Abstract
The chapter exposes an accurate analysis of the steps that brought to the presence, in North America, of archives dedicated to the writings of Edmund Husserl. The account runs from an early project for a first center in Buffalo, to the birth of centers dedicated to Phenomenology. The first surviving United States of America branch of the Husserl Archives in Leuven was created at the New School for Social Research, while in the mid-1980s a second collection center of copies of the transcriptions of Husserl’s manuscripts – the Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center – was created at Duquesne University. In specific, this chapter restitutes the history of the creation of the “Husserl Archives Established in Memory of Alfred Schutz” at the New School for Social Research in New York.
I am grateful: to my friend Dr. Carmen Hendershott, for her research support and for her help in reading this chapter; to James Dodd, for his dialogue on the theme of my research; to Lester Embree and William McKenna for their precious suggestions; to Dr. Thomas Vongehr, for his considerable research assistance; to Julia Foulkes, for her vivid attention to my researches devoted to the history of phenomenology at the New School for Social Research.
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Notes
- 1.
Grathoff, Richard. 1989. Philosophers in Exile. The Correspondence of Alfred Schutz and Aron Gurwitsch, 1939–1959, pp. 96–98 for an interesting exchange about the editorial policies of the journal Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
- 2.
Information about the interactions between Marvin Farber and Father Van Breda are contained in the text by Rudolf Bernet (author of the foreword), Herman Leo Van Breda, and Thomas Vongehr, Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs: History of the Husserl-Archives, Springer, Dordrecht, Husserl-Archiv Leuven, 2007. My study here is based on the text of Thomas Vongehr, Kurze Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs in Leuven und der Husserl Edition, pp. 71–98 (A Short History of the Husserl Archives Leuven and the Husserliana, pp. 99–122).
- 3.
See: Wagner, Helmut. 1984. “Marvin Farber’s Contribution to the Phenomenological Movement: an International Perspective”, in Kah Kyung Cho, Philosophy and Science in Phenomenological Perspective, Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff, 229.
- 4.
See: Thomas Vongehr, A Short History of the Husserl-Archives Leuven and the Husserliana, in Thomas Vongehr (eds), Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs; History of the Husserl-Archives, Springer, Dordrecht, 2007, 107. For what concerns the contact between Farber and Gerhart Husserl, see: Kah Kyung Cho, History and Substance of Husserl’s ‘Logical Investigations’, in John Drummond and Kwok-Ying Lau (eds.), Husserl’s “Logical Investigations” in the New Century: Western and Chinese Perspective, Springer, Dordrecht, 2007, 6–7.
- 5.
See: Bob Sandmeyer, Husserl’s Constitutive Phenomenology (Routledge, New York, 2009), with a reference to the presence in the United States of two Husserl Archives and the indication that an archive of Husserl’s manuscripts had been established at the State University of New York in Buffalo, but was dismantled (Sandmeyer 2009: 193–194, footnote 69). Dermot Moran also mentions the presence of Husserl-Archives in Buffalo. In the text Introduction to Phenomenology, p. 485, footnote 11, he writes: «Husserl-Archives were set-up in Cologne, Freiburg, Paris, and Buffalo, New York». Additional information has been supplied by my research, conducted at the Husserl-Archives in Leuven under the guidance of Thomas Vongehr in July, 2011, which allowed me to bring to light some little-known aspects of the story of the spread of phenomenology in the United States of America.
- 6.
Many manuscripts of Edmund Husserl’s were smuggled out of Germany by diplomatic pouch during World War II and wound up at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. They were eventually transcribed from Edmund Husserl’s shorthand by his assistants, and several copies were made of them. These copies were distributed to universities around the world. The New School was one of the places that received one of the these copies, which fill several file cabinets. At the New School, the material is property of the Department of Philosophy, at the time of my researches on field (in summer of 2010) housed at 6 East 16th Street, under the supervision of James Dodd.
- 7.
Thomas Vongehr is credited to have discovered this historical fact. He gave me this communication.
- 8.
See: Thomas Vongehr, A Short History of the Husserl-Archives Leuven and the Husserliana cit., 107–108. In September 1946, through the mediation of Farber, Eugen Fink proposed to Gerhart Husserl that the manuscripts be put under the tutelage of the International Phenomenological Society. From that point on, only scholars with a deep understanding of the phenomenology of Husserl’s work would prepare for publication the unpublished Husserl’s texts.
- 9.
