Guide to the Richard Peter Mckeon Papers 1918-1985

University of Chicago Library Guide to the Richard Peter McKeon Papers 1918-1985 © 2006 University of Chicago Library Table of Contents Acknowledgments 4 Descriptive Summary 4 Information on Use 4 Access 4 Citation 5 Biographical Note 5 Scope Note 6 Related Resources 7 Subject Headings 7 INVENTORY 8 Series I: Biographical Materials 8 Subseries 1: Professional Materials 8 Subseries 2: Personal Papers and Memorabilia 9 Subseries 3: Family Documents and Correspondence 10 Series II: Correspondence 11 Series III: Subject Files 41 Series IV: Writings 61 Subseries 1: Bibliography 62 Subseries 2: Reprints 62 Subseries 3: Books 63 Sub-subseries 1: William of Ockham Materials 63 Sub-subseries 2: Peter Abailard (Abelard), Sic et Non 65 Sub-subseries 3: Sic et Non Card Files 66 Sub-subseries 4: Other Books 71 Subseries 4: Published Articles 71 Subseries 5: Book Reviews 79 Subseries 6: Unpublished Materials 79 Subseries 7: Miscellaneous 86 Series V: Course Materials 101 Subseries 1: Lecture Notes 101 Subseries 2: Syllabi, Examinations, Handouts 114 Series VI: Conferences 121 Series VII: UNESCO Materials 127 Subseries 1: Preparatory Commission 128 Subseries 2: First General Conference, Paris 128 Subseries 3: Second General Conference, Mexico City 129 Subseries 4: Third General Conference, Beirut 130 Subseries 5: Fifth General Conference, Florence 131 Subseries 6: Sixth General Conference, Paris 131 Subseries 7: Programme Commission Reports 131 Subseries 8: Executive Board of UNESCO Meetings 132 Subseries 9: U.S. National Commission for UNESCO 132 Subseries 10: Miscellaneous 133 Series VIII: Encyclopaedia Britannica 137 Subseries 1: History 137 Subseries 2: Board of Editors Meetings 137 Subseries 3: Roof articles project 138 Subseries 4: Other Articles and Projects 139 Series IX: Miscellaneous Papers 140 Series X: Audio-Visual Materials 140 Subseries 1: Reel Tapes 141 Subseries 2: Microfilm and Glass Plates 144 Series XI: Recommendations and Evaluations 144 Descriptive Summary Identifier ICU.SPCL.RPMCKEON Title McKeon, Richard Peter. Papers Date 1918-1985 Size 103.75 linear feet (208 boxes) Repository Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A. Abstract The Richard Peter McKeon Papers comprise 103.75 linear feet of material, including professional and personal correspondence, research materials, manuscripts of books and articles, course materials, papers concerning UNESCO, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and other projects and associations with which McKeon was engaged. Most of the papers cover the late 1920s through the mid-1980s and document McKeon's graduate studies and teaching at Columbia University, and his long tenure at the University of Chicago. McKeon's papers document the growth and development of education and educational philosophy at the University of Chicago during the presidency of Robert Maynard Hutchins, as well as the continuing development of the Department of Philosophy (and other departments) through the decades of McKeon's professorship. The papers include an extensive collection of McKeon's writings, both published and unpublished, his course materials, and detailed lecture notes. The papers also document McKeon's involvement with international concerns through materials relating to the Committee to Frame a World Constitution and several international meetings of UNESCO which McKeon attended as a U.S. delegate. Acknowledgments The Richard Peter McKeon Papers were processed as part of the HEA Title II-C project, "Preserving and Improving Access to Social Science Manuscript Collections at the University of Chicago Library." Information on Use Access The material contained in Series X: Audio-Visual Materials is restricted due to the need for special equipment. The material contained in Series XI: Recommendations and Evaluations is restricted and not open to researchers until the year 2035. 4 Citation When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: McKeon, Richard Peter. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library Biographical Note Richard Peter McKeon was born on April 26, 1900, to Peter Thomas McKeon and Mathilda Hirschfeld McKeon of Union Hill, New Jersey. McKeon entered Columbia University as a pre-law student, later switching to a pre-engineering curriculum. His studies were interrupted by World War I when in 1918 he became an apprentice seaman in the U.S. Navy in which he served until the end of the war. Upon his return to Columbia in 1919, he changed his course of study to the humanities and earned both his A.B. and A.M. degrees in 1920. His master's thesis dealt with philosophical approaches to art and literature. McKeon continued his studies, focusing on philosophy, at the University of Paris where he earned the