William Harry Jellema Collection, 1868-1982 | Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

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Collection Overview

Title: William Harry Jellema Collection, 1868-1982

ID: COLL/135

Primary Creator: William Harry Jellema (1893-1982)

Extent: 63.0 Boxes

Arrangement: Folder level description

Abstract

Philosophy professor at Calvin College and at Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan. This extensive collection includes lectures; articles; pamphlets; reports; correspondence; a study entitled “The Curriculum in a Liberal Arts College”; an interview detailing memories of the Christian Reformed Church, its ministers, and the Dutch community; gown, cap, and two hoods; family correspondence and genealogy materials; compact discs; and sound recordings. [See also the Campus Titles Database.]

Biographical Note

William Harry Jellema was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 10, 1893. Jellema attended Calvin College and graduated in 1914. He went on to earn his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. In 1920, Jellema returned to Calvin, not as a student, but as a professor of philosophy. Jellema served Calvin until 1936 when he accepted a faculty position at Indiana University. While at Indiana University, Jellema served as head of the university’s philosophy department until 1947. Jellema returned once again to Calvin College to teach philosophy, and did so until his “first” retirement in 1963.

A former student of Jellema, Alvin Plantinga once said, “By far, he was the greatest teacher of philosophy I’ve ever encountered and probably the greatest teacher of anything I’ve ever encountered.” Inspired by Jellema, Plantinga also became a philosophy professor at Calvin.

Although “retired,” Jellema accepted an offer from Grand Valley State Colleges to set up the new state school’s philosophy department. Jellema served GVSC until his official retirement in 1975. At the age of 89, the philosophy professor of fifty-five years, William Harry Jellema, passed away at Butterworth Hospital on May 16, 1982. His wife, Frances, preceded him in death, but five of his children survived him: Dirk, Jon, Gay, Mary, and Trudy.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Biographical Material, 1910-1980],
[Series 2: Preparatory Years, University of Michigan, 1914-1922],
[Series 3: Early Calvin College Period, 1920-1948],
[Series 4: Indiana University Period, 1937-1953],
[Series 5: The Harvard University Semester, 1938-1939],
[Series 6: Late Calvin College Period, 1948-1963],
[Series 7: Hope College, 1944; Fuller Seminary, 1954-1958],
[Series 8: Haverford College Experience, 1960-1962],
[Series 9: Grand Valley State College Period, 1963-1974],
[Series 10: Philosophy Department, Calvin College, 1928-1959],
[Series 11: Philosophy Department, Calvin College, 1928-1959],
[Series 12: Philosophy Department, Indiana University, 1936-1966],
[Series 13: Bibliographies, 1938-1949],
[Series 14: Correspondence, 1920-1975],
[Series 15: Notes re: Various Subjects, 1923-1974],
[Series 16: Papers, 1917-1962],
[Series 17: Published Articles, 1921-1967],
[Series 18: Speaking Engagements, 1920-1965],
[Series 19: Special Reports, 1926-1969],
[Series 20: Calvin Foundation Activities; Junior College Studies, 1949-1959],
[Series 21: Grand Rapids Christian High Board; Christian Labor Association (CLA) Contacts, 1932-1963],
[Series 22: Resource Material: Abstracts and Articles Reprinted],
[Series 23: Resource Material: Educational Bulletins, Curriculum],
[Series 24: Resource Material: Brochures],
[Series 25: Publications],
[Series 26: Publications, Bound Copies],
[Series 27: Books with Notations],
[Series 28: Resource Material, Brochures, Reprints],
[Series 29: Books, Brochures, Reprints: A - E],
[Series 30: Books, Brochures: E - W],
[Series 31: Published Articles; Resource Material],
[Series 32: Grand Valley State College, Philosophy Department Material, 1967-1969],
[Series 33: Grand Valley State College, Philosophy 101, 1963-1977],
[Series 34: Grand Valley State College, Preliminary Drafts of the Blue Book, 1970-1977],
[Series 35: Grand Valley State College Blue Books, 1967-1973],
[Series 36: Grand Valley State College, Lectures on Ethics],
[Series 37: Artifacts],
[Series 38: Family Correspondence and Genealogy, 1868-1982],
[All]

