Guide to the Mortimer J. Adler Papers 1914-1995

359 Pages·2012·0.8 MB·English

University of Chicago Library
Guide to the Mortimer J.
Adler Papers 1914-1995
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
Table of Contents
Descriptive Summary 3
Information on Use 3
Access 3
Citation 3
Biographical Note 3
Scope Note 5
Related Resources 5
Subject Headings 5
INVENTORY 5
Descriptive Summary
Identifier ICU.SPCL.ADLERM
Title Adler, Mortimer J.. Papers
Date 1914-1995
Size 224.5 linear feet (154 boxes)
Repository Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.
Abstract Mortimer Jerome Adler, philosopher, educator, writer. The Mortimer
J. Adler Papers include information on his work with the Great Books,
Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the Institute for Philosophical Research as
well as material relating to his many publications. The collection consists
of articles, correspondence, manuscripts, memoranda, newspaper clippings,
notes, reading lists, reprints, and other materials relating to the career of
Mortimer J. Adler.
Information on Use
Access
This collection is open for research but is currently unprocessed and may contain information
that falls into certain administrative restriction categories. Administrative and budget material is
restricted for up to 50 years.
Citation
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Adler, Mortimer J.. Papers,
[Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Biographical Note
Mortimer Jerome Adler was born on December 28, 1902 in New York City. His father, Ignatz,
an immigrant from Bavaria, worked as a jeweler and his mother, Clarissa, was a former teacher.
When he was fourteen, Adler dropped out of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and
went to work as a secretary and a copy boy for the New York Sun. He later enrolled in evening
extension courses at Columbia University where he read John Stuart Mill's Autobiography
and decided to become a philosopher. In 1920, a teacher who noticed his promise secured
him a scholarship to Columbia University. He completed his degree in three years, but was
denied a diploma because he refused to take physical education classes or the required swim
test. Nevertheless Adler continued his graduate studies at Columbia where he studied with John
Erskine and John Dewey. In 1983 Adler received an honorary B.A. from Columbia.
3
His earliest research resulted in the publication of Dialectic in 1927, which focused on a
summation of the great philosophical and religious ideas of Western Civilization, ideas
influenced by his fascination with medieval thought and sensibility. One year later, Adler
received his PhD in philosophy from Columbia. In addition to his doctoral studies, Adler
worked as in instructor in the psychology department at Columbia from 1923-1930 as well
as City College and the People's Institute. University of Chicago President Robert Maynard
Hutchins recruited Adler to the faculty in 1930, where he first joined then department of
philosophy and later joined the Law School as an associate professor. He became a full professor
in 1942. In 1945 Adler took a leave of absence in order to complete his work on the Synopticon
(an index of 102 "great ideas" contained in the books) and on editing the 54-volume Great
Books of the Western World Series (with Hutchins).
Adler joined the Board of Directors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1947 and became
director of planning (1966) and chairman (1974) of the editorial executive committee. He was
the force behind the first major revision of the encyclopedia in over 200 years, published in 1974
as The New Encyclopaedia Britannica.
In 1952 Adler resigned from teaching and moved to San Francisco to found the Institute for
Philosophical Research with a grant from the Ford Foundation. The Institute was devoted to the
study of Western thought and produced books such as the two-volume Idea of Freedom (1958,
1961). He married his second wife, Carline Sage Pring, in 1962. Adler had four sons; Mark,
Michael, Douglas, and Philip.
In 1979, the Institute for Philosophical Research, under Adler's leadership, launched the Paideia
Project (the name comes from a classical Greek word for education), which advocated for the
reintroduction of great books and the Socratic method in the public schools. In 1982 Adler
published The Paideia Proposal; An Educational Manifesto.
Throughout his career as a philosopher and educator, Adler has written voluminously,
consistently focusing on a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach to philosophy, politics,
religion, law, and education. Such works include Problems for Thomists; The Problem of
Species (1940), How To Think About War and Peace (1944), How To Read A Book (1972,
with Charles van Doren), Aristotle For Everybody ; Difficult Thought Made Easy (1978), How
To Think About God, A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan (1980), and Reforming Education,
The Opening of the American Mind (1988).
Adler co-founded the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas with Max Weismann, and
Editor in Chief of its journal Philosophy is Everybody's Business. He also was co-Founder and
Honorary Trustee of The Aspen Institute
Adler, a self-described pagan for most of his life, converted to Christianity in 1984 and was
baptized by an Episcopalian priest on April 21 of that year. In December of 1999, he converted
to Roman Catholicism.
Mortimer Jerome Adler died on June 28, 2001 in San Mateo, California.
4
Scope Note
Mortimer Jerome Adler, philosopher, educator, writer. The Mortimer J. Adler Papers include
information on his work with the Great Books, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the Institute
for Philosophical Research as well as material relating to his many publications. The collection
consists of articles, correspondence, manuscripts, memoranda, newspaper clippings, notes,
reading lists, reprints, and other materials relating to the career of Mortimer J. Adler.
The Mortimer J. Adler Papers are open for research but is currently unprocessed and may
contain information that falls into certain administrative restriction categories.
Related Resources
Browse finding aids by topic.
Subject Headings
• Adler, Mortimer Jerome, 1902-
• Aspen Institute
• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Great books of the Western world
• Law -- Philosophy
• Philosophers
INVENTORY
Box 1
Aspen Institute, alumni gathering, correspondence, 1961
Box 1
Aspen, Institute, alumni gathering, correspondence with John F. Merriman and Gaylord
A. Freeman, 1961
Box 1
Aspen Institute, alumni gathering, reservation material, 1961
Box 1
Aspen Institute, alumni gathering, correspondence on the growth of the Soviet economy,
1961
Box 1
Aspen Institute, alumni gathering, Walter Paepcke, 1960
Box 1
Aspen Institute, alumni gathering, program and notes, 1961
Box 1
Aspen Institute, correspondence, 1956
Box 1
Aspen Institute, August 1955
Box 1
Aspen Institute, miscellaneous materials, 1952
Box 1
Aspen Institute, miscellaneous materials, 1954
5
Box 1
Aspen Institute, miscellaneous materials, summer 1953
Box 1
Aspen Institute, miscellaneous materials, 1954
Box 1
Aspen Executives Program, 1956
Box 1
Aspen Institute, reading lists, correspondence, 1956-1961
Box 1
Aspen Institute, correspondence, 1959
Box 1
Aspen Institute, memoranda, 1959
Box 1
Aspen Institute, miscellaneous, 1959
Box 1
Aspen Institute, correspondence, 1959
Box 1
Aspen Institute, itinerary and list of participants, 1958
Box 1
Aspen Institute, correspondence, summer 1958
Box 1
Aspen Institute, problems, 1957-1958
Box 1
Aspen Institute, correspondence, 1956
Box 1
Aspen Institute, correspondence with Walter Paepcke and Robert Craig, 1957
Box 1
Aspen Institute, "American Higher Education in 1980, Some Basic Issues," paper no. 1,
July 1965
Box 1
Aspen Institute, William Stevenson, October 28, 1968
Box 1
Aspen Institute, itinerary and reading lists, August 1-August 14, 1965
Box 1
Aspen Institute, "Anthroposcosmos, The World of Man"
Box 1
Aspen Institute, itinerary, July 31-August 13, 1966
Box 1
Aspen Institute, notes, 1964
Box 1
Aspen Institute, itinerary, 1964
Box 1
Aspen Institute, requests for transcript of speech, 1964
Box 1
Aspen Institute, correspondence, 1965
Box 1
6
Aspen Institute, correspondence, fall 1964
Box 1
Aspen Institute, reading lists, correspondence, 1964
Box 1
Aspen Institute, Alvin C. Eurich
Box 1
Aspen Institute, notes, 1963
Box 1
Aspen Institute, C. P. Snow and J. Bronowski
Box 1
Aspen Institute, Robert Anderson, correspondence, 1964
Box 1
Aspen Institute, miscellaneous reading materials
Box 1
Aspen Institute, notes, August 1952
Box 1
Aspen Institute, notes, 1957
Box 1
Aspen Institute, William Benton and Alvin C. Eurich, correspondence, 1964
Box 1
Aspen Institute, correspondence, 1965
Box 1
Aspen Institute, reading lists
Box 1
Aspen Institute, reading lists, correspondence
Box 1
Aspen Institute, reading lists, correspondence, 1965
Box 1
The Great Ideas Program Educational Fund Awards Booklet, correspondence and
proposals
Box 1
The Great Books Educational Fund Awards, correspondence, 1961-1963
Box 1
Educational Fund Awards, test I, final copy
Box 1
Educational Fund Awards, test II, final copy
Box 1
Educational Fund Awards, test III, final copy
Box 1
Educational Fund Awards, test IV
Box 1
Educational Fund Awards, test IV, final copy
Box 1
Children’s Classics Project, 1965
Box 1
Children’s Classics Project, Encyclopaedia Britannica, correspondence, 1965
7
Box 1
Compton’s Beginner’s Bookshelf, The Illustrated Treasury of Children’s Literature
Box 1
The Annals of America, ideas, 1965
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, basic memoranda
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, November 1964
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, minutes, May 11-12, 1964
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, May 1964
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, agenda and notes, January 1964
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, agenda, October 1963
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, Anderson notes
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, projects, 1964
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, miscellaneous, 1964
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, correspondence, 1964
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, Clifton Fadiman, 1963
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, Encylopaedia Britannica Press
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, mail order
Box 1
New Products Developing Committee, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Jr.
Box 1
Milan Herzog, "The Challenge of Democracy"
Box 1
H. L. Goodkind
Box 1
Denis Fodor
Box 1
Donald Stewart
Box 2
Children’s classics
Box 2
Children’s classics, January 1964
Box 2
Children’s classics, Encyclopaedia Britannica, correspondence
8
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Children’s Classics
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Children’s Classics, materials for proposal
Box 2
The Children’s Hour, contents
Box 2
How to Read a Book, German translation
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Great Books of the Western World, translations, I
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Great Books of the Western World, translations, II
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Great Books of the Western World, translations,
III
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, October 1965
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Howard Goodkind
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Disney
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Disney project, 1964
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Charles Van Doren and Howard Goodkind
Box 2
Clifton Fadiman
Box 2
New Products Developing Committee, Stanford research
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, memoranda of March 1965
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, editing, memorandum to Hutchins, October 1965
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Warren Pierce
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Robert G. Hazo
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, editing, basic principles and policies
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, prefatory volume
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, plan B, memoranda
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, problems in the organization of content
Box 2
9
Encyclopaedia Britannica, answers about the sciences and scientific subjects
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, plan B, correspondence, 1965
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Editorial Planning Board, meeting of April 26 and April 27,
1965
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Schematic Analysis of the Contents of EB for the Purposes of
Appraising the Scope of Various Tasks"
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Editorial Planning Board, statement of policies for the plan B
encyclopedia
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, table of contents, 1964
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Prolegomena to the Reformation of the Britannica in the Next
Ten Years, 1965-1975"
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, table of contents
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Jacques Havet’s comments
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Board of Editors, 1948-1960
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, current correspondence
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, reviews
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, basic memoranda, 1963-1964
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Prefatory Material from the 9th, 11th, and 13th Editions of
the Encyclopaedia Britannica"
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, syntopticon essays
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, outline of a memorandum on biography
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, abstract
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, rebuttal of criticisms
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Warren E. Preece
Box 2
Proof articles, October and November 1964
Box 2
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Board of Editors, September 29, 1964
10