See: Thomas Vongehr, A Short History of the Husserl-Archives Leuven and the Husserliana cit., pp. 107–108. Vongehr explains that in the eyes of Husserl’s widow, the proposal to bring all the manuscripts in the United States was impractical, especially considering «the countless trials and tribulations that Van Breda went through in rescuing them from all the bombing, and considering the moral obligations towards the University of Leuven, which used its own money and spared no effort to preserve the manuscripts», 108.
- 10.
The draft of this document and the final version are kept in the Husserl-Archives in Leuven. Gerhart Husserl paid a visit to Father Van Breda in the summer and later in September 1947. See Thomas Vongehr, A Short History of the Husserl-Archives Leuven and the Husserliana, 109. «On a visit to Leuven in July of the same year, Gerhart Husserl discussed the guidelines for the continued work at the archive, including the regulations governing the loan of transcriptions and the editions of Husserl’s manuscripts. Of this visit, Gerhart Husserl wrote to his mother that “the numerous discussions with Father Van Breda and his colleagues have convinced me that Papa’s work is in the best hands imaginable. No major differences of opinion emerged from our discussions. The positive impression that I had already had of Father Van Breda has been fully confirmed over the last few days. I trust him”», p. 109.
- 11.
You can read it in the first page of the first volume of Husserliana, Band I, p. IV: “Edition établie avec le concours financier de la Fondation Francqui (Brussels) publiée et sous les auspices of the International Phenomenological Society (Buffalo)”. See: Thomas Vongehr, A Short History of the Husserl-Archives Leuven and the Husserliana cit.: «The first volumes of the Husserliana referred to this cooperation with the words, “publiée sous les auspices de l’International Phenomenological Society”. However, the publishing rights for Husserl’s manuscripts were still entirely held by the Husserl-Archives in Leuven. Only certain texts not intended for publication in the Husserliana series were allowed to be published in Farber’s journal. According to Van Breda’s wishes, Farber’s International Phenomenological Society was “to be (…) the phenomenological body that would encompass and guide the wide circle of scholars”. In addition, it was decided that the University of Buffalo, where Farber was teaching, would be given copies of all the transcriptions of Husserl’s manuscripts free of charge. These agreements thus established the Buffalo-Archives, which remained active until the early 1970s». (p. 109)
- 12.
This cooperation is also evidenced by the publication of the following information written by Father Van Breda: “Communications. The Husserl Archives in Louvain”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, (March) 1947, 7: 487–491; and “Communications, News and Notes: Notes From the Husserl Archives”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (December) 1947, 8: 302–307.
- 13.
Lester Embree explained to me what he knew from Theodore Kisiel: Marvin Farber had copies of Edmund Husserl’s manuscripts in his home, and became tired of the visits of Theodore Kisiel to consult them. So, he moved them to University of Buffalo Library.
- 14.
Dorion Cairns died on 4th of January 1973 and Aron Gurwitsch on 25th of June 1973. Hans Jonas taught at the New School until 1976.
- 15.
I intend to point out that the story of the birth of the Husserl-Archives at the New School for Social Research deserves a more extensive treatment. In this essay I only mention the most important stages of this project given its importance in the history of the reception of Husserl’s thought in the United States. At the time of my researches on field at the Husserl-Archivs in Leuven I consulted two folders containing relevant material with the following headings: “The New School for Social Research, New York, 1958–1975”, and “Schutz – (Ilse Schutz), 1946–1960”.
- 16.
See: the letter of Schutz to Father Van Breda, dated 21 October 1958. In addition, in a letter of Schutz to Father Van Breda dated 20 November 1958, Schutz says the New School for Social Research can be the venue for the installation of a series of “micro-karten” that reproduce the transcripts of the texts preserved in Leuven Husserl: “Ihre freundliche Anregung, unserer Schule einen set der Transcripte der Husserl Manuscripte auf Micro-Karten … zur Verfügung zu stellen”. In a letter dated November 24, 1958, Father Van Breda meets Schutz accepting the idea of creating a deposit of “micro-karten” at the New School, and indicates the need to draw up a contract that must be signed between the two parties, especially regarding the extent and limits of the rights of use of reproductions of Husserl texts. Father Van Breda was responsible for the drafting of the contract, which was later sent to Schutz.
