History 130, 1960-1961

INTRODUCTION The Ralph H. Bowen Papers were donated to the University Archives on August 29, 1985, upon Dr. Ralph Bowen's retirement.  Literary rights are dedicated to the public.  There are no restrictions on access to the collection. SCOPE AND CONTENT The Ralph H. Bowen collection dates from 1960-1984 and is organized into four series: Departmental and Administrative Business; NIU Courses and Teaching; Research and Publications; and Committees and Organizations. Series one, Departmental and Administrative Business, contains departmental business that relates to the History Department and to the administrative business of the University.  Included in this series are memos, correspondence, committee meeting minutes, reports, and material on the graduate and Ph.D. programs. The NIU Courses and Teaching series contains material used by Bowen in the teaching of his history classes.  The series includes midterm and final exams, syllabi, reading lists, student papers, and student correspondence regarding the classes. Series three, Research and Publications, contains grant applications submitted by Bowen and fellow researchers to various foundations and publishers for approval.  Papers, reports, critiques, and correspondence are included as support material.  Job prospectus and pending projects also are included in this series. The fourth series consists of the committees and organizations that Bowen participated in during his tenure at N.I.U.  This includes meeting minutes, reports, and correspondence from various committees and labor organizations on campus, the Illinois Citizens' Committee for Teacher Education, Inc., and the State Teacher Certification Board. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ralph H. Bowen was born on September 21, 1919 in Bellows Falls, Vermont.  He received his A.B. from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1940, his M.A. from ColumbiaUniversity in New York in 1941, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1946. Bowen began his career at Columbia College as an Instructor (1946-1948) and became an Assistant Professor in 1948.  From 1956 to 1957 Bowen was an Associate Professor at Elmira College in Elmira, New York where he stayed for one year.  As a Professor at the State University of New York at Long Island from 1957-1960, he chaired the Social Science Department his first year.  From 1960 to 1985 Dr. Bowen was a Professor at Northern Illinois University.  While teaching at Northern he received the Fulbright Visiting Professorship at the University of Nantes in Nantes, France from 1967 to 1969 and acted as Chairperson of the History Department from 1962 to 1963. Bowen was the author and translator of many books and articles.  Among his credits is the book, German Theories of the Corporative State.  He was also co-author and co-editor of Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, Chapters in Western Civilization, and Man in Contemporary Society. Bowen was active in many organizations on campus and in the community.  He was a member of the American Federation of Teachers, Coalition of United Professors, and United Professors of Illinois, as well as, the Illinois Citizens' Committee for Teachers Education, State Teacher Certification Board, and the DeKalb Fine Arts Association. Dr. Bowen retired from Northern Illinois University in 1985 and moved to Vermont.