Series 16: Papers --- 1917-1962

Box 32

Folder 1: Argumenta: e consensu, ontological argument --- 1939
Folder 2: Argument of Plato's Protagoras (Indiana University period)
Folder 3: Basic philosophy curriculum
Folder 4: Bavinck's philosophy of revelation, for Kant Club
Folder 5: Being and self-knowledge, philosophy notes
Folder 6: Being in Christ, A. Banning
Folder 7: Biblical word "soul" (late Calvin period)
Folder 8: Calvin College: history and objectives, outline
Folder 9: Calvinism and higher education (chapter in book of CAC)
Folder 10: Calvinism and philosophy (early Calvin period)
Folder 11: Calvinism and science, typed paper --- 1956-1957
Folder 12: Calvinism and science (late Calvin period)
Folder 13: Case for monism --- 10-Jul-17
Folder 14: "Christian philosophy of education applicable to elementary and secondary education," paper reviewed by WHJ
Folder 15: Christianity as a practical philosophy, outline (late Calvin period)
Folder 16: Christianity and presuppositions of modern philosophy (Indiana University period)
Folder 17: Concerning graduate degrees in theology
Folder 18: Condition of a just war (Grand Valley period)
Folder 19: Conspectus of late 19th century German philosophy, outline
Folder 20: Contribution of the philosophy of society to law --- 1936
Folder 21: Culture
Folder 22: Datum and demonstration in philosophy, nature of the datum, Philosophic Association --- 1935
Folder 23: Definition of religion, (Indiana University period)
Folder 24: Definition of philosophy and pagan perspectives (late Calvin period)
Folder 25: Democracy and religion, A. E. Avey, notes
Folder 26: Essence of modernity (Indiana University period)
Folder 27: Evolution --- 21-Jul-37

Box 33

Folder 1: Faith of our fathers (Indiana University period)
Folder 2: Finding ourselves with reference to God and related subjects
Folder 3: Freedom and determinism in Christianity, handwritten paper --- 1940
Folder 4: General trend in metaphysics in the later 19th century
Folder 5: German philosophy, 19th century (Indiana University period)
Folder 6: Genius of Calvin College as seen in its historical roots, outline
Folder 7: God as a principle of intelligibility --- 1940
Folder 8: Grand Rapids should aid financially Calvin College (early Calvin period)
Folder 9: High School as a unit in our education ladder --- Jun-48
Folder 10: Ideals of scholarship in medicine
Folder 11: Jews in the world
Folder 12: Law and philosophy --- 1936
Folder 13: Meaning of education
Folder 14: Meaning of rationality (Indiana University period)
Folder 15: Meaning of reason --- 11-May-62
Folder 16: Medievalist
Folder 17: Metaphysics --- 14-Jul-17
Folder 18: Metaphysical status of the moral order --- 1942
Folder 19: Method in philosophy of religion (Indiana University period)
Folder 20: Mind with which one thinks, common grace (Calvin period)
Folder 21: Modern skepticism of religion (2 drafts)
Folder 22: Moral theory on the common sense level, Plato (Indiana University period)
Folder 23: My people: the Dutch Calvinists of Michigan, paper, notes (early Calvin period)
Folder 24: Nature and significance of cultural activity (Indiana University period)
Folder 25: Nature of a university (late Calvin period)
Folder 26: Objectives of a university (Indiana University period)
Folder 27: Perspectives of philosophy
Folder 28: Philosophy of education, handwritten and typed, revised

Box 34

Folder 1: Philosophical position, brief statement
Folder 2: Platonic idealism and Christian theism --- c. 1934
Folder 3: Plato's Meno, outlined
Folder 4: "Politics and Eschatology," by M. Westphal of Yale
Folder 5: Pre-Socratic philosophy, an outline of the "record," pp. 33-54
Folder 6: Reality and personality of God (early Calvin period)
Folder 7: Reason for independent system of education, mimeographed
Folder 8: Relation between philosophy and theology (late Calvin period)
Folder 9: Religion and democracy
Folder 10: St. Augustine: the philosophy of life of a millenium of Western civilization
Folder 11: Some philosophical implications of Calvin's Institutes
Folder 12: Some preliminary considerations for a plan of expansion of Calvin College
Folder 13: Symposium on law and the social sciences --- 1933
Folder 14: Stone lecture of A. Kuyper by A. Plantinga, comments
Folder 15: Taking inventory of ourselves as Calvinists, handwritten
Folder 16: Tentative outline for a survey course in the humanities - literature and philosophy
Folder 17: Three meanings of rationality --- 1941
Folder 18: Towards a Calvinistic university
Folder 19: Towards a social philosophy, notes and paper (late Calvin period)
Folder 20: Transcendental phenomenology of man, diagram --- 1941
Folder 21: Two definitions of Christian education
Folder 22: Two definitions of rationality
Folder 23: Types of existentialistic ethics, handwritten
Folder 24: What difference, Calvin College? A statement of its history and objectives --- 1961
Folder 25: The university issue --- 1962
Folder 26: Verifiability, mimeographed, chapter 7
Folder 27: What difference does Christianity make? --- 1950
Folder 28: What is history of philosophy? (Indiana University period)
Folder 29: Youth and modernity, outlined (Indiana University period)