See: the letter Schutz wrote to Gurwitsch, dated 20th December 1958, in Grathoff, Richard, ed., Philosophers in Exile. The Correspondence of Alfred Schutz and Aron Gurwitsch, 1939–1959, in particular p. 304 where he wrote: «I (as I believe I told you) along with Van Breda have never abandoned the idea of getting the transcribed Husserl manuscripts on microcards for the school. You can see from the enclosed copy of Van Breda’s letter how this has developed». Here, Schutz in the following sentences mentioned that together with Dorion Cairns he is leading on this idea.
- 17.
I refer to the exchange of letters between Father Van Breda and Aron Gurwitsch, which also involved two colleagues from the New School for Social Research, Hans Staudinger and Albert Salomon. As of November 9, 1961, Frederick Kersten, the student of Aron Gurwitsch and Dorion Cairns, helped his teachers in continuing negotiations with Father Van Breda.
- 18.
See: H.L. Van Breda, “Preface”, in Maurice Natanson, ed., Collected Papers, Volume 1, The Problem of Social Reality, Martinus Nijhoff, Den Haag, 1962, p. iv.
- 19.
See: the folder at the Husserl-Archives in Leuven, labeled “The New School for Social Research, New York, 1958–1975” in which appears a list with the following names: Raymond Aron, Herman Leo Van Breda, Arvid Brodersen, Martha Steffy Browne, Dorion Cairns, Charles Frankel, Marvin Farber, Kurt Goldstein, Aron Gurwitsch, Alvin Johnson, Adolph Lowe, Thomas Luckmann, Robert McIver, Fritz Machlup, Maurice Mandelbaum, Werner Marx, Carl Mayer, Richard McKeon, Robert Merton, Maurice Natanson, Paul Neurath, Albert Salomon, Meyer Schapiro, Herbert Spiegelberg, Hans Staudinger (Dean Emeritus), Eric Voegelin, Jean Wahl, Paul Weiss, Emanuel Winternitz, Richard Zaner.
- 20.
See: the folder at the Husserl-Archives in Leuven, labeled “The New School for Social Research, New York, 1958–1975”, the letter of Dorion Cairns to Father Van Breda, dated 24 February 1962 («You will, I am sure, be pleased to learn that sufficient funds have been given or legally pledged and accepted by the New School for Social Research to establish and to maintain for at least 5 years a library and center for phenomenological studies, under the name “Husserl-Archives, Established in Memory of Alfred Schutz”»).
- 21.
Thomas Vongehr, Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs History of the Husserl-Archives, Springer, Dordrecht, 2007, 115–116: «As an answer to the surge in interest in Husserlian phenomenology in 1960s in the United States, a new archive was founded in New York on 15 February 1966. The Husserl-Archives Established in Memory of Alfred Schutz at the New School for Social Research was officially dedicated to Alfred Schütz, who played a vital role in establishing phenomenological research in the United States» - Here, Italics and the Umlaut are in the original text written by Thomas Vongehr.
- 22.
See: the folder at the Husserl-Archives in Leuven labeled “The New School for Social Research, New York, 1958–1975” which provides the text of the telegram that Father Van Breda sent to Aron Gurwitsch on February 17, 1967 (“Saturday 18 in the morning five-cardboard boxes will arrive at JF Kennedy Airport with Sabena flight 547. Monday 20 you can clear them out”). Lester Embree informed me that Robert Welsh Jordan, student at the New School, helped Cairns and Gurwitsch in checking that all the MSS that were sent to New York matched the list.
- 23.
The first request for additional copies of transcripts of unpublished manuscripts of Husserl was sent to Leuven by William McKenna, then secretary of the Husserl-Archives in New York in December 1973. Lester Embree was the first official assistant of the Husserl-Archives, serving from 1968 until 1969. He was followed by Lloyd Carr, assistant between 1970 and 1972, and then by William McKenna, assistant during the years 1972–1973. This sequence of assistants is documented in the Leuven correspondence folder labeled “The New School for Social Research, New York, 1958–1975”. Of these assistants, the following information on Lloyd Carr is of particular interest for showing how the Husserlian and Schutzian legacy was passed on: Lloyd Carr wrote his dissertation under the supervision of Aron Gurwitsch and – after Gurwitsch’s death – of Jitendra Nath Mohanty. In 1976 he was awarded the “The Alfred Schutz Memorial Dissertation Award”, organized by the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science.
- 24.
