bMS 580

Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture. Records, 1962-2004.

Summary Information:

  • Call Number: bMS 00580
  • Title: Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture. Records, 1962-2001
  • Repository: Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
  • Quantity: 12 boxes (8 linear feet)

Historical Information:

Founded in 1961 by by Marvin Halverson, the Society's "purpose and program are based on the belief that the roles of the arts and religion are decisive. They reflect the struggle to conserve and to recover depth and wholeness, to reaffirm personal responsibility in the face of dehumanization, to define the ground for human freedom and creativity in a culture which tends increasingly to impose impersonal tyrannies over mind and spirit. Religion in isolation from the arts is starved of concrete embodiment of its insights into the fullness of human life. Art gives religion the eyes to see ourselves in all our dimensions, the ears to hear the voice of our inner lives and the instruments with which to communicate with each other. At the same time, the past suggests that the arts realize their potential most fully within that transcendent, unifying vision which is the heart of religion." (from the SARCC website, 2004)

See bMS 555 for further records of the Society.

Container List:

Box One

  • "America is Promises," 1975-77
  • Aspen Institute, 1967
  • Board of Directors/Lists 1
  • Board of Directors and Fellows/Lists 2
  • Board of Directors, May 21, 1983
  • Certificate of Incorporation
  • Change of Name, 1968-69
  • Correspondence
  • Delaware Conference, Oct. 31-Nov.1, 1964
  • Dialogue-Focuser: The Impact of Technology
  • Exhibit-Interface, 1972
  • Exhibit: Post-Modern Architecture, 1972
  • Fellows, 1962-85

Box Two

  • Fellows Letters: Acceptances, 1972-73
  • Fellows: Applications, 1983-87
  • International Congress: Schedule, correspondence, 1967
  • International Congress: releases, 1967
  • International Congress, 1978
  • Mass Media Project
  • Meetings: Annual Congress, The Grotesque Papers; James Luther Adams, "The Grotesque and Our Future,"Feb. 7, 1970
  • Meetings: Symposium: The Recovery of the Sacred, May, 6 1972
  • Meetings: Annual Congress, Feb., 10, 1973
  • Meetings: Fall Meeting, Nov. 17, 1973
  • Meetings: Symposium: Vitality of the Spirit: Sacred Roots, May 11, 1974
  • Meetings: Colloquium, Dec. 7, 1974
  • Meetings: Symposium: Religious and Aesthetic Imagination, May 17, 1975
  • Meetings: Annual Meeting: Feb. 14, 1976
  • Meetings: Annual Meeting, Feb., 1977
  • Meetings: Symposium: "Rescuing and Informing the Tradition," May 7, 1977
  • Meetings: Symposium: The Time Before the Beginning, Nov. 5, 1977
  • Meetings: Annual Meeting, Feb. 4, 1978
  • Meetings: Spring Meeting: "Gnosticism Old and New," May 6, 1978
  • Papers: Edward A. Teryakian, Hans Jonas
  • Meetings: Convocation: "Marking Time? The Meaning of Waiting," Nov. 4, 1978
  • Meetings: Annual Congress: "Dislocation to Relocation," Feb. 2, 1980
  • Meetings: Fall Meeting: Nov. 1, 1980
  • Meetings: Lecture Series: Myth and Dream (no date)
  • Meetings: AR Conversations: "Laughter and the Smashing of Idols," Feb. 1,
  • Annual Meeting: "Therapeia," Feb. 2
  • Meetings: Annual Winter Meetings: "Beauty and Goodness, Aesthetics and Ethics," Feb. 1
  • Meetings: Spring Program: "Never the Twain . . ." Myth, Spirit, and Hope in the Global Village," May 4
  • Meetings: Spring Meeting, May 2, 1982
  • Meetings: Fall meeting, Rituals, May 5, 1983
  • Meetings: Winter Meeting: "Television 1984: Art, Myth or Thought Control," Feb. 4, 1984
  • Meetings: Fall Meeting: "Symbolic Process in Architecture," Oct. 7, 1984
  • Meetings: Spring Symposium: "The Visual Arts Legacy of Paul Tillich," May 2, 1985
  • "The New Religiousness in the Arts," May 3, 1985
  • Meetings: Fall Symposium, 25th year, Nov. 2, 1985
  • Meetings: Spring Symposium, May 2-3, 1986
  • Membership, Invitations to, 1964-65
  • Membership, 1976-78
  • Memorial: Bradley, Elizabeth, 1966
  • Memorial: Halverson, Marvin P., 1967
  • "Myth and Dream," Control for publication and correspondence, 1968
  • Office Management: Accounts Payable

Box Three

  • Planning meeting--Drew University, May 21-22, 1966
  • Princeton: Planning, Feb. 24-25, 1983
  • Printed Matter, miscellaneous
  • Program, 1965-74
  • Project Proposals: consultations, 1963
  • Project Proposals, 1964-65
  • Project Proposals: Lindisfarme, 1977
  • Project Proposals: Wainwright House, 1976
  • Projects Vetoed
  • Proposal: Bibliography Project
  • Proposal: The New Climate of Literary Criticism
  • Prospective Members, 1967-69
  • Publicity
  • Read Theatre Project, 1966
  • Riverdale Center for Religious Research, Riverdale Papers IV, 6 essays by Thomas Berry: The New Story, Contemplation and World Order, The Spirituality of the Earth, Creative Revolution, The Indian Future, Vision Quest of the American Indian
  • Seminars, 1974
  • Southern Region, 1980
  • Special Events: Music: "Cantata Misericordium," Benjamin Britten, March 24, 1967
  • Tillich Lectureship: correspondence

Box Four

  • Tillich Lectureship: Acceptances, May, 1968
  • Tillich Lectureship: Administration, 1968
  • Tillich Lectureship: Letters: Jane Kingman, 1968
  • Tillich Lectureship: Lodging, May, 1968
  • Tillich Lectureship: First News clips, May, 1968
  • Tillich Lectureship: Public Relations, 1968
  • Tillich Lectureship: First Regrets, May, 1968
  • Tillich Lectureship: First releases and PR report, May 17-19, 1968
  • Tillich Lectureship: Oct. 11-12, 1969
  • Tillich Lectureship: Letters--Denis de Rougement, May, 1970
  • United Church Board for Homeland Ministries
  • Wine Cellar, Boston: 21 May 1969
  • Wine Cellar, Boston: Conversations, correspondence, programs, etc.
  • Wine Cellar, New York: "The Daimonic in Society," April 10, 1969
  • Wine Cellar, New York: "Sociological and Psychological Perspectives on the Daimonic," May 22, 1969
  • Wine Cellar, New York: "American Myths of Violence," February 25, 1970
  • Wine Cellar, New York: "What Really New in New Theatre?" May 8, 1970
  • Wine Cellar, New York: "Berrigan's Trial of the Cantonsville Nine," March 20, 1971
  • Wine Cellar, New York: November 1, 1971

Box Five

Note: The folders in boxes 5 and 6 contain biographical information, some correspondence, and other items related to the individuals listed. See box 9 for further biographical information.

  • Adams, Douglas
  • Adams, James Luther, 1983-87
  • Albee, Edward, 1984
  • Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane, 1983-86
  • Bethune, Ade, 1983
  • Bloy, Myron, 1984
  • Borsch, Frederick H.
  • Burch-Brown, Carol
  • Burch-Brown, Frank
  • