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Gauss Seminars in Criticism Records

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Held at: Princeton University Library: University Archives [Contact Us]

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: University Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

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Princeton University. Graduate School

The earliest form of organized graduate education at Princeton began when President James Carnahan announced the establishment of a Law School in 1846, which awarded its last degree in 1852. Graduate work in a formal sense emerged at Princeton in the 1870s when President James McCosh added new faculty and graduate fellowships. The introduction of graduate work in the sciences came with the opening of the John C. Green School of Science in 1873, offering both masters and doctoral degrees.

Princeton's Graduate School, established officially by the Trustees in late 1900, began its operations in the fall of 1901. The School's first dean, Andrew Fleming West, sought to improve the quality of education by insisting on high entrance and academic standards and by creating what he believed to be the proper residential setting, a Graduate College, where the students would learn from one another. Merwick, located on Bayard Lane and provided by benefactor Moses Taylor Pyne in 1905, served as the first residence for graduate students. It housed twelve to fifteen students and served as a dining facility and center of recreation.

Upon her death in 1906, Josephine Thomson Swann, the first benefactor of the Graduate School, bequeathed $275,000 to Princeton for the construction of a Graduate College in her late husband's name. This money allowed Dean West and President Woodrow Wilson to formulate plans for the Graduate School, but controversy came with the building of the Graduate College, which would replace Merwick as a residence for students. West proposed that the College be remotely located, away from the distractions of undergraduate life, while Wilson favored a site near Prospect House. William Cooper Procter, Class of 1883, who contributed funds for what would become Procter Hall, strongly campaigned for the site near the golf links. He offered $500,000 toward the Graduate College, but found Wilson's choice for the site unsuitable and made his offer conditional "upon further understanding that some other site be chosen, which shall be satisfactory to me." Wilson refused to accept a gift upon such terms, and held tightly to his belief that West could not succeed in his plan to locate the Graduate College at the golf links, away from the "existing life of the University." Although Wilson had the support of the faculty and a majority of the trustees, Procter still insisted on his conditions.

After weighing the options, Howard Crosby Butler, the first Master-in-Residence of the Graduate College, agreed with West that a Graduate College apart from the undergraduates was wise based on his "practical experience with the group of graduate students at Merwick." Isaac Chauncey Wyman, Class of 1848, who came to side with Dean West and William Cooper Procter, left the bulk of his estate, initially estimated at two million dollars, to the Graduate College, and it was this that ultimately settled the question of its location. In his report to the trustees, Wilson finally accepted West's plan for the location and acceded to Procter's conditions. Once the site controversy was settled, architect Ralph Adams Cram, the "high priest" of American Collegiate Gothic, designed the College as a complex consisting of a quadrangle, the Pyne Memorial Tower for the residence of the Master of the College, and the great hall, Procter Hall, which became known for its stained glass windows, carved timber ceiling, and pipe organ. A "collegiate" lifestyle developed at the Graduate College, with recreation, lectures, and meals together in Procter Hall. The Graduate College provided graduate students with a communal life outside of the classrooms and laboratories.

World War I radically changed the character of the nascent Graduate School as students left for war service, and the Graduate College was leased to the military for training naval officers. Until 1922, the Graduate School had limited its enrollment to 200 degree candidates. Several departments, such as history, English, and chemistry, felt increased pressure to admit students beyond the 1922 quotas. By 1932, under Dean Augustus Trowbridge (1928-1933), enrollment was raised to 250, but it was not until the administration of Dean Hugh Stott Taylor (1945-1958), that the upper limit was finally removed. With increased research funds in math and sciences came assistantships for students. By World War II, Dean Luther Eisenhart (1933-1945), who had come on board during the Depression, had given the Graduate School a new sense of mission and increased claim to excellence. He changed doctoral regulations, redefined master's degrees, and created scholarships.

As World War II wound down and enrollment began strongly increasing again, the Graduate School faced a housing crisis, especially for married students. Married veterans and their families moved into what were at one time army barracks, the Butler Apartments, on Harrison Street. The shape of graduate education in the postwar years became a major interest, and Dean Taylor oversaw the postwar expansion of the Graduate School. He added new doctoral programs and brought alumni more fully into the University family through the creation of the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni. The establishment of the Forrestal Campus in 1951, which included the Plasma Physics Laboratory and a particle accelerator, helped cement Princeton's reputation as a world-class institution in the study of physics

Under Dean Donald Hamilton (1958-1965), the enrollment of the Graduate School continued to increase steadily. The fellowship budget grew, as did the number of interdisciplinary programs. Princeton admitted its first woman graduate student as a special case in 1961, and in 1968 the Graduate School's doors were officially opened to women. Throughout the 1960s, the recruitment of minorities, especially African Americans, grew. Toward the end of the 1960s, with the global political climate changing, Princeton, like other graduate schools, felt increasing pressure to admit more students from other nations.

