Guide to the Edwin A. Burtt Papers,
1950-1988

Edwin A. Burtt was educated at Yale University, Union Theological Seminary, and Columbia University. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1932 and was named Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy in 1941. He retired in 1960 and died in 1989. His long-time focus was on the history and philosophy of religion, and he was the author of many books in this field.

Unpublished manuscripts of "Philosophy, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow," "The Cross of Calvary," and "Light, Love and Life" (published by Cayuga Press, 1988); "What Should Theology Be?" (1950); "Eastern Thought and Western Science" (1950); "Understanding Man in His Search for Peace" (1963); and other writings. Also included are miscellaneous articles by other scholars; correspondence with other scholars; lecture notes; typescript of "The Genius of Explanatory Ideas," n.d.; typescript work-in-progress papers related to Burtt's published work The Human Journey, including a manuscript of a book entitled "Thinking Through Confucius," by David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames; typescripts of unpublished essays; personal account books and tax records, 1960-1979; and copies of published pamphlets.

Includes a 1994 thesis by Diane Davis Villemaire "Metaphysics in the Twentieth Century: The Philosophies of History of E. A. Burtt and R. G. Collingwood;" 1994 dissertation by Francis J. Moriarty, "The Philosophy of E.A. Burtt: The Metaphysical Foundations for a World Community;" 1998 Ph.D. dissertation by Diane Villemaire, "The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science: A Window on the Life and Work of E.A. Burtt, Twentieth-Century Pragmatist and Postmodern Thinker". Letters to Diane Villemaire about Burtt from his students and colleagues at Cornell, 1995, and lecture notes from Burtt's Collingwood seminar (Philosophy 587) at Cornell, 1950-51. Also, 1976 dissertation by Jean Y. Matlack, "A Life Study of a Psychotherapist: Marjorie Murray Burtt."