Edwin Francis Gay

Born in Detroit, as the son of a rich businessman,[1] Gay attended schools in the United States and in Switzerland.[2] In 1890, he obtained his A.B. in history and philosophy at the University of Michigan. He returned to Europe to study agriculture, industry, trade and history at universities in Leipzig, Göttingen. Zurich, Berlin and London. In 1892, he married his Michigan classmate Louise Randolph, with whom he shared his research. In 1902, he received his PhD from the University of Berlin under supervision of Gustav Schmoller.

Back in the United States, in 1902, Gay was appointed instructor at the Harvard University, replacing William Ashley. In 1903 he was promoted to Assistant Professor, and in 1906 to Professor in the chair of Economic History at Harvard.

Gay was the first Dean of the Harvard Business School from 1908 to 1919.[3] The Harvard Business School was founded in 1908 and started the first year with 59 students. In the 1920s, there were over 500 students.

He was a founding member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and served as its first elected secretary and treasurer, 1921 – 1933, then as vice-president, until 1944, succeeding co-founder Paul D. Cravath.[4][5]

Gay was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1913.[6] In 1921 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.[7] He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1932.[8] From 1929 onwards, he was the representative for America, and de facto co-chairman, of the International Scientific Committee on Price History.[9]

He was president of the New York Evening Post from 1920 to 1923.[10]

Books, a selection:

• Burritt, A. W., Dennison, H. S., Gay, E. F., Heilman, R. E., & Kendall, H. P. (1918). Profit Sharing, Its Principles and Practice: A Collaboration. Harper & Brothers.[11]
• Gay, Edwin Francis. The rhythm of history. 1923.
• Gay, Edwin Francis, et al. Facts and factors in economic history: articles by former students of Edwin Francis Gay. Harvard University Press, 1932.[12]
• Hamilton, Alexander, Arthur H. Cole, and Edwin Francis Gay. Industrial and Commercial Correspondence of Alexander Hamilton: Anticipating His Report on Manufactures. Augustus M. Kelley, 1968.

Articles, a selection:

• Gay, Edwin Francis. "The Inquisitions of Depopulation in 1517 and the'Domesday of Inclosures'." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 14.1 (1900): 231-303.

About Gay:

• Heaton, Herbert. A scholar in action, Edwin F. Gay. Greenwood Press, 1968.[13]

To his memory, the Edwin F. Gay-Award for Economic History has been created. One of the award winners has been the historian Richard H. Tilly.

• Dean's Office Correspondence Files (Edwin F. Gay, Dean) at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.