People 

Lester Frank Ward 1841–1913  -  United States

Encyclopedia Entries

Columbia Encyclopedia

Questions of 

One of the first and most important of American sociologists, Ward developed a theory of planned progress called telesis, whereby man, through education and development of intellect, could direct social evolution.

Reading

Dynamic Sociology (1883)

Psychic Factors of Civilization (1893)

Pure Sociology (1903)

Glimpses of the Cosmos (6 vol., 1913–18)

Writing Available on the Internet

Commentary

American Sociology Association

  1. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7321 - Lester Frank Ward Papers, 1882 - 1913, with Related Materials to Circa 1965.
  2. Upon his death in 1913, Ward willed his personal library and many of his papers to Brown University. The John Hay Library at Brown University in Providence, R.I. has a collection of Ward's materials.
  3. World of Sociology, Joseph M. Palmisano (editor), published 2001 by the Gale Group. See the entry for Ward in volume 2, pages 706-707.
  4. The Oxford Dictionary of Sociology contains a short biographical sketch of Ward on page 698.
  5. Footnotes, February 1973, page 24; a short article on the memorialization of Ward at Washington National Cathedral.
  6. S. Chugerman, Lester F. Ward, The American Aristotle (1939, repr 1965).

 

Quotations