Colston Warne

Early life

Warne was born in 1900 in the Finger Lakes region of New York. His father managed a country store, farmed, and participated in the local Presbyterian church. Warne attended nearby Cornell University where in 1921 he graduated with a master's degrees in economics. While there he met his future wife, Frances Lee Corbett, who was studying home economics. He also began studying the writings of Thorstein Veblen. In 1925 Warne earned a doctorate in political economy from the University of Chicago. He taught at the University of Pittsburgh and later became professor of economics at Amherst College from 1930 until his retirement in 1969.

At Amherst, his courses on labor history were highly popular during the 1930s. After World War II, he participated in the required sophomore American Studies course, where he edited several of the "Problems in American Civilization" anthologies produced in that course and widely imitated. After his retirement, under President John William Ward, Amherst awarded him an honorary doctorate.