Everett C. Hughes was born in 1897 in Beaver, Ohio. He received his A.B. at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1918 and continued with his education at the University of Chicago, earning a doctorate in both sociology and anthropology in 1928. He married Helen Gregory MacGill in 1927, and they had two daughters, Helen Cherrington Brock and Elizabeth Gregory Schneewind.

From 1927-1938, Hughes was a professor at McGill University in Canada. He wrote extensively on Canada, particularly French Canadian society. He took a teaching position at the University of Chicago in 1938, and he chaired the Department of Sociology there from 1952-1956. In 1961, he left Chicago and began teaching at Brandeis University, where he helped found the school's Graduate Department of Sociology. In 1968, he went to Boston College, where he taught until his retirement in 1976.

Hughes authored or co-authored ten books and numerous scholarly articles. His areas of scholarly interest included: multi-ethnic societies, with particular attention to sociolinguistic differences in Quebec and to racial differences in the United States; the sociology of work and occupations, with particular attention to social class and the development of professions; and the history and sociology of educational institutions. He served on many research and advisory committees, including: American Nurses' Foundation 1953-1960, Citizens' Commission on Medical Education, the American Medical Association 1963-1967, American Sociological Association, and the American Anthropological Association. He was editor of the American Journal of Sociology from 1952-1960.

Hughes received honorary doctorates for his work in sociology from Boston College, Laval University, McGill University, Michigan State University, University of Montreal, Ohio Wesleyan University, Queens University in Ontario, and Sir George Williams University in Montreal. He was also elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1964. He was Professor Emeritus at Brandeis University and Boston College. At his death in 1983, Hughes left behind an influential body of work which provides a view of the development of a major school of twentieth century sociological study.

Source:

"Memorials and obituaries", Box 1497, Folder 3, Everett C. Hughes papers, BC.1995.082, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Helen MacGill Hughes was born in 1903 in Vancouver, BC, to lawyer and journalist James Henry MacGill (1870-1939) and Helen Gregory MacGill (1864-1947), the first female judge in British Columbia. Hughes received her B.A. in Economics and German from the University of British Columbia in 1925, and her doctorate in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 1936. She married Everett Cherrington Hughes in 1927, and they had two daughters, Helen Cherrington Brock and Elizabeth Gregory Schneewind.

Helen Hughes wrote freelance while following Everett Hughes’s career to Quebec, Chicago, and Boston. She served as the editorial assistant and later managing editor of the American Journal of Sociology, and published articles in The Canadian Journal of Economics, The Journal of Social Issues, Time, and elsewhere. She taught classes at various institutions, including at Northeastern University. Her primary scholarly and personal interests were in women’s rights, women in academia, and media studies.

Helen MacGill Hughes died in Baltimore in 1992.

Source:

Huenemann, Karyn. “Helen MacGill Hughes”, Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory, 2022. https://cwrc.ca/islandora/object/ceww%3Aaf010e3a-f955-4bda-8891-2f103f2cb863. Accessed 2022 December 16.