WALLACE ATWOOD'S "GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE"

The decision to establish geography as a graduate academic discipline at Clark University beginning in 1921 is examined as a part of the strategy and structure of academic entrepreneurial activity. The institutional strategy of Charles Thurber, President of the Clark Board of Trustees and of President Wallace W. Atwood is traced from its formal inception in 1919 through its early implementation to the end of 1923. The ideal of a "Great Geographical Institute" is set against the specific contours of its host institution in this period to show how local and personal factors both permitted the adoption and limited the success of the strategy and therefore prevented the Clark Graduate School of Geography from attaining the broad and secure local institutional base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]