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The American Mathematical Monthly (1894-1919): A New Journal in the Service of Mathematics and Its Educators

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Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics

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Abstract

In 1894, Benjamin Finkel, former secondary school mathematics teacher and then Professor of Mathematics at Drury College in Kidder, Missouri, began the publication of The American Mathematical Monthly to fill what he saw as the need to stimulate and encourage mathematics teachers in both the high schools and the normal schools. His thinking went that the teachers, and by association their students, would benefit from the challenges presented by a problems-and-solutions department as well as by articles of both a mathematical and a historical nature dealing with the subject matter presented in their classrooms. This defined the Monthly’s mission until 1913, when Herbert Slaught of the University of Chicago, George A. Miller of the University of Illinois, and Earle R. Hedrick then of the University of Missouri officially took over the journal’s editorship. They saw the Monthly more explicitly as a vehicle for the professionalization and, more formally, the legitimization of the teaching of collegiate mathematics. This was also the goal of the Mathematical Association of America, formed two years later in 1915 with the Monthly as its official publication. This chapter will examine the first twenty-five years of publication—1894-1919—of the Monthly in the context of the evolving American mathematical community.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On the role played in the development of research-level mathematics in the United States by the Mathematical Congress associated with the World’s Columbian Exposition, see Parshall and Rowe (1994, pp. 295-327). See also Albers et al. (1987).

  2. 2.

    See the “Acknowledgments” below.

  3. 3.

    For a listing of mathematics journals published in the United States between 1800 and 1900, see Parshall and Rowe (1994, p. 51).

  4. 4.

    For the conversion, see http://www.measuringworth.com.

  5. 5.

    See http://sections.maa.org/ohio/History/beginnings.htmlfortheseparticulars.

  6. 6.

    For more on Halsted’s life and career, see Dickson (1894d), Lewis (1976, 1989).

  7. 7.

    For more on the life and work of Leonard Dickson, see Albert (1955), Parshall (1991), Parshall and Rowe (1994, pp. 363-426), Fenster (1998, 1999).

  8. 8.

    For more on Miller’s life and work, see Brahana (1957).

  9. 9.

    For more on these debates, see Parshall (2015a), Parshall (2015b).

  10. 10.

    For more on the notion of stratification within the American mathematical community, see Roberts (1996).

  11. 11.

    For more on Lefschetz, see Archibald (1938, pp. 236-240) and Hodge (1973).

  12. 12.

    For more on Huntington’s life and work, consult (Scanlon 1999).

  13. 13.

    For more on the effects of this stratification on the definition of the American mathematical research community in the interwar period, see Parshall (2015b).

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Acknowledgements

This paper was originally presented as a talk in the special centennial session on “Generations of Monthly Gems” at the centennial celebration of the Mathematical Association of America in Washington, D.C. in August 2015. Organized by Scott Chapman, Dan Velleman, Bruce Palka, Roger Horn, and John Ewing, present and former editors of The American Mathematical Monthly, the session surveyed over one hundred years of the Monthly. I very much thank the organizers for inviting me to set the historical stage.

I also thank Albert Lewis for his careful reading of an earlier version of this text and both Albert Lewis and Dan Velleman for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, University of Virginia, 400180, Charlottesville, VA, 22904-4180, USA

    Karen Hunger Parshall

  2. Department of Mathematics, University of Virginia, 400137, Charlottesville, VA, 22904-4137, USA

    Karen Hunger Parshall

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  1. Karen Hunger Parshall
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Correspondence to Karen Hunger Parshall .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematical Information and Computer Sciences, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California, USA

    Maria Zack

  2. Department of Philosophy, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA

    Elaine Landry

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Parshall, K.H. (2016). The American Mathematical Monthly (1894-1919): A New Journal in the Service of Mathematics and Its Educators. In: Zack, M., Landry, E. (eds) Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics. Proceedings of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics/La Société Canadienne d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Mathématiques. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46615-6_14

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