sociology at the University of Chicago. He chaired this department for over 30 years. In 1894 he, along with George E. Vincent, published the first textbook in sociology: An introduction to the study of society. In 1895 he established the American Journal of Sociology. From 1905 to 1925 he served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature at the University of Chicago.

Albion Woodbury Small was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Xi chapter).

Influence on sociology

Albion Small can be attributed with many "firsts" in the field of sociology. In 1892, he helped to create a department of social science at the University of Chicago, which was the first-ever sociology department in the United States.[5] Then, in 1894, along with colleague George E. Vincent, he wrote the first sociology textbook titled An Introduction to the Study of Society.[5] Lastly, he founded the first Sociology Journal in the United States in 1895, the American Journal of Sociology.[5]

Works

  • An Introduction to the Study of Society (1894)
  • General Sociology (1905)
  • Adam Smith and Modern Sociology (1907)
  • The Cameralists (1909)
  • The Meaning of the Social Sciences (1910)
  • Between Eras: From Capitalism to Democracy (1913)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bibliography of Albion Woodbury Small".
  2. ↑ "Albion W. Small". American Sociological Association. June 16, 2009. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Goodspeed, Thomas W. (1926). "Albion Woodbury Small". American Journal of Sociology. 32 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1086/214021. ISSN 0002-9602. JSTOR 2765243. S2CID 143497701.
  4. ↑ Barnes, Harry Elmer (1926). "The Place of Albion Woodbury Small in Modern Sociology". American Journal of Sociology. 32 (1): 15–44. doi:10.1086/214022. JSTOR 2765244. S2CID 143163925.
  5. 1 2 3 Laz, Cheryl (2000). "Small, Albion Woodbury (1854–1926), sociologist | American National Biography". www.anb.org. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1400569. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Retrieved October 10, 2019.

Further reading

  • Morrione, Thomas J. (1967). The Early Life and Works of Albion Woodbury Small. University of New Hampshire. OCLC 6381217.
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