PDF | XML

University of Chicago Library

Guide to the James C. O'Flaherty Papers 1938-2002

© 2008 University of Chicago Library

Descriptive Summary

Title:

O'Flaherty, James C. Papers

Dates:

1938-2002

Size:

2 linear feet (4 boxes)

Repository:

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

Abstract:

James C. O'Flaherty received a Ph.D. from University of Chicago and was a founding member of the faculty of Wake Forest University's Department of German, where he spent his career from 1947 until his 1984 retirement. Specializing in 18th-century German literature and thought, he was a leading scholar of the German philosopher Johann Georg Hamann.

Information on Use

Access

Box 4 contains photocopied material related to an editorial review of Isaiah Berlin's The Magus of the North: J. G. Hamann and the Origins of Modern Irrationalism. The originals of this material are located at the University of Muenster, Germany. Any citation, quotation, or publication of this material requires the prior permission of the University of Muenster.

The remainder of the collection is open for research, with no restrictions.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: O'Flaherty, James C. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

James C. O'Flaherty received a Ph.D. from University of Chicago, after studying at the University of Heidelberg, Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and Georgetown College. He was a founding member of the faculty of Wake Forest University's Department of German, where he spent his entire career from 1947 until his retirement in 1984. Specializing in 18th-century German literature and thought, he was a leading scholar of the German philosopher Johann Georg Hamann. He died on July 27, 2002 at the age of 88.

Scope Note

The James O'Flaherty Papers contain incoming and outgoing correspondence, spanning the years 1938-2002, but concentrated in the 1940s through the 1980s. O'Flaherty's correspondents included major twentieth-century intellectual figures such as Isaiah Berlin, Thomas Mann, and Bertrand Russell. Most of O'Flaherty's correspondence is arranged into several alphabetical sequences, one of which contains letters related specifically to his research on Hamann and Nietzsche.

Manuscripts, notes, reviews, and other documents of O'Flaherty's writings are also found in this collection. This includes material related to works such as Socratic Memorabilia: A Translation and Commentary; Unity and Language: A Study in the Philosophy of Hamann; Johann Georg Hamann; and Studies in Nietzsche and the Judeo-Christian Tradition

Much of the material in the collection, particularly the correspondence, is in German.

Related Resources

Browse finding aids by topic.

Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Box 1    Folder 1

Correspondence and writings, 1954-1992

  • "Werner Heisenberg on the Nazi Revolution, Three Hitherto Unpublished Letters," Journal of the History of Ideas, July-September 1992, proof, photocopy
  • Dorpalen, Andreas, 1 incoming
  • Mann, Thomas, 3 incoming, 2 outgoing
  • Mann, Erika, 2 outgoing
  • Heisenberg, Werner, 3 incoming, 2 outgoing
  • Heisenberg, Elisabeth, 1 incoming
  • Laue, Max von, 9 incoming, 10 outgoing
Box 1    Folder 2

Correspondence and pamphlets, ca. 1940s-1950s

  • Hahn, Otto, 3 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Hahn, Otto, "Die bedeutung der grundlagenforschung für die wirtschaft," pamphlet, 1954
  • Hahn, Otto, "Cobalt 60," pamphlet, 1955
  • Meitner, Lise, 1 incoming
  • Franck, James, 1 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Planck, Nelly, 11 incoming, 7 outgoing
  • Francois-Poncet, Andre, 2 incoming
  • Boles, John, 1 incoming
  • Telschow, Ernst, 2 incoming
  • Office of the Mayor of Frankfurt, to Telschow, October 26, 1943, typescript copy
Box 1    Folder 3

Correspondence and photographs, ca. 1940s-1950s

  • Der Oberbürgermeister, Frankfurt am Main, 1 incoming
  • Two unofficial photographs of Franz von Papen, his son and son-in-law in American custody taken by an American soldier, 1945
  • Russell, Bertrand, 2 incoming, 2 outgoing
  • Papen, Franz von, 6 incoming, 3 outgoing
  • Junger, Ernst, 4 incoming
Box 1    Folder 4

