Timeline – 1892-1904 Emerging Disciplines

The creation of the UW’s School of Economics, Political Science, and History in 1892 reflected intensifying interest in social science at a time when history, economics, and political science were just beginning to form separate scholarly disciplines.

The American Historical Association (AHA) convened for the first time in 1884 under the auspices of the American Social Science Association, and plans for creation of the American Economic Association (AEA) were initially spawned in informal discussions at the AHA’s second annual meeting in 1885. From the late 1880s into the early 20th century, the AHA and AEA often held joint annual meetings. The American Political Science Association (APSA) was formed in 1904, the outgrowth of discussions at the 1903 joint annual meeting of the AHA and AEA. It also held joint annual meetings with the AHA.

Sources: Brief History of the AHA; Coats, “The First Two Decades of the American Economic Association” (1960), 555; “The Organization of the American Political Science Association” (1904), 5-15.