Wesleyan University Center for Advanced Studies records

The Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) was founded at Wesleyan University in 1959 and existed until 1969. Wesleyan appears to be the first liberal arts college to create such a center. The CAS invited fellows to reside at Wesleyan and participate in the intellectual life of the campus. Each year, the fellows were a diverse group of academics, scientists, social scientists, writers, artists, and other intellectuals.

In a memo to the faculty announcing the creation of the center, President Victor Butterfield wrote: "We feel that institutions of Wesleyan's type, if they can find the resources, should on principle support vigorously the creative work of some of our very ablest people in the liberating disciplines. We feel particularly that such people should be drawn not only from abroad as well as from home, but from the so-called 'active' as well as scholarly professions. One of our concerns and one of the nation's persisting and serious problems is the cultural gap in our society between the intellectual and the man of affairs. We feel that each of these types has much to learn from the other, that they should come together more often in serious discourse, and that the liberal institution should support the study and writing of our ablest journalists, justices, ministers, industrialists and the like, as well as of professional scholars and creative artists."

The Center for Advanced Studies building was housed in Olin library until fall 1960 when it moved into a new building behind the Russell House on Pearl Street (the same building where the Center for the Humanities was later located). Fellows stayed for a full school year, a semester, or a period of weeks, depending on scheduling. During their residence at Wesleyan, fellows were encouraged to research and write but also to work with undergraduate students within Wesleyan departments. They often gave lectures and seminars about their specialties, or even offered courses. The fellows were provided with residences for themselves and their families and given a stipend. Most fellows were men, but several women were also invited, including Hannah Arendt and Jean Stafford.

Sigmund Neumann served as director of CAS from 1959-1962, Paul Horgan from 1962 until 1967, and Phillip Hallie as acting director from 1967-1969. Suggestions for fellows were accepted from all members of the Wesleyan community. Fellows were selected by a panel consisting of the president of the university, the director of CAS, and a trustee. Their decisions were presented to the faculty for approval. Monday evening dinners provided opportunities for fellows and faculty to mingle throughout the year. Wednesday afternoon open houses were sponsored by CAS to bring fellows and students together. Among the fellows to reside at CAS were Hannah Arendt, John Cage, Daniel P. Moynihan, Leslie Munro, and Richard Wilbur.

Beginning in 1968, the fellows were chosen for their similarity of interests in order to allow them to collaborate and to connect with the Wesleyan community in greater depth. At the end of 1968, plans were made to convert the Center for Advanced Studies into a Center for the Humanities. This change was partially the result of the Study for Educational Policies and Programs (SEPP) conducted in early 1968. The major changes included a selection process administered by a board that included faculty, students, and administrators; required teaching responsibilities; and the selection of a broad issue in which the scholars would focus their research. These changes, and the new name, took effect in fall 1969.

Chronology of Fellows

1959-1960 - Alan Willard Brown, Reuel N. Denney, Herbert McLean Evans, Paul Horgan, C. I. Lewis, William Manchester, Clarence Belden Randall, Nathan Shapira

1960-1961 - Edgar Anderson, Reginald Francis Arragon, Marston Bates, Julius Seelye Bixler, John Cage, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Austin Farrer, Alvin Harvey Hansen, Paul Gray Hoffman, Leonard Bernheim Meyer, Sir Leslie Knox Munro, Sir Ronald Syme, Conrad Hal Waddington, Lancelot Law Whyte, Alfred Hector Williams

1961-1962 - Hannah Arendt, Julius Seelye Bixler, Brand Blanshard, George Boas, Douglass Cater, Gilbert Harrison Clee, Paul Horgan, Pamela Hansford Johnson, Walter J. Ong, S. J., Tibor Rado, Sir Charles Percy Snow

1962-1963 - Hannah Arendt, Balasaraswati, Richard Walker Bolling, Kay Boyle, John Lackey Brown, Harry Caplan, Douglass Cater, Angna Enters, Torsten Gardlund, Philip Paul Hallie, Erik Holmberg, Abraham Kaplan, Paul Patrick Streeten

1963-1964 - Ernst Bacon, Harry Caplan, Christopher Derrick, Rene Jules Dubos, William H. Halewood, Arthur Lennart Kalleberg, John Frank Kermode, Hans Kohn, Terence Martin, Lewis Mumford, Aage Peterson, Sir Herbert Read, Donald H. Reiman, Carl E. Schorske, Ernest J. Simmons

1964-1965 - Luigi Barzini, Jr., Martin J. Buss, Herbert Butterfield, John Leonard Clendenning, Very Rev. Martin Cyril D'Arcy, S.J., Wayne Donald Dodd, Rene Jules Dubos, Moses Hadas, Hiram Haydn, Hans Jonas, John Bartlow Martin, Willard Van Orman Quine, Sir Herbert Read, Jean Stafford, Edmund Wilson

1965-1966 - Harold Gomes Cassidy, Leon Edel, Mircea Eliade, Jesse Hill Ford, Anne Fremantle, Richard N. Goodwin, Sergio Gutierrez Olivos, Daniel P. Moynihan, Sean O'Faolain, Michael Polanyi, Ernest J. Simmons

1966-1967 - William Arrowsmith, John Buxton, Joseph Elder, Robert Fuller, Richard N. Goodwin, Sergio Gutierrez Olivos, Thomas Messer, J. A. Richards, Stephen Spender, Rev. George Tavard

1967-1968 - Arvid Brodersen, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Paul Horgan, Gorham Munson, Lawrence Clark Powell, Edward Weismiller, Richard Wilbur, Huseyn Yilmaz, Ralph Young

1968-1969 - Lucien Goldmann, Paul Horgan, Herbert H. Hyman, Howard Robinson, Theodore Sarbin, Petrus J. Verdoorn