© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library
© 2013 University of Chicago Library
Most of the collection is open for research; however, there are several boxes of material that are restricted for various lengths of time. Folders 1 to 15 of Box 25 are restricted for 25-30 years from the date of creation; Folders 16 to 22 of Box 25 and 1 to 8 of Box 26 are restricted for fifty years from the date of creation; Folders 9 to 18 of Box 26 and all of Box 27 are restricted for eighty years from the date of creation.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Thompson, Manley H. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Manley Hawn Thompson was born in Zanesville, Ohio on April 12, 1917. He received both his A.B. and A.M. from the University of Chicago in 1938, and a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1942. Upon completing school, Thompson joined the U.S. Naval reserves, and remained until 1946. After the war, he taught for three years at the University of Toronto before returning to the University of Chicago in 1949 as an Assistant professor in philosophy. With the exception of visiting lectureships and other temporary associations with other universities, Thompson spent the remainder of his career at the University of Chicago.
Thompson married Margaret Phyllis MacKenzie and the couple had three children: Katherine, Roderick, and Clark.
Thompson's early interests centered on C. S. Peirce and, to a lesser extent, American pragmatism more generally. His only book-length work, The Pragmatic Philosophy of C. S. Peirce, was based on his dissertation and published in 1953. Thompson had a general interest in metaphysics and epistemology, particularly that of Immanuel Kant. He was a leading authority on Kant's theory of categories, and at the time of his death, was working on a manuscript dealing with Kant's account of our understanding of mathematical concepts. Thompson also published articles on Aristotle and W. V. O. Quine, semantics and logic. He authored the Metaphysics monograph for the Princeton Studies in Philosophy.
Thompson's professional career included serving on the Harvard philosophy department's visiting committee and as a member of Princeton's Associate Council on the Humanities from 1960 through 1965. He was active in the Aristotelian Society, the C. S. Peirce Society, the North American Kant Society, and was president of the American Philosophical Association in 1983.
Thompson retired from the University of Chicago in 1987. In 1991 he was diagnosed with a form of Parkinson's disease that gradually affected his ability to read and write, though he continued to correspond as much as possible with colleagues and former students. Thompson died in 1994.
The collection is divided into eight series: Personal, Correspondence, Professional Activities, Teaching, Writings, Writings by Others, Oversize, and Restricted. Noted philosophers represented in the Correspondence and Writings by Others series include Henry Allison, Michael Friedman, Paul Guyer, Christine Korsgaard, Richard McKeon, and Sally Sedgwick. There are also brief letters from J. L. Austin, Rudolf Carnap, W. V. O. Quine, and Bertrand Russell.
Series I, Personal, contains a few personal papers of Manley Thompson's and some correspondence belonging to his wife, Phyllis. There are also several folders of newspaper clippings and articles on religious subjects collected by Phyllis, mostly after her husband's death. Manley Thompson's papers are first, followed by Phyllis'; each set is arranged chronologically.
Series II, Correspondence, contains professional correspondence. Thompson corresponded extensively with colleagues and former students, and so some of the material here is of some philosophical substance. Correspondents often included drafts or offprints of their work for comment; in cases where a collection of letters from an individual includes enclosed articles, those articles are included here. As many of Thompson's colleagues and former students are themselves prominent scholars, the series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, with general correspondence arranged chronologically at the end. Correspondence regarding and with students at the time of their study is in Series V: Teaching.
Series III, Professional Activities, contains records, correspondence, and papers relating to Thompson's non-instructional professional activities: his service on the Harvard visiting committee, referee reports for journals and academic presses (older than 25 years), grant materials, etc. It also includes material relating to the Kant Society, the Charles Pierce Society, and the American Philosophical Association. Material is arranged chronologically.
Series IV, Writings, contains notes, manuscripts, typescripts, and offprints of Thompsons's academic writing, including materials related to his book, The Pragmatic Philosophy of C. S. Peirce. Materials are arranged chronologically. Part of the mathematics manuscript was written on the back of papers that are currently restricted, so a partial photocopy is included in this series, with the corresponding part of the original in Series VIII.
Series V, Teaching, contains syllabi and course materials, student work (except where restricted), and administrative records. The series is divided into two subseries:
Subseries 1: General: This subseries contains correspondence with and regarding students, their dissertation bits and other student papers, course notes, rosters and syllabi, and administrative material, arranged chronologically.
Subseries 2: Notebooks: This subseries contains bound notebooks with course notes from the 1940s-1980s.
Series VI, Writings by Others, contains drafts and offprints of articles and books by others, including some correspondence and scant handwritten comments by Thompson. Material in the series is alphabetized by author. In cases where the work was accompanied by a letter or two, that correspondence is included here.
Series VII, Oversize, contains complete newspapers and oversize clippings.
Series VIII, Restricted, contains material with various restrictions. Folders 1 to 15 of Box 25 are restricted for 25-30 years from the date of creation; Folders 16 to 22 of Box 25 and 1 to 8 of Box 26 are restricted for fifty years from the date of creation; Folders 9 to 18 of Box 26 and all of Box 27 are restricted for eighty years from the date of creation.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections: