Officers and Board

News

Prof. Frank M. Oppenheim reports the following on Jan. 8, 2009: 

A highly qualified research assistant, Ms. Dawn Aberg, has been located and hired half-time. Ms. Aberg both types at a 100 words a minute and is gifted in literature, law, and philosophy. More significantly, Dawn has become interested in the hunt and has invested herself in the project. As a sample of recent findings in the Royce Papers, we've discovered: 1) that Royce's mature masterpiece of 1913, The Problem of Christianity, was published without including 24 pages at the heart of Royce's final MS--why? for reasons unknown; 2) that the genuinely significant but previously missing 5th and final lecture of Royce's series on "Theism" has been identified; and 3) that the start and close of a key Roycean lecture in two Archive Boxes, which hitherto were located far apart and thus constituted two disparate fragments, have now been identified as an originally "continuous" MS and so can now be read as an intelligible readable whole.

We greatly appreciate your contribution to support Prof. Oppenheim's preparation of an Index of the Royce Papers at Harvard University. This work, which commenced in July 2008, is an essential first step toward issuing a critical edition of Royce's Writings (see news on naming of Larry Hickman as General Editor, below). We still need to raise approximately $22,500 to support Prof. Oppenheim and his secretary for the duration of the 15 month project.

The Josiah Royce Society is recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a charitable organization. Your contribution to the work of the Society is tax-deductible under IRS 501(c)(3) guidelines.

General Editor Named for Royce Critical Edition

Larry Hickman, Director of the Center for Dewey Studies and Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University -- Carbondale, has agreed to serve as General Editor of the Royce Critical Edition.  Prof. Hickman accepted this position at the Society's 2008 Annual Meeting in East Lansing, Michigan.  

Prof. Hickman brings many years' experience (what else?) from his work on the critical edition of John Dewey's writings.  His expertise will be invaluable as we take the first steps toward publishing a projected 25 to 30 volumes of Royce's Writings.