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Records of the Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities

Call Number

RG.21.1

Date

1964-1984, inclusive

Creator

Cantor, Norman F.

Extent

7 Linear Feet (12 boxes, 25 tapes)

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

In 1965 the New York State Board of Regents awarded New York State University the funds to create an Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities as part of a state-wide attempt to improve higher learning. Several chairs, five of which were designated by the State Legislature as the Albert Schweitzer Chair and five as the Albert Einstein Chair in Science, were intended to attract the world's most renowned scholars to New York State's higher educational community. The inventory to the Records of the Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities chronicles the records of this position from 1965-1984. The recipients of the additional chairs were City University of New York, Cornell University, the University of Rochester, State University of New York at Stony Brook and Fordham University; however, information about chairs at other institutions are not recorded in this collection.

History of the Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities

The Albert Schweitzer Chair covers the disciplines of comparative literature and the history of ideas. Professors who have held this position have traditionally emphasized through their scholarship and teaching an emphasis on the relevance of the humanities to present-day concerns and the nature and quality of interracial awareness.

At New York University a faculty committee was formed to select the first Albert Schweitzer Professor. The committee chose Conor Cruise O'Brien, who was announced as the inaugural Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities on June 2, 1965. Professor O'Brien held the chair from 1965 to 1969. Following O'Brien's term, Ralph Ellison held the chair from 1971 to 1979. Professor Aileen Ward held the position from 1979-1990.

Conor Cruise O'Brien was formerly the United Nations Representative in Kantanga, Africa, and also served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana. His published works include Power and Consciousness, (co-editor); United Nations : Sacred Drama; "Introduction to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France"; and numerous articles in The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, and The Listener. While he occupied the Albert Schweitzer Chair, he organized and participated in the annual Schweitzer Public Lecture Series, taught both graduate and undergraduate courses annually, and lectured throughout the country.

The funding for the Albert Schweitzer Chair also allowed for visiting scholars and writers to be brought to New York University. Professor O'Brien built a strong interdisciplinary program in the humanities that offered four or five courses per semester on topics such as "Art and Politics," "The Black Writer in America," "Contemporary Writing in Africa," and "Revolution and Literature."

While Professor O'Brien was at New York University he was responsible for bringing numerous scholars to lecture, read, or teach. A list of participants in the program during O'Brien's term follows the box and folder listings. In 1969 O'Brien left the Schweitzer Chair to take an elected seat in the Irish Parliament.

Successive chair holders brought their own special talents and interests to the Schweitzer Program. Ralph Ellison, chair holder from 1971-1979, is primarily a writer of fiction and criticism. His special interest is modern American writing, including literature, poetry, linguistics and politics. Besides his National Book Award-winning novel, The Invisible Man, he has written essays, short stories, articles, book reviews, syndicated columns and novels. While he was at New York University, under the auspices of the Schweitzer Chair, he developed an educational program for both the University community and the public, which included public lectures, symposia, discussions, seminars, graduate and undergraduate interdisciplinary courses and lectures by distinguished visitors. His first course at New York University, entitled "The American Vernacular as Symbolic Action," focused on the role played by the American vernacular language and style in shaping American culture and society. In the early 1970s the Chair sponsored a series of lectures for a national audience on "Law and Morality," which was widely televised. Professor Ellison brought many poets to New York University for readings and conferences, and in 1977 he organized a panel discussion with eminent Yugoslavian scholars. Professor Ellison served as a consultant to students in creative writing, doctoral students, and served on oral examination committees. He taught courses in the English Department as well as undergraduate and graduate interdisciplinary courses and was actively involved in University and community-related activities.

Some of the other courses offered by the Schweitzer Program during Ellison's term were "American Fiction and American Democracy" (taught by Anatole Broyard, and "Writers who Reshaped the American Experience After World War II" (taught by Professor Ellison). For a synopsis of Professor Ellison's activities see his summary, titled "Schweitzer Program in the Humanities," April 23, 1973 (Box 3, Folder 1).

Professor Aileen Ward was the chair holder of the Albert Schweitzer Program from 1979 to 1990. A widely published and distinguished scholar, she authored several books and many articles. Areas of interest included English romantic literature and poetic theory; literature and mythology; literature and psychology; and literary biography. In the early 1980s the Schweitzer Program combined resources with the Poetics Institute (M.L. Rosenthal, founder) to provide special events open to the public. A list of those who have participated in events organized by Professor Ward in the early 1980s is included as an appendix following the box and folder listings.