Correspondence, ca. 1940s-1950s

  • Archie, William C., 2 incoming, 3 outgoing
  • Armacost, George H., 2 incoming
  • Belgion, Montgomery, 2 incoming
  • Berry, Paul L., 1 incoming
  • Bigge, A. E., 1 incoming
  • Brunner, Emil, 2 incoming
  • Church, Alonzo, 1 outgoing
  • Cully, Kendig Brubaker, 2 incoming
  • Eglash, Albert, 1 incoming
  • Eidson, John O., 1 incoming
  • Ernst, Paul, 1 incoming
  • Finckh, Alice H., 2 incoming
  • Fowler, Liz, 2 incoming
  • Fox, Donald, 3 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Graubner, Hans, 1 incoming
  • Gründer, Karlfried, 2 incoming
  • Hartmann, Hans, 2 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Hartwich, Horst, 1 outgoing
  • Heisenberg, Elisabeth, 1 outgoing
  • Holmer, Paul L., 2 incoming, 1 outgoing
Box 1    Folder 5

Correspondence, ca. 1950s-1970s

  • Jente, Richard, 3 incoming
  • Kitchin, Thurman, 1 incoming
  • Unidentified, Paul, 1 incoming
  • K-, Marie Therese, 2 incoming
  • Lange, Victor, 1 incoming
  • Lowrie, Walter, 15 incoming, 8 outgoing
  • Lutz, Ralph Haswell, 1 incoming
  • Maurer, K. W., 2 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Metzke, Erwin, 3 incoming
  • Myer, Ellen, 1 incoming
  • Nadler, Joseph, 1 incoming
  • Neuberg, D., 2 incoming
  • Nisbet, H. B., 1 incoming
  • Nordsieck, Reinhold, 1 incoming
  • Papen, Franz von, 1 incoming, 4 outgoing
  • Parcell, Harold, 4 incoming
  • Poteat, H. M. 1 incoming
  • Rosenberg, Jerome L., 1 incoming
  • Rosenberg, Ralph, 1 incoming
Box 1    Folder 6

Correspondence, ca. 1950s-1990s

  • Schreiner, Lothar, 1 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Smith, Ronald Gregor, 1 incoming
  • Stoupe, Henry S., 1 incoming
  • Südwestfunk, 1 incoming
  • Thornton, Agatha H. F., 1 incoming
  • Universitäts-Bibliothek, Bonn, 1 incoming
  • Universitetsbiblioteket, Copenhagen, 1 incoming
  • Urner, Hans, 1 incoming
  • Vaughan, Larry, 16 incoming, 2 outgoing
  • Wahl, Jean, 3 incoming
  • Weisskopf, Victor, 1 incoming
  • West, Carlton P., 1 incoming
  • Wiener, Philip P., 2 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Wilson, Edwin, 2 incoming, 1 outgoing
Box 1    Folder 7

Correspondence regarding Hamann and Nietzsche, ca. 1970s-1990s

  • Adams, James L., 1 incoming
  • Alexander, William, 2 incoming
  • Beck, Lewis W., 1 incoming
  • Behler, Diana, 1 incoming
  • Behler, Ernst, 7 incoming, 3 outgoing
  • Bennett, William J., 1 incoming
  • Biser, Eugen, 1 incoming
  • Blackall, Eric A., 11 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Blackall, Jean, 1 incoming
  • Bowman, Derek, 2 incoming
  • Büchsel, Elfriede, 2 incoming
  • Calder, William M., 1 incoming
  • Closs, August, 1 incoming
  • Daemmrich, Horst S., 1 incoming
  • Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, 1 outgoing
  • Dunning, Stephen N., 2 incoming
  • Ernst, Paul, 2 incoming
  • Fassian, Heinrich, 1 incoming
  • Foltin, Lore B., 1 incoming
  • Goedert, Georges, 1 incoming
  • Grau, G. G., 1 incoming
  • Graubner, Hans, 4 incoming
  • Groscurth, Peter, 1 incoming
  • Gustav Kiepenhauer Verlag, 1 incoming
Box 1    Folder 8

Correspondence regarding Hamann and Nietzsche, ca. 1960s-1980s

  • Hatfield, Henry, 2 incoming
  • Holmer, Paul, 1 incoming
  • Hooke, Alex, 1 incoming
  • Jonas, Klaus W., 2 incoming
  • Jírgensen, Sven-Aage, 4 incoming
  • Juhnke, Leo, 1 incoming
  • Kiepenhauer und Wisch, 1 outgoing
  • King, Janet, 1 outgoing
  • Knoll, Renate, 10 incoming
  • Knudsen, Chr., 1 incoming
  • Kohnen, Joseph, 2
  • Kunstmann, John G., 1 incoming
  • Lange, Victor, 1 incoming
  • Leibrecht, Walter, 1 incoming
  • Links, Roland, 1 incoming
  • Lloyd-Jones, Hugh, 2 incoming
  • Majeed, Hussein, 3 incoming
  • Majetschak, Stefan, 1 incoming
  • Mann, Michael T., 3 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Matthaei, Renate, 1 incoming
  • Merlen, Philip, 1 outgoing
  • Myers, Ellen, 2 incoming
Box 1    Folder 9

