James Thomson Shotwell (August 6, 1874 – July 15, 1965) was a Canadian-born American history professor. He played an instrumental role in the creation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1919, as well as for his influence in promoting inclusion of a declaration of human rights in the UN Charter. Career Background Shotwell was born in Strathroy, Ontario, to American Quaker parents. He obtained a B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1898. He obtained his doctorate from Columbia University in 1903, where he studied under James Harvey Robinson. Columbia University's alumni magazine records: At Columbia he encountered a lively intellectual community, seized with debates about the "New History." He quickly adopted his adviser’s view that the increasingly influential "scientific" methods of studying society might be applied to the practice of history and he applied them in his dissertation in medieval history, "A Study of the History of the Eucharist." He would later observe that although he took "a semester on the history of international law, by the distinguished jurist John Basset Moore, later a judge on the World Court... this was the only course that had any bearing on international relations in the faculty of Political Science, a subject... on which most of my later life was spent." Academics In 1903, Shotwell became an History instructor. To underwrite studies overseas, he began writing articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica; soon, he became managing editor of its eleventh edition. This work provided a good salary, honed his organizational skills, and led to his meeting people like Bertrand Russell and Henry Ford. Eventually, he wrote some 250 articles. In 1908, he became full professor. His interest lay in particular with the influence of science and technology on historical change and international relations. In 1917, he became director of research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where Columbia's president, Nicholas Murray Butler who was also president. In 1927, he became the first chair of the advisory committee on international relations of the newly formed Social Science Research Council. He then became director of planning and research in international relations. In 1930, he returned to Columbia full-time. In 1937, he was appointed Bryce Professor of the History of International Relations at Columbia University. He retired from full-time teaching at Columbia in 1942. All in all, he studied and taught at Columbia for nearly 50 years, where his closest friends were fellow professors