How Not to Found a Field 547 How Not to Found a Field: New Evidence on the Origins of Mass Communication Research By Karin Wahl-Jorgensen This article offers new evidence on the beginnings of mass communication study in the U.S., suggesting that the earliest communication programs were short-lived interdisciplinary committees at the University of Chicago that were at the forefront of an emerging field but died from lack of institutional support. Drawing on archi- val research and interviews, the article suggests that communication study, as sepa- rate from professional journalism training and the study of rhetoric, goes further back than previously assumed. Finally, the article investigates why the Chicago programs are unknown in our discipline’s history—and what this tells us about academic institutions and mass communication research. This article offers new evidence on the beginnings of mass communication study in the U.S., suggesting that the earliest communication programs were short-lived interdisciplinary committees at the University of Chicago that were at the forefront of an emerging field, but died an early death from lack of institutional support. Drawing on archival research and interviews, 1 the paper suggests that communi- cation study, as separate from professional journalism training and the study of rhetoric, goes further back than previously assumed. The article investigates why the Chicago programs, which involved famous scholars widely credited as pio- neers in communication research, are unknown in our discipline’s history, and what that tells us about academic institutions in general and mass communication research in particular. The article argues that the resources committed to communication research during World War II and in its aftermath legitimized the field. In addition, the problems of communication, public opinion, and democracy that occupied the Karin Wahl-Jorgensen (PhD, Stanford University) is a lecturer at Cardiff University. Correspondence should be directed to the author at JOMEC, Cardiff University, Bute Bldg., King Edward VII Ave., Cardiff, CF10 3NB, Wales, UK. The author thanks Ted Glasser for his help and encouragement. Copyright © 2004 International Communication Association 1 The author would like to thank John Richardson, Andrew Abbott, and Martin Bulmer for their support and advice, and the staff at the Special Archives at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library for their help.