Spencer Foundation project : oral history, 1981-1985.

Scope and Contents

The personal history of Lyle Manley Spencer (1911-1968) and the institutional histories of Science Research Associates and the Spencer Foundation offer fascinating insights into the behavioral sciences, their internal intellectual development, their role in the field of education, and the ways in which research results have been marketed. From the early development of testing and measurement the accounts move to the role of the social sciences and social scientists during the Second World War and its effects. Following that war came the establishment of interdisciplinary programs in the social sciences at Harvard and the University of Chicago, the development of educational testing and its marketing. The discussion of the establishment of the Spencer Foundation, its purposes and granting policies, highlights the history of research, theory and method in the social sciences. There is material also on the life and career of Lyle Spencer. Collection is comprised of transcripts, audio cassettes, and digital audio of all recordings found on the cassettes. Participants and transcript pagination: J. Myron Atkin, 50; Richard C. Atkinson, 28; Rebecca Barr and Robert Dreeben, 36; Robert H. Bauernfeind, 45; Charles Bidwell, 29; Frank L. Bixby, 81; Benjamin Bloom, 78; Robert K. Burns, 65; Robert Calfee, 50; Kathleen Carlson, 51; William V. Clemans, 60; Jewell Cobb, 17; I. Bernard Cohen, 33; Lawrence A. Cremin, 70; Esther Diamond, 77; Sanford M. Dornbusch, 72; Frederick Ellett, 56; David Ericson, 39; Susan Ervin-Tripp, 44; Marion Faldet, 240; John Flanagan, 67; Robert L. French, 81; Nathaniel Gage, 30; Howard Gardner, 45; John Gardner, 30; John I. Goodlad, 85; Patricia A. Graham, 60; Daniel Griffiths, 31; James W. Guthrie, 25; Irving B. Harris, 49; Alan and Joellen Hartley, 71; Dean R. Hoge, 53; Willie T. Howard, 39; Harold Howe II, 65; Alex Inkeles, 54; H. Thomas James, 280; Morris Janowitz, 29; Francis Keppel, 49; Stephen J. Knezevich, 50; Frederic Kuder, 63; Vernon F. Larsen, 69; T. Vincent Learson, 80; Hope Leichter, 84; Jerre Levy, 48; Gardner Lindzey, 90; Dan Lortie, 27; Eleanor Maccoby, 40; James G. March, 34; Edith Maris, 119; David C. McClelland, 36; Stanley Moore, 57; Lloyd M. Morrisett, 63; Stanley Nollen, 40; John J. O'Keefe, 58; Robert Pace, 55; Jean Palormo, 36; Donald Parker, 57; Donald C. Platten, 68; George A. Ranney, Jr., 30; Diane Ravitch, 50; David Riesman, 39; William Rowher, 48; Farwell Smith, 60; Catherine Spencer, 95; David Hill Spencer, 60; Lyle Spencer, Jr., 104; Julian Stanley, 115; Thelma Thurstone, 57; Philip Michael Timpane, 43; David Tyack, 37; Ralph W. Tyler, 71; Leigh VanAusdall, 63; Rolf Weil, 45; Hans Weiler; Franklin Williams, 66. There is also a recording of interviewer Isabel Grossner dictating notes about the administration of the oral history project.

Subjects

• Education--Research.
• Endowment of research.
• Endowments--Officials and employees.
• Endowments.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Science Research Associates.
• Social sciences.
• Spencer, Lyle Manley, 1911-1968.
• Spencer Foundation.