Liberal Arts, Inc.: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:17, 29 September 2005

Revision as of 01:27, 29 September 2005

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'''Liberal Arts, Inc.''' was the name of an unsuccessful corporation founded in late 1946, which intended to create a [[Great Books]]-based liberal arts college in [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts]]. It is notable for failing despite the involvement of four educators of stellar reputation, and an apparently generous endowment.

In [[1937]], [[Stringfellow Barr]] and [[Scott Buchanan]] successfully established the [[Great Books]] curriculum at [[St. John's College, U. S.|St. John's College]], (which continues [[asto ofthe 2005]]present day). In [[1946]], Barr resigned the presidency of that institution "with the hearty good wishes of the board of trustees" to found a new college.

According to Glen Edward Avery{{ref|avery}}, Barr thought St. John's had grown too large and feared that its land was about to be seized by the U.S. Navy for its own academy. The first such threat had been made in [[1940]]; St. John's was saved only by the direct intervention of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]] and Secretary of the Navy [[Frank Knox]]. A [[1946]] newspaper story says that "the college's Damocles sword again threatened to drop in [[1944]], by which time St. John's had lost its two greatest friends in the government." The college's board of trustees was unable to get a definite answer from Congress, then in control of Federal land-taking, on whether St. John's land would be taken, and Barr wanted to secure "a home free of the endless menace of eviction."{{ref|hannaestatebought}}

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Several sites were considered for the new college. The first choice was a site in [[New Lebanon, New York|New Lebanon, N.Y.]], occupied by the [[Darrow School]], which refused to sell.{{ref|knell}} The final choice was the Dan Hanna estate in [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts]].

The choice of this ___location may have been influenced by Scott Buchanan, who was familiar with the area, having graduated in [[1912]] from [[Pittsfield, Massachusetts|Pittsfield]] High School. The site, officially known as Bonny Brier Farm, already contained eighteen buildings, including an inn and, a dormitory, and a boathouse located on 2500 feet of lakeshore frontage on the west shore of the [[Stockbridge Bowl]]. InThe [[1934]]site was about a mile and a half from [[1935Tanglewood]], thehome siteof what was thethen ___location ofcalled the Berkshire Symphonic Festival; in fact, whichit movedwas tothe venue for that festival in [[Tanglewood1934]] inand [[1936]1935], the first two years of its existence.

The enterprise was launched with a $4.5 million endowment from Paul W. Mellon, son of [[Andrew W. Mellon]]. Mellon had attended St. John's for a year in 1940. The Hanna estate was purchased and deeded to the corporation in March, 1947{{ref|nyt1947}}.

Among other members of the corporation were [[Mark Van Doren]] of Columbia University and [[Mortimer J. Adler]] of the University of Chicago.{{ref|nyt1946}}