PDF (1941) - CaltechCampusPubs

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CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
nearly all the available time and money, leaving the humanities to
take what is left, which often turns out to be very little.
The California Institute has been a pioneer in recognizing the
desirability of providing for a generous amount of instruction in the
humanities. The faculty, in thorough sympathy with this aim, has
cooperated by eliminating some of the more specialized technical
subjects commonly included in undergraduate courses. As a result,
it has been found possible to require every student to take, in each of
his four undergraduate years, one or more courses of a humanistic
character. These courses in the Division of the Humanities cover the
field of English and foreign literatures, European and American history,
philosophy and social ethics, economics (including industrial
relations) and government. All of them are so planned and articulated
that the student obtains a solid grounding, and not merely the superficial
acquaintance which is too often the outcome of a free elective
system. The standards of intellectual performance in these studies are
maintained on the same plane as in the professional subjects.
One of the largest and most attractive buildings on the Institute
campus is devoted to the work in literature, languages, philosophy,
economics, history and government. This Hall of the Humanities,
erected in 1928, was given by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph B. Dabney, of
Los Angeles. It contains lecture rooms, a room for the exhibition
of pictures and other works of art, a library-.-reading room, a large
senior room, conference rooms, and offices, together with a commodious
lounge which opens upon a walled garden of olive trees. In
connection with the acceptance of this gift, a special endowment
fund of $400,000 was raised for the support of instruction in the
humanistic fields, this amount being subscribed by several friends of
the Institute. In 1937 an additional endowment of $750,000 was
received for the same purpose from a donor who desires to remain
anonymous.
In 1939 the Industrial Relations Section was established for a
five-year experimental period. Financial support is provided by a
generous grant from the Earhart Foundation of Detroit and by con-