After weathering Vietnam War protests in the 1970s, the Graduate School faced further problems with funding, particularly in the humanities. Budget cuts served to reshape the Graduate School's demography, financing, programs, and morale through to the early 1990s. Steady growth throughout the latter part of the decade, however, can be attributed to doctoral students remaining enrolled in extended programs in order to conduct sophisticated research, acquire foreign languages and study in foreign countries, among other things. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Graduate School saw more specialties in academic departments and the establishment of focused research institutes and centers, as well as a strong exchange program with peer institutions.

The collection is composed of correspondence with the guest speakers. Most folders contain a letter of invitation to speak at the Gauss Seminars, correspondence concerning presentation dates, lodging, and material for distribution during the presentation. Other items include payment for lectures and correspondence requesting additional lecture dates at other institutions during the speaker's stay in the United States.

The final folder contains material from a symposium on the subject of Thomas Mann's Dr. Faustus. Symposium speakers, all of whom taught at Princeton at various times, were E.B.O. Borgerhoff (Romance Languages and Literatures); Francis Fergusson, (Comparative Literature); Erich Kahler (Germanic Languages and Literatures); Edmund King (Romance Langauges and Literatures); David Sachs (Philosophy); and Joseph Kerman (Music).

Organized into the following series:

The collection is arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the lecturer. Box 1, Folder 1 contains an index with each lecturer's name and topic of discussion. Topics are varied and cover many different subjects in the humanities such as metaphysics, political thought, and existential theme. Other topics examine a specific genre such as poetry, romanticism, and science fiction.

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

This collection was processed by Carol Burke in January 2003. Finding aid written by Carol Burke in January 2003.

Publisher
University Archives
Finding Aid Author
Carol Burke
Finding Aid Date
2003
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

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For instances beyond Fair Use where the copyright is not held by the University, while permission from the Library is not required, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Collection Inventory

Index, 1954-1977. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Aldridge, John W, 1952-1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Alvarez, Alfred, 1957-1963. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Amis, Kingsley, 1958-1959. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Amis, Kingsley, Correspondence and Questionnaire, 1958-1959. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Arendt, Hannah, 1952-1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Auden, Wystan H, 1957-1958. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Materials Viewable Online
  1. View digital content
Auerbach, Erich, 1949-1955. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Barr, Stringfellow, 1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Beguin, Albert, 1955. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Bentley, Eric, 1959-1960. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Bergmann, Frithjof, 1965-1966. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Berlin, Sir Isaiah, 1971-1973. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Materials Viewable Online
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Berryman, John, 1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Berthoff, Warner, 1971-1973. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Bonnefoy, Yves, 1968. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Booth, Wayne, 1972-1974. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Borgerhoff, E.B.O., 1949-1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Brombert, Victor, 1963-1966. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Buchanan, Scott, 1956. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Burke, Kenneth, 1951-1969. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Materials Viewable Online
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Burnham, James, 1962-1965. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Cambon, Blauco, 1963-1964. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Castro, Americo, 1952. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Cavell, Stanley, 1970-1971. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Chiaromonte, Nicola, 1966-1975. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Materials Viewable Online
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Chomsky, Noam, 1964-1965. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Clement, Alain, 1969. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Cohen, Marshall, 1964. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Copland, Aaron, 1956. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Creagh, Patrick, 1971. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Dahrendorf, Ralf, 1976-1977. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

DeMan, Paul, 1967. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

de Menasce, Father Pierre, 1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Doubrovsky, Serge, 1974-1976. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Draper, Theodore, 1974. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Dumont, Louis, 1973-1974. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Dworkin, Ronald, 1965-1966. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Eberhart, Richard, 1955. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Eco, Umberto, 1976. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Edel, Leon, 1952-1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Ellmann, Richard, 1971-1973. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Erikson, Erik, 1969-1970. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Erlich, Victor, 1976-1978. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Fanger, Donald, 1977-1978. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Fergusson, Francis, 1949-1950. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Fiedler, Leslie A, 1955-1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Fitzgerald, Robert, 1949-1954. 2 folders.
Physical Description

2 folders

Frank, Joseph, 1949-1958. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Fried, Michael, 1974. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Materials Viewable Online
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Fussell, Paul, Jr, 1967. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Gay, Peter, 1977-1979. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Goodheart, Eugene, 1972. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Greenberg, Clement, 1958-1959. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Guillen, Jorge, 1956-1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Habermas, Jurgen, 1970-1981. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Hampshire, Stuart, 1973-1975. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Hardwick, Elizabeth, 1971. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Hartman, Geoffrey, 1967-1968. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Hollander, John, 1961-1962. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Howe, Irving, 1952-1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Hyman, Sidney, 1956-1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Jakobson, Roman, 1966-1968. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Jarrell, Randall, 1951-1952. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Jordan, John, 1965. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Kac, Mark, 1962. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Kahler, Erich, 1951-1955. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Kazin, Alfred, 1961-1962. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Kenner, Hugh, 1973-1974. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Kerman, Joseph, 1949-1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Kermode, Frank, 1969-1974. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

King, Edmund L, 1950-1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Kitto, H.D.F., 1954-1962. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Krenek, Ernst, 1956-1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Kronenberger, Louis, 1960-1961. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Lavin, Marilyn Aronberg, 1969-1976. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Lazarsfeld, Paul, 1963-1964. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Materials Viewable Online
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Levin, Harry, 1960-1961. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Levi-Strauss, Claude, 1971. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Lewis, R.W.B., 1959-1960. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

MacDonald, Dwight, 1958-1959. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

McCarthy, Mary, 1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

McCormick, John, 1969. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Magny, Madame Claude-Edmonde, 1957-1958. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Manuel, Frank, 1979. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Marcuse, Herbert, 1969-1970. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Maritain, Jacques, 1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Markovic, Mihailo, 1976. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Mathewson, Rufus, 1969. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Medawar, Sir Peter Brian, 1974-1976. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Merwin, W.S., 1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Meyer, Alfred G, 1972-1973. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Miller, William, 1960-1961. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Mintz, Sidney Wilfred, 1977-1979. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Momigliano, Arnaldo, 1978-1980. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Monegal, E. Rodriguez, 1977-1980. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Morris, Wright, 1971. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Morgenthau, Dr. Hans, 1971-1972. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moynahan, Julian, 1973-1975. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Mumford, Lewis, 1952-1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

O'Faolain, Sean, 1952-1961. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Passmore, John, 1974-1976. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Pritchett, Victor S, 1953-1954. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Poggioli, Renato, 1961-1962. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Read, Herbert, 1950-1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Richards, Ivor Armstrong, 1951-1960. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Rieff, Philip, 1969-1975. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Rizzardi, Alfredo, 1957. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Roger, Jacques, 1977-1978. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Rosen, Charles, 1976-1977. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Rosenberg, Harold, 1962-1963. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Sachs, David J, 1950-1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Said, Edward, 1974-1977. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Sarraute, Nathalie, 1971-1972. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Schapiro, Meyer, 1955-1956. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Schneider, Pierre, 1954-1955. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Schorer, Mark, 1950. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Schwartz, Delmore, 1949-1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Sewell, Elizabeth, 1967-1968. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Shattuck, Roger, 1969-1970. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Shils, Edward, 1977-1978. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Simon, John, 1972. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Singleton, Charles, 1958-1960. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Speaight, Robert, 1954-1972. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Spears, Monroe, 1974-1975. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Spender, Stephen, 1965. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Spitzer, Leo, 1953-1955. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Steiner, George, 1958-1959. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Tate, Allen, 1972-1973. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Thomson, Virgil, 1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Tillich, Paul, 1952. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Todorov, Tzvetan, 1973-1977. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Trilling, Diana, 1971-1972. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Trilling, Lionel, 1962-1970. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Tuve, Rosemond, 1957-1959. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Vendler, Helen, 1977-1978. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

von Blanckenhagen, Peter H, 1967-1970. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Simon, Otto von, 1971-1973. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Weaver, William, 1974-1975. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Wellek, Rene, 1949-1950. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Wiesel, Elie, 1969. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Wigner, Eugene, 1976. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Wills, Garry, 1975. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Wilson, Edmund, 1951-1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Zweig, Paul, 1973-1974. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Symposium on Thomas Mann: Dr. Faustus - Borgerhoff, Fergusson, Kahler, Kerman, King, Sachs, 1951-1976. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

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