Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1913-1947 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
George Elton Mayo (1880-1949) was born in Adelaide, Australia. He was educated at Queen's School and the Collegiate School of St. Peter and began training in medicine. This was never completed and between 1903 and 1905 he spent time in West Africa and London where he taught English at the Working Men's College. In 1907 he returned to university in Adelaide, studying philosophy and psychology. He was appointed foundation lecturer in mental amd moral philosophy at the new University of Queensland in Brisbane and held its first Chair of Philosophy, 1919-1923.
Elton Mayo married Dorothea McConnel in 1913 and their daughters, Patricia and Gael were born in 1915 and 1921. Throughout their marriage they corresponded during their frequent and lengthy separations and a correpondence was also maintained with Patricia, while she was in England.
While at Brisbane, Mayo studied nervous breakdown and with T H Mathewson, and pioneered the treatment of shell-shock. Mayo's observation of the high level of industrial strife and political conflict in Australia led him to formulate an analogy between war neurosis and the psychological causes of industrial unrest. Arguing that the worker's morale depended on his perception of the social function of his work, Mayo believed that the solution to industrial unrest lay in sociological research and industrial management, not radical politics. Mayo travelled to the USA in 1922 where a Rockefeller grant enabled him as a research associate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School to investigate high labour turnover at a textile mill. The results of the work led to his appointment as associate professor at the Harvard School of Business Administration in 1926. Mayo became Professor of Industrial Research in 1929. While at Harvard Mayo was closely involved with the investigations into the personal and social factors determining work output at the Western Electric Company's Chicago Plant (the Hawthorne experiments). The results were groundbreaking studies in modern social research.
Mayo retired from Harvard in 1947 and retired to England were he died in 1949 in Guildford, Surrey.
Archival history
GB 0097 MAYO 1913-1947 Collection 3 boxes Mayo , George Elton , 1880-1949 , sociologist
George Elton Mayo (1880-1949) was born in Adelaide, Australia. He was educated at Queen's School and the Collegiate School of St. Peter and began training in medicine. This was never completed and between 1903 and 1905 he spent time in West Africa and London where he taught English at the Working Men's College. In 1907 he returned to university in Adelaide, studying philosophy and psychology. He was appointed foundation lecturer in mental amd moral philosophy at the new University of Queensland in Brisbane and held its first Chair of Philosophy, 1919-1923.
Elton Mayo married Dorothea McConnel in 1913 and their daughters, Patricia and Gael were born in 1915 and 1921. Throughout their marriage they corresponded during their frequent and lengthy separations and a correpondence was also maintained with Patricia, while she was in England.
While at Brisbane, Mayo studied nervous breakdown and with T H Mathewson, and pioneered the treatment of shell-shock. Mayo's observation of the high level of industrial strife and political conflict in Australia led him to formulate an analogy between war neurosis and the psychological causes of industrial unrest. Arguing that the worker's morale depended on his perception of the social function of his work, Mayo believed that the solution to industrial unrest lay in sociological research and industrial management, not radical politics. Mayo travelled to the USA in 1922 where a Rockefeller grant enabled him as a research associate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School to investigate high labour turnover at a textile mill. The results of the work led to his appointment as associate professor at the Harvard School of Business Administration in 1926. Mayo became Professor of Industrial Research in 1929. While at Harvard Mayo was closely involved with the investigations into the personal and social factors determining work output at the Western Electric Company's Chicago Plant (the Hawthorne experiments). The results were groundbreaking studies in modern social research.
Mayo retired from Harvard in 1947 and retired to England were he died in 1949 in Guildford, Surrey.
Deposited by the family
The papers comprise personal correspondence between G Elton Mayo and his wife, Dorothea and his daughters, Patricia and Gael, 1913-1947. Dorothea Mayo expected her husband to write to her daily whenever he was away and the result is a series of diary style letters sent during their periods of separation. The fullest series are for 1922-1923 when Mayo visited the USA prior to settling in Philadelphia and for the period from 1929 to 1937 when Dorothea remained in England with their daughters.
The second series of correspondence comprises letters to his daughters while they continued their education at Bedales in England and during World War Two. The correspondence is mainly with his eldest daughter, Patricia, though there is some correspondence with Gael and also Patricia's first husband, Walter Goetz.
Both series of letters contain detail on Mayo's work and life at Harvard, including meetings with colleagues, lectures and research projects. In addition there is discussion of books, ideas and people which influenced his work and thinking. The World War Two letters include comments on the war from the USA and detail events leading to Gael's escape from behind German lines in France with her son and first husband.
The papers are divided into 3 series:
Mayo 1/1-20 Letters from G Elton Mayo to Dorothea Mayo, 1913-1937;
Mayo 2/1-12 Letters from G Elton Mayo to his daughters, Patricia and Gael, 1929-1947;
Mayo 3/1-3 Offprints and SSRC report on the Mayo papers at the Baker Library, Harvard.
Open
Most items can be photocopied, subject to handling and copyright restrictions. No material may be published without the prior permission of both the copyright holder and the Library. All applications for publication must be made to the Archivist in the first instance, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user.
English
Online catalogue available.
Sources: Copied from LSE Archives CALM database by Anna Towlson.
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Feb 2008 Business Economic history Economics Enterprises Harvard University International conflicts Labour relations Mayo , George Elton , 1880-1949 , sociologist Pennsylvania University Social policy Sociology War World wars (events) World War Two (1939-1945) Wars (events)
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Deposited by the family
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The papers comprise personal correspondence between G Elton Mayo and his wife, Dorothea and his daughters, Patricia and Gael, 1913-1947. Dorothea Mayo expected her husband to write to her daily whenever he was away and the result is a series of diary style letters sent during their periods of separation. The fullest series are for 1922-1923 when Mayo visited the USA prior to settling in Philadelphia and for the period from 1929 to 1937 when Dorothea remained in England with their daughters.
The second series of correspondence comprises letters to his daughters while they continued their education at Bedales in England and during World War Two. The correspondence is mainly with his eldest daughter, Patricia, though there is some correspondence with Gael and also Patricia's first husband, Walter Goetz.
Both series of letters contain detail on Mayo's work and life at Harvard, including meetings with colleagues, lectures and research projects. In addition there is discussion of books, ideas and people which influenced his work and thinking. The World War Two letters include comments on the war from the USA and detail events leading to Gael's escape from behind German lines in France with her son and first husband.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The papers are divided into 3 series:
Mayo 1/1-20 Letters from G Elton Mayo to Dorothea Mayo, 1913-1937;
Mayo 2/1-12 Letters from G Elton Mayo to his daughters, Patricia and Gael, 1929-1947;
Mayo 3/1-3 Offprints and SSRC report on the Mayo papers at the Baker Library, Harvard.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Most items can be photocopied, subject to handling and copyright restrictions. No material may be published without the prior permission of both the copyright holder and the Library. All applications for publication must be made to the Archivist in the first instance, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Online catalogue available.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
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Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English