Correspondence regarding Hamann and Nietzsche, ca. 1980s

  • Nastansky, Heinz-L., 1 incoming
  • Nebel, S. Sue, 1 outgoing
  • Pelikan, Jaroslav, 1 incoming
  • Phelps, Lee, 1 incoming
  • Pupi, Angelo, 1 incoming
  • Rohatyn, Dennis, 2 incoming
  • Salaquarda, J”rg, 1 incoming
  • Schweitzer, Christoph, 1 incoming
  • Smith, Ronald Gregor, 1 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Sudhof, Siegfried, 1 incoming
  • Verra, Valerio, 1 incoming
  • Weisstein, Ulrich, 1 incoming
  • Winchester, 1 incoming
  • W-rster, Peter W., 2 incoming
  • Unidentified, postcard from Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Unidentified, from Wake Forest
  • Unidentified, from Universität Regensburg
  • Six envelopes
Box 1    Folder 10

Correspondence, ca. 1960s-1990s

  • Anderson, Edick A., Jr, 1 incoming
  • Angress, Ruth K., 1 incoming
  • Behler, Ernst, 1 incoming
  • Bennett, William J., 1 outgoing
  • Betz, John R., 2 incoming
  • Biser, Eugen, 1 outgoing
  • Blackall, Eric, 1 incoming
  • Blittersdorf, Almuth, 1 incoming
  • Carroll, Philip, 1 incoming
  • Chandler, John W., 1 incoming
  • Ghista, Dhanjoo N., 1 incoming
  • Grau, G. G., 1 incoming
  • Graubner, Hans, 2 outgoing
  • Green, Garrett, 3 incoming
  • Hohendahl, Peter Uwe, 1 incoming
  • Jantz, Harold, 1 incoming
  • King, Janet, 1 incoming
  • Knoll, Renate, 1 outgoing
  • Majeed, Hussein, 3 outgoing
  • Makkreel, Rudolf, referee report for "Herder and Hamann on Linguistic Mythology," Journal of the History of Philosophy, 1986, 1 outgoing
  • Menaes, Karl, 1 incoming
  • Mullen, Thomas E., 3 incoming
  • Myers, Ellen, 2 incoming, 1 outgoing
Box 1    Folder 11

Correspondence, ca. 1950s-1980s

  • Nebel, S. Sue, 1 incoming
  • Nollendorfs, referee report for "Jesus and the Pederast, Analogy and Irony in Hamann's Sokratische Denkwirdigkeiten," by Robert F. Gross, Monatshefte, 1987, 1 outgoing
  • Rathman, Franz, H., 2 incoming
  • Ross, Barbara, 1 incoming
  • Scales, James Ralph, 1 incoming, 1 outgoing
  • Shannon, George Pope, 1 outgoing
  • Stern, Guy, 1 incoming
  • Universitätsbibliothek Münster, 1 outgoing
  • Wilcox, John T., 1 incoming
  • Wilson, Edwin, 2 incoming
  • Unknown, from Indiana University
  • Unknown, from Wake Forest University
Box 1    Folder 12

Correspondence, Baeumer, Max L., 1968-1981

Box 1    Folder 13

Correspondence, Bayer, Oswald, 1988-1992

Box 1    Folder 14

Correspondence, Berlin, Isaiah, 1991

Box 1    Folder 15

Correspondence, Gajek, Bernhard, 1985-1992

Box 2

Folder 1: Correspondence, Hardy, Henry, regarding Isaiah Berlin's manuscript on Hamann, 1991-1992

Box 2   Folder 2

Correspondence, Henkel, Arthur, 1960-1991

  • Folder 3: Correspondence, Pauck, Wilhelm and Marion, 1977-1978
  • Folder 4: Correspondence, Peters, Wenzel, regarding translation of Johann Georg Hamann into German, 1986-1988
  • Folder 5: Correspondence, Rosenstock-Huessy, Eugen, 1956-1957
  • Folder 6: Envelopes from various correspondents
Box 2   Folder 7

Gauger family material

  • Correspondence and envelopes 1938, 1946-1949,
  • Photographs
  • Licht und Leben, Juni 1938
  • Invitation to write an article for Licht und Leben, mimeograph
  • Das Gewissen Steht Auf, "Martin Gauger," pp. 108-110, photocopy
Box 2   Folder 8

