Ashley, Sir William James 1860-I927
Archival location guide — where this economist’s surviving papers are held, their notable correspondents, and key published sources.
Born 1860 · died 1927
Sir William James Ashley was an English economic historian. His major intellectual influence was in organising economic history in Great Britain and introducing the ideas of the leading German economic historians, especially Gustav von Schmoller and the historical school of economic history. His chief work is The Economic Organisation of England, still a set text on many A-level and University syllabuses.
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Ashley's papers, as used in Anne Ashley's biography (see below), do not seem to have survived.
Letters and other papers connected with his work for various official bodies during and after the 1914-1918 war.
BL Add. MSS. 42242-42256.
Letter books, containing c.500 out-letters, 1918-1921, written in his capacity as Vice-Principal of Birmingham University. Birmingham University Archives.
Correspondents
HENRY CARTER ADAMS, five letters, 1895-1900.
Adams papers, Michigan Historical Collections, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, letters to and from, 1888 -1910.
A.E.A. papers, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
WILLIAM HENRY BEVERIDGE, Baron Beveridge, one or two letters, 1925.
Beveridge papers, British Library of Political and Economic Science (BLPES)
ANDREW BONAR LAW, 1898-1923, 5 letters to, 1904-1912, House of Lords RO
EDWIN CANNAN, seven letters, 1896-1925. Cannan collection, BLPES
RICHARD THEODORE ELY, a few letters, 1888-1900.
Ely papers, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
JOHN LAWRENCE LE BRETON HAMMOND, five letters, 1913-1926. Bodleian, MS. Hammond.
WILLIAM ALBERT SAMUEL HEWINS, a few letters to, 1898-1903, Hewins papers, Sheffield UL,
JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES, Baron Keynes, nine letters, 1912-1921, Keynes papers, KC, Cambridge.
JAMES MAVOR, letters to, University of Toronto Library
EDWIN ROBERT ANDERSON SELIGMAN, 60 letters, 1887-1909. Seligman collection, Columbia UL, New York.
GOLDWIN SMITH, five letters, 1890-1895.
Goldwin Smith papers, Cornell UL, Ithaca, New York.
GRAHAM WALLAS, four letters, 1897-1903. Wallas papers, BLPES
Printed Material
ANNE ASHLEY, William, James Ashley: A Life ( London, 1932).
H. W. MCCREADY, ‘Sir William Ashley: Some Unpublished Letters’, Journal of Economic Historyi, xv (1955) 34-43.
WARREN J. SAMUELS, 'Ashley's and Taussig's letters on the history of economic thought at Harvard', History of Political Economy 9 (1977) 384-411
New Palgrave; ODNB ; ESS II 268; IESS I 411.
Portrait: see biography by Anne Ashley (above).