Arrangement

The records are organized into six series. I. Program Files; II. Conor Cruise O'Brien's Manuscripts; III. Public Lectures; IV. Student Papers; V. Julian Mayfield Manuscripts; and VI. Lecture Series. The lectures and paper series contain several subseries.

Arrangement

  1. Program Files
  2. Conor Cruise O'Brien's Manuscripts
  3. Public Lectures
  4. Student Papers
  5. Julian Mayfield Manuscripts
  6. Lecture Series

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists primarily of records generated during the term of Professor Conor Cruise O'Brien, 1965 to 1969. The collection also contains a few of the annual reports written by Professors Ellison and Ward. These are located in the file "Report on the Schweitzer Chair" (Box 3, folder 1).

The records include correspondence, manuscripts, news clippings, student papers (both doctoral and undergraduate), and copies of some public lectures and tape recordings. Papers presented by fellow scholars were removed from the Series I: Program Files and organized as Series III: Public Lectures.

Access Restrictions

Institutional records of New York University are closed for a period of 20 years from the date of their creation (the date on which each document was written). Board of Trustees records are similarly closed for 35 years from the date of creation. The opening date for files spanning several years will be 20 years from the most recent date. Access will be given to material already 20 years old contained within a collection that is not yet open when such material can be isolated from the rest of the collection.

Materials related to personnel, faculty grievances, job searches and all files with information that falls under the University's Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) policy are permanently restricted.

This collection is in off-site storage.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); [unit title of collection]; collection number; box number; folder number; New York University Libraries.

Location of Materials

This collection is stored offsite. Please contact the repository for access.

Provenance

The records of the Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities were transferred to the University Archives on June 23, 1980, by Norman Cantor, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and & Science.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Access to audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact special.collections@nyu.edu.

Physical Access

Please note that this collection is stored offsite, and you must contact the repository to schedule access.

Additional Information

List of participants in events sponsored by Aileen Ward:

David KaelstoneGalway KinnellLouise GluckW.S. Merwin William MeredithRichard Howard Richard P. McCormackRobert E. ElliotWing-tsit ChanElizabeth BadinterHarry LevinFaun BrodyQuentin BellDiana JosselsonRichard Dyer-BennetChristopher RichsVincent BuckleyDavid MaloufLes MurrayShirley HazzardDennis DonoghueDerek WalcottPaul ZweigKofi AwoonerShatis HaviarisLouis SimpsonGregory OrrMark StrandShirley WilliamsGeorge KellySaul TousterFrederich KarlNicholas WahlMorton CohenRichard SennettDustin GriffinFrederick MorganElizabeth SpiresBarbara HowesYehuda AmichaiDavid IgnatowPhilip SchultzWalter J. OngDenis JohnsonRuth StoneAlice FultonLawrence JosephGary Soto Joseph BrodskyAdrienne RichMarvin BellHillis MillerAlfred KazinJ. Nicanor ParraRichard RortyMichael ScammellJoan PeyserSteven StoweGeorge PerleEstelle LeontiefEileen SimpsonJohn MayherGordon PraddlAnthony LowM.L. RosenthalDaniel JavitchLucien StrykCharles Wright

List of Participants in Conor Cruise O'Brien's Lecture Program (an asterisk indicates that the person is represented in this collection either by a scholarly paper or a tape of their lecture):

I.F. StoneGrattan FreyerThompson BradleyJonathan MirskyWilliam Garret Leonard BoudinGidon GottliebJulian Mayfield*Noam Chomsky*Peter NettlEric GentlyDavid Erdman*Edward Thompson*Stuart Hampshire*L. Zanderer*Paul Neuberg*George SteinerDavid CauteJohn ArdenGeorge Quasha*Thomas Hart Wilkins*Max Gordon*Gabriel Kolko*Alger Hiss*Charles P. Kelly*

Collection processed by

New York University Archives Staff.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 17:51:14 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Processing Information

Audio recordings were digitized by the the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department in October 2019. Additional description of the recordings produced by Christine Gennetti in November 2019.

One file was originally titled "Titled Reels: Conor Cruise O'Brien." It does not include any recordings of O'Brien, however, and has been renamed as "Unidentified Lectures and Other Recordings."

Revisions to this Guide

October 2019: Updated by Kelly Haydon to state audiovisual materials have been digitized and are accessible to patrons.
February 2020: Updated by Christine Gennetti to describe AV materials in Series VI: Lecture Series Recordings
September 2020: Edited by Anna Björnsson McCormick to update a file name.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from schweitz02ks.xml

Repository

New York University Archives
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012