RALPH TYLER FLEWELLING
Ralph Tyler Flewelling was the Head of the USC School of Philosophy when Mudd Hall was built in 1929.
He was an ardent book collector, the author of many books, and was one of the leading figures in the Personalist movement in American Philosophy.
THE FLEWELLING COLLECTION
Professor Ralph Tyler Flewelling, as director of philosophy at USC and with the support of the Seeley Wintersmith Mudd Foundation, began developing the Hoose Library of Philosophy during the mid-1920s. From the first, his plans embraced the acquisition of books possessing a combination of scholarly and bibliophilic qualities; and by the time it was installed in new quarters in Mudd Memorial Hall in 1930, the library contained a modest group of such volumes.
Comprising approximately 2,500 volumes, the collection includes manuscripts, incunabula and such works as Hobbe’s Leviathan (1651), and Locke’s Essay Concerning Humane Understanding (1690).
The Flewelling Collection is currently housed within Special Collections in the Doheny Memorial Library.
To learn more about our Flewelling Collection for research and instructional services please contact Dr. Melissa L. Miller, Head of Hoose Library, or Derek Christian Quezada Meneses, Rare Books Librarian at USC Libraries Special Collections.
DID YOU KNOW...
USC Libraries' Lisa Crow did a study of the Hoose Library of Philosophy while she was an MLIS student. She shared some of her findings on her blog regarding Ralph Tyler Flewelling and his importance to USC, the creation of the Department of Philosophy, and how the Hoose Library of Philosophy was heralded for its collections and contributions to not only the field of Philosophy but to the history of California and Los Angeles.
"[Flewelling] made the acquaintance of German philosopher Rudolf Eucken and the two remained lifelong friends. Eucken would later help Dr. Flewelling with his acquisitions for the Hoose Library."
"By 1916, at the age of forty-five, he was ready to begin an essentially new career in education; and a call from the young and struggling University of Southern California gave him the opportunity he sought."
For an expanded excerpt, click here.