diplôme d'études supérieures and the diplôme d'élève titulaire de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes in 1923 and 1924. His mentors in Paris included Etienne Gilson, Léon Brunschvicq, and Léon Robin. McKeon returned to Columbia University where he became an instructor in philosophy and Greek while writing his dissertation. The dissertation, a study of the philosophy of Spinoza, written under the direction of Frederick J. E. Woodbridge and John Dewey, was completed in 1928. The following year Columbia appointed McKeon to the post of assistant professor, a position he held until 1935. McKeon married Muriel Thirer in 1930. They had three children: Peter, Nora, and Michael. Muriel attended the University of Chicago and earned a A.B. degree and membership in Phi Beta Kappa in 1937; later, she worked with her husband as managing editor of Diogenes, an international journal sponsored by UNESCO. Muriel died in 1964. Fifteen years later, McKeon married Zahava Karl Dorinson. McKeon's career at Columbia was flourishing when he was invited to be a Visiting Professor of History at the University of Chicago in 1934-1935. He had already published his dissertation and a two-volume translation work, Selections from Medieval Philosophers. In the early 1930s McKeon met Robert Maynard Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago. McKeon shared Hutchins' ideas for reforming collegiate education -- for grounding undergraduate studies in a general, not specialized, education strongly influenced by philosophical analysis. Mortimer Adler was also instrumental in bringing McKeon to Chicago. After his year as visiting professor, McKeon was appointed Professor of Greek and Dean of the Division of the Humanities. McKeon was heavily involved in the reforms that shaped the College in the 1940s. He later broke with Hutchins, however, over issues of faculty involvement in the governance of the University, and resigned his deanship in 1947. By then he was Professor of both Greek and Philosophy, and that year was named Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy and Greek. McKeon had called for U.S. aid to Britain early in World War II. Once the United States entered the war, he became Director of Army Specialized Training Programs at the University of Chicago (1943-1946). The specialized training offered at Chicago educated Army personnel 5 in the language and culture of the countries in which they would be serving. By the end of the war, McKeon was an active proponent of the United Nations and UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. He was a member of the U.S. Delegation to UNESCO for the first three general conferences, in 1946, 1947, and 1948, and was strongly committed to the idea of preventing future world wars through the development of cross-cultural understanding. McKeon also worked with the Committee to Frame a World Constitution, although he refused to sign the final document, citing philosophical differences with the decisions the Committee had reached. In the 1950s McKeon was at the height of his career at the University of Chicago. While professor in the departments of Philosophy and Classical Languages and Literatures, he served as chairman of the Committee on the Analysis of Ideas and the Study of Methods and was a member of the interdisciplinary Committee on Medieval Studies. He published five books-- Democracy in a World of Tensions (editor, contributor, 1951); Freedom and History: The Semantics of Philosophical Controversies and Ideological Conflicts (1952); Thought, Action and Passion (1954); The Freedom to Read (with Robert K. Merton and Walter Gellhorn, 1957); and The Edicts of Asoka (with N. A. Nikam, 1959)--and over 40 articles. McKeon spent a year in France on a Fulbright grant (1950-1951), another at the University of Arkansas as a visiting professor (1952-1953), and travelled to India as a visiting professor at the University of Baroda (1954-1955). He also served as president of the American Philosophical Association (1952), vice-president of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (1953-1954), and president of the International Institute for Philosophy (1953-1957). The late 1950s saw both the beginning of McKeon's involvement in a major reorganization project for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and his participation in the Rockefeller Brothers Special Studies Project, an investigation into the moral, political, and economic aspects of relations between the United States and the rest of the world. Highlights of the later years of McKeon's career include his appointment as Carus lecturer for the American Philosophical Association in 1963, and receiving the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate

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