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University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Van Meter Ames Papers 1931-1985

© 2009 University of Chicago Library

Descriptive Summary

Title:

Ames, Van Meter. Papers

Dates:

1931-1985

Size:

0.5 linear feet (1 box)

Repository:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

Van Meter Ames, author and Professor of philosophy. The Van Meter Ames Papers consist of articles, manuscripts, paper abstracts, and other items related to Van Meter Ames.

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Ames, Van Meter. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Van Meter Ames was born on July 9, 1898 in De Soto, Iowa. He was the son of Mabel Van Meter Ames and Edward Scribner Ames (1870-1958), who taught in the Philosophy department at the University of Chicago and was pastor of the University Church of the Church of the Disciples of Christ and dean of the Disciples Divinity House. Van Meter Ames received his B.A. and Ph.D (1924) from the University of Chicago.

Ames joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati in 1925 and became chairman of the department of philosophy in 1959. Ames received a Rockefeller grant to study French philosophy in 1948, was named Fulbright research professor at Komazawa University in Tokyo, and was designated Humanist Fellow for Outstanding Contributions to Humanist Thought in Ethics and Aesthetics in 1976 by the American Humanist Association. He had interim appointments at Cornell University, the University of Texas, the University of Hawaii, Columbia University, and the University of Aix-Marseille where he was the first American faculty member. He retired in 1966.

Ames’ works include Aesthetics of the Novel (1928), Proust and Santayana: The Aesthetic Way of Life (1937), Zen and American Thought (1962), and To Find the Simple Things (1978).

Ames married Betty Breneman. Their children are Sanford Scribner Ames, Damaris Ames, and Christine Ames Cornish.

Van Meter Ames died on November 5, 1985.

Scope Note

The Van Meter Ames Papers consist of one box containing articles, manuscripts, paper abstracts, and other items related to Van Meter Ames from 1931 to 1985. The majority of these items are articles.

Related Resources

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

Browse finding aids by topic.

Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Box 1   Folder 1

Articles, 1931-1952

  • "George Herbert Mead: An Appreciation," xerox copy, Chicago Magazine, 1931
  • "Conscience and Calculation," reprinted from International Journal of Ethics, January 1937
  • "Discussion on Empathy," reprinted from Philosophical Review, September 1943
  • "The Novel: Between Art and Science," reprinted from Kenyon Review, Winter 1943
  • "Enjoying the Novel," reprinted from Enjoyment of the Arts, Max Schoen, editor, 1944
  • "Volkelt's Saving Humor," reprinted from Philosophical Review, May 1944
  • "Discussion: Art and Science," reprinted from Kenyon Review, Winter 1944
  • "Art and Science Inseparable," reprinted from Philosophical Review, March 1946
  • "Humanism in France: A Paris Letter," reprinted from Humanist, Summer 1949
  • "Reply to Mr. Natanson," reprinted from Journal of Philosophy, February 1951
  • "Existentialism and the Arts," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, March 1951
  • "The Humanism of Thomas Mann," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, March 1952
  • "The Zenith as Ideal," Journal of Philosophy, March 1952
Box 1   Folder 2

Articles, 1953-1965

  • "Not to Destroy the Law...," book review, 1953
  • "John Dewey as Aesthetician," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, December 1953
  • "A Philosophy for Today," reprinted from Ethics, July 1954
  • "The Archaic Smile," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, December 1953
  • "Mead and Husserl on the Self," reprinted from Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, March 1955
  • "Zen and American Philosophy," Philosophy East and West, January 1956
  • "Mead and Sartre on Man," Journal of Philosophy, March 1956
  • "What is Form?," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, September 1956
  • "Eastern Features in the Religious Philosophy of the Chicago School," reprinted from the Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress for the History of Religions, 1958
  • "Art for Zen and Dewey," reprint, 1960
  • Book review, The Dilemma of Being Modern: Essays on Art and Literature, reprinted from Criticism, Spring 1961
  • "The New in the Novel," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Spring 1963
  • "Butor and the Book," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Fall 1964
  • "Aesthetics in Recent Japanese Novels," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Fall 1964
  • "The New in Art," offprint, Fall 1965
Box 1   Folder 3

Articles and Manuscripts, 1966-1968

  • "What is Contemporary Music?," reprinted from Annales d'Esthétique:Bulletin annuel de la Societé Hellénique d'Esthétique, 1966
  • "Buber and Mead," reprinted from Antioch Review, Summer 1967
  • "What is Music?," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Winter 1967
  • "Vachel Lindsay, or My Heart Is a Kicking Horse," reprinted from Midway, Spring 1968
  • "Art and Artist Reconsidered," typescript, 1969
  • "Philosophy," reprinted from Midway, Autumn 1969
  • Book review, The Chicago Pragmatists, reprinted from Journal of the History of Philosophy, October 1970
  • "George Herbert Mead on Relativity," typescript, n.d.
  • "Is It Art?," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Fall 1971
  • "From John Dewey to John Cage," reprinted from Proceedings of the sixth international congress of aesthetics at Uppsala, 1968
Box 1   Folder 4

Articles and Manuscripts, 1971-1981

  • "Natural Religion," typescript, 1971
  • "William James and the Open Universe," typescript, 1973
  • Book review, The American Religious Experience, n.d.
  • "Art for Art's Sake Again?," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism Spring 1975
  • Von Wolf-Dieter Herrmann, "Van Meter Ames Zum Siebzigsten Geburtstag," Zeitschrift für Asthetik und Allgemeine Kunst Wissenschaft, 1969
  • Elmer H. Duncan, "Van Meter Ames: An examination and appraisal of his Philosophy of Art," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetic Education, October, 1981
  • Van Meter Ames, bibliography, n.d.
Box 1   Folder 5

Articles 1944-1960

  • "Social Esthetic, with Special Reference to Guyau," reprinted from Journal of Philosophy, February 17, 1944
  • "America, Existentialism, and Zen," reprinted from Philosophy East and West, April 1951
  • "Zen to Mead," reprinted from Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, October 1960
  • "Aesthetic Values in the East and West," reprinted from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Fall 1960
  • "Humanism of Edward Scribner Ames," Humanist, No. 4, July-August 1960
Box 1   Folder 6

Manuscript and Memorial Book

  • Manuscript poetry by Van Meter Ames, n.d.
  • Memorial booklet for Van Meter Ames, July 9, 1898-November 5, 1985