"Hamann and the American Intellectual," radio address on German radio, Südwestfunk, in German and English, manuscripts and notes, 1961

Box 2   Folder 9

"On Understanding the Germans," typescript, 1953-1954

Box 2   Folder 10

"The Intuitive Mode of Reasoning in 'Zarathustra'," photocopied typescript

Box 2   Folder 11

"A Humanist Looks at Max Planck," edited typescripts, comments by Max von Laue

Box 2   Folder 12

Manuscripts and notes

  • "Inwardness, the Key to German Culture," typescript, 1954
  • "A Humanist Looks at Max Planck," typescript
  • "Max Planck and Adolf Hitler," typescript, comments by D. Neuberg, enclosed in letter March 20, 1959, typescripts
Box 2   Folder 13

Manuscripts and notes

  • "Johann Georg Hamann," foreword, German translation
  • Review, Unity and Language, A Study in the Philosophy of Johann Georg Hamann, typescript
  • Walter Lowrie, foreword for Unity and Language, The Study of Johann Georg Hamann, typescript
  • Description of Johann Georg Hamann for advertising, 1978
  • "Relates to Johann Georg Hamann," typescript
  • "Hamann and the American Intellectual," carbon
  • "The Heart of the Liberal Arts," Founders' Day Address, Wake Forest University, typescript, 1958
  • "What the College Should Expect of the Public," typescript, 1958
Box 2   Folder 14

Johann Georg Hamann, chapter 4, draft and notes, typescript and holograph

Box 2   Folder 15

Photographs and photoreproductions

  • Photographs taken by Arthur Henkel, participants in Hamann Colloquium at Marburg, 1980
  • Portrait of Hamann, Hamann's grave, photo reproductions
Box 3   Folder 1

Proofs and notes

Box 3   Folder 2

Isaiah Berlin, J.G. Hamann, O'Flaherty's referee copy, typescript,

Box 3   Folder 3

Oswald Bayer, "Who Am I? God As Author of My Life History," typescript, ca. 1980

Box 3   Folder 4

Reviews

Box 3   Folder 5

Reviews of Unity and Language, A Study in the Philosophy of Hamann, tear sheets

Box 3   Folder 6

Reviews of O'Flaherty translation of Hamann's Socratic Memorabilia

Box 3   Folder 7

Reviews of The Quarrel of Reason with Itself, Essays on Hamann, Michaelis, Lessing, Nietzsche, photocopies

Box 3   Folder 8

Reviews of Johann Georg Hamann, tear sheets, photocopies

Box 3   Folder 9

Reviews of Studies in Nietzsche and the Judeo-Christian Tradition, photocopies, tear sheet

Box 3   Folder 10

"The German Scientists Under Hitler," Beecher Lecture, Amherst College, 1958, poster, article about the lecture in The Amherst Student, April 14, 1958

Box 3   Folder 11

Socratic Memorabilia, A Translation and Commentary, Johns Hopkins University Press, correspondence, contract, editing, 1966-1967

Box 3   Folder 12

Correspondence, 1953-1980

Box 3   Folder 13

Guide to the Josef Nadler Collection, Rice University Library, 1977

Box 3   Folder 14

Retirement, presentation letters at retirement dinner, curriculum vitae, bibliography, 1984

Box 3   Folder 15

Lists of correspondents, notes on correspondents

Box 4   Folder 1

Henkel, Arthur, University of Heidelberg, correspondence regarding Hamann, 1971-2001

Box 4   Folder 2

Gajek, Bernhard, University of Regensburg, correspondence regarding Hamann 1965-2002

Box 4   Folder 3

Bayer, Oswald, Tübingen, correspondence regarding Hamann, 1988-2002

Box 4   Folder 4

“The Magus of the North,” O'Flaherty letter published in The New York Review of Books, 1993

Box 4   Folder 5

Photocopies of correspondence with Henry Hardy about Isaiah Berlin's J.G. Hamann manuscript, 1992-1996

Box 4   Folder 6

Notes and corrections to first draft of Isaiah Berlin's J.G. Hamann manuscript, 1993

Box 4   Folder 7

Isaiah Berlin, J.G. Hamann, photocopied manuscript annotated by O'Flaherty, second draft, undated

Box 4   Folder 8

Isaiah Berlin, J.G. Hamann, photocopied manuscript annotated by O'Flaherty, third draft, undated