See: the article entitled “Husserl Archives Opened” in The New School Bulletin, vol. 26, no. 8, March 31, 1969, p. 8. “The Graduate Faculty of The New School dedicated its Husserl Archives in honor of Alfred Schutz, in a ceremony on Tuesday, April 1 at 3:00 pm at the new Graduate Center, 65 Fifth Avenue (…). The New School’s Graduate Faculty trains most of the phenomenologists in this country. Until now, the bulk of the research materials in the Husserl collection were not easily accessible to scholars in this country. The late Alfred Schutz, to whom the collection is dedicated, along with Aron Gurwitsch, Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Faculty, brought the study of phenomenology to the United States. Dr. Gurwitsch will serve as the Archive’s Director”. See also: “Husserl Archives are Dedicated” by J.G. Herzberg, New York Times, April 6, 1969, p. 56: “Father Van Breda (…) succeeded in getting Husserl’s widow, who was Jewish, out of Nazi Germany and for 4 years kept her in hiding in Louvain. Mrs. Husserl died in 1951. (…) Father Van Breda, Dr. Gurwitsch and Dr. Richard Zaner of the University of Texas, spoke at the dedication of the Husserl Archives last Tuesday. Dr. Gurwitsch remarked before the ceremony that World War II, as well as the hard work needed to study Husserl, had slowed down the advance of phenomenology. Now it is changing, he said. Every university has to have at least one phenomenologist”.
- 25.
Lester Embree recalled: “The opening of the Husserl Archive in 1969 was probably the high point, but only in retrospect one might see that. We expected Cairns and Gurwitsch to disappear into those mss. coming from Louvain and to hear of new and marvelous things in courses, but that did not happen. After all, they were both in their 60s”, in Lester Embree, “The Legacy of Dorion Cairns and Aron Gurwitsch: A Letter to Future Historians”, in E. Kaelin, C. Schrag, eds, American Phenomenology, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989, 133.
- 26.
It is historically revealing to know the content of a letter that was sent by William McKenna to Father Van Breda, dated 12th of December 1973. Here, McKenna wrote: «I am the new assistant to the Husserl-Archives here at the New School (for Social Research) having taken over the position from Lloyd Carr. I am writing to you to request some information in connection with our desire to bring our collection of Husserl’s manuscripts up to date and to make it more complete. Since the year 1967 when we first acquired our copies of Husserl’s manuscripts, we have not received any further material. I believe that since then more transcriptions from Husserl’s shorthand have been made. If you can provide us with these materials, would you please advise us as to the cost we would incur? I have enclosed a copy of the list of the material that we now have. Also, we would want to have title cards for this material».
For an overview of the activities of the Husserl Archives at the New School, see: http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/husserl/
References
On the History of the Project of Marvin Farber for a Center in Buffalo
Bernet, R., H.L. Van Breda, and Th. Vongehr. 2007. Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs: History of the Husserl-Archives. Dordrecht, Husserl-Archiv Leuven: Springer.
For a detailed discussion of the relationship between Marvin Farber and Father Van Breda, see the documents kept at the Husserl-Archivs of Leuven.
On the History of the Husserl-Archives in Leuven
Bernet, R., I. Kern, and E. Marbach. 1996. Notiz zu Husserls Nachlass. In Edmund Husserl. Darstellung seines Denkens, ed. R. Bernet, I. Kern, and E. Marbach, 225–228. Hamburg: Felix Meiner.
Biemel, W.. 1989. Dank an Löwen. Erinnerungen an die Zeit von 1945–1952. Phänomenologische Forschungen 22: 236–268.
Ijsseling, S. 1987. Das Husserl-Archiv in Leuven und die Husserl-Ausgabe. In Buchstabe und Geist: zur Überlieferung und Edition philosophischer Texte, ed. W. Jaeschke, 137–146. Hamburg: Meiner.
Landgrebe, L. 1975. Professor H.L. Van Breda. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 35(3): 441–442.
Levering, B., and M. Van Manen. 2002. The Husserl Archives and Phenomenology in Flanders. In Phenomenology World Wide: Foundations, Expanding dynamics, Life-engagements, ed. A.T. Tymieniecka, 276–278. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
Schuhmann, K. 1990. Husserl’s Yearbook. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 50(Suppl (autumn)): 1–25.
Sokolowski, R. 1964. The Husserl Archives and the Edition of Husserl’s Works. The New Scholasticism 38: 473–482.
Van Breda, H.L. 1947–1948. The Posthumous Manuscripts of Edith Stein. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 8: 303–305.
———. 1947a. Das Husserl-Archiv in Löwen. Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 2(1): 172–176.
———. 1947b. The Husserl Archives in Louvain. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (7):3: 487–491.
———. 1947c. Communications, Notes and News: Notes from the Husserl Archives. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 8(2): 302–305.
———. 1959. Die Rettung von Husserls Nachlass und die Gründung des Husserl-Archivs. Husserl et la Pensée Moderne, Martinus Nijhoff, Den Haag, (Phaenomenologica 2): 42–77.
———. 1969. Der gegenwärtige Stand der Arbeiten am Nachlass Edmund Husserls. In Phänomenologie: Lebendig oder tot? Zum 30. Todesjahr Edmund Husserls, ed. E. Fink et alii., 41–46. Karlsruhe: Badenia.
———. 1992. Merleau-Ponty and the Husserl Archives at Louvain. In Merleau-Ponty: Texts and Dialogues, Contemporary Studies in Philosophy and the Human Sciences, ed. H.J. Silverman and J. Barry, 150–161. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press International.
Van Breda, H.L., and R. Boehm. 1953. Aus dem Husserl-Archiv zu Löwen. Philosophisches Jahrbuch der Görres-Gesellschaft 62: 241–252.
Van Breda, H.L. 1972. The Actual State of the Work on Husserl’s Inedita. Achievements and Projects. In The Later Husserl and the Idea of Phenomenology, Analecta Husserliana – Volume II, ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, 149–159. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company.
Wylleman, A.. 1994. Herman Leo Van Breda en het Husserl-Archief te Leuven, een Kroniek 1938–1974. Leuven (Unpublished essay courtesy of the Husserl-Archives, Leuven).
On the History of the Husserl-Archivs in Leuven
Bernet, R., H.L. Van Breda, and Th. Vongehr. 2007. Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs: History of the Husserl-Archives, Springer, Dordrecht, Husserl-Archiv Leuven.
See the table of contents of the volume “Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs. History of the Husserl-Archives”:
Bernet, R. Zum Geleit;
Van Breda, H.L. Die Rettung von Husserls Nachlass und die Gründung des Husserl-Archivs. pp. 1–38.
Van Breda, H.L.. The Rescue of Husserl’s Nachlass and the Founding of the Husserl-Archives, pp. 39–70.
Vongehr, Th. Kurze Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs in Leuven und der Husserl-Edition, pp. 71–98.
Vongehr, Th. A Short History of the Husserl-Archives Leuven and the Husserliana, pp. 99–126.
(see the reviews: Peucker H. 2007. Review of Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs: History of the Husserl-Archives. The Mathematical Intelligencer 32(1);
Melle, U. 2003. Short History of the Husserl-Archives and Status Report on the Edition of Husserl’s Work. In Essays in Celebration of the Founding of the Organization of Phenomenological Organizations).
On the History of the Husserl-Archives in New York
At the Husserl-Archives Leuven is stored the documentation that explains the creation of the “Husserl-Archives Established in Memory of Alfred Schutz” at the New School for Social Research, that Thomas Vongehr allowed me to consult. The documentation contains detailed information about the initial design of Alfred Schutz, related to the resumption of the project by Aron Gurwitsch and the effective birth of the Husserl-Archives in New York, as well as descriptions of the material that was sent from Leuven to New York for the creation of Husserl-Archives. I limit myself here to report a general indication of the placement of this material:
Folder: The New School for Social Research, New York, 1958–1975.
Folder: Schutz – (Ilse Schutz), 1946–1960.
See also:
Bernet, R., H.L. Van Breda, and Th. Vongehr. 2007. Geschichte des Husserl-Archivs: History of the Husserl-Archives. Dordrecht, Husserl-Archiv Leuven, Springer.
Zaner, R.M. 1969. Inaugural Address, Alfred Schutz Memorial Center: The Husserl Archives, Graduate Faculty, The New School for Social Research: “Alfred Schutz”, 1969 – “Dedication Speech: Alfred Schutz Memorial”. New School Bulletin XXVII(3)
See also references in:
Barber, M. 2004. The Participating Citizen: A Biography of Alfred Schutz, SUNY Series in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 133, 152, 199. Albany: SUNY Press.
1970. Announcements. Journal of the History of Philosophy 8(1).
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Ferri, M.B. (2019). The History of the Husserl Archives Established in Memory of Alfred Schutz at the New School for Social Research. In: Ferri, M.B. (eds) The Reception of Husserlian Phenomenology in North America. Contributions to Phenomenology, vol 100. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99185-6_13
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