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Brand Blanshard Papers
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Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Brand Blanshard was born in Fredericksburg, Ohio, in 1892. His mother died in 1893 and his father in 1904, after which he and his twin brother were raised by their grandmother. Blanshard studied at the University of Michigan and at Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He taught philosophy at Swarthmore College from 1925 until 1944 and then moved to Yale University, where he taught until 1962 and served as the chairman of the Philosophy Department. He died in 1987.
While Brand Blanshard was working on a project with John Dewey at Columbia University he met Frances Bradshaw of Smith College, and the two married in 1918. Frances went on to be come Dean of Women at Swarthmore College. She passed away in 1966.
This collection contains speeches, essays, and book reviews written by Brand Blanshard, as well as reviews of his Blanshard's work and a small amount of correspondence. The bulk of the collection is published writings by Brand Blanshard.
The collection is divided into 4 series:
- Correspondence
- Writings and speeches
- Syllabi
- Published writings
Papers: Gift of Jeanette Hopkins, accession SCA 1995.045; Transfer from McCabe Library, accession 1998.006; Gift of Jeannette Hopkins, accession 2005.010.
The primary donor, Jeanette Hopkins, deposited a complete collection of Blanshard's writings at Yale and their teacher-student correspondence to her alma mater, Vassar, and in 1995 she sent two folders of Blanshard's writings and reviews and miscellaneous file. A collection of Blanshard papers compiled by Swarthmore College Library were transferred to Friends Historical Library in 1998. In 2005, Hopkins sent a folder containing their correspondence when she worked at Wesleyan Press. Two letters written by Blanshard (1946 and 1971) which had been placed in his faculty reference file were united with these separate accessions in 2013 into a single collection.
The donor has deposited a complete set of Blanshard's writings at Yale. She also deposited their student-teacher correspondence at her alma mater, Vassar.
See also RG6/L9/0051, Brand Blanshard Reference for clippings, syllabi, and writings (possibly duplicate) and PG 7, Blanshard, Brand and Frances.
See also Frances Bradshaw Blanchard photographs, PA 170.
People
Organization
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- FHL staff
- Finding Aid Date
- 2018
- Sponsor
- Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
- Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Copyright has not been assigned to Friends Historical Library All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in to the Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Friends Historical Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by reader.
Collection Inventory
TLS concerning retirement of Harold Goddard from Swarthmore College faculty
Physical Description1 folder
Letters touch on philosophical and personal topics, opinions about fellow philosophers
Physical Description1 folder
In response to a letter from a former student
Physical Description1 folder
Blanshard notes sent to Jeannette Hopkins conceernig collections of writings which he thought suitable for publication. In letter to Curator of FHL, she explains that she had retired.
Physical Description1 folder
Read at American Philosophical Association meeting, Bryn Mawr College
Physical Description1 folder
2 drafts, American Theological Society
Physical Description1 folder
Commencement address, Friends Academy, Locust Valley, NY
Physical Description1 folder
Typescript with Q&A session notes
Physical Description1 folder
Address to Swarthmore Club of Philadelphia
Physical Description1 folder
Penciled note that was presented in slightly abbreviated form in 1979
Physical Description1 folder
Typescript, written when teaching at Swarthmore College
Physical Description1 folder
Photocopy
Physical Description1 folder
Incomplete typed mss
Physical Description1 folder
Debate between Blanshard and B. F. Skinner
Physical Description1 folder
Courses include Philosophy, Religious Philosophy, and Metaphysics
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Undated, includes photocopies of typed manuscripts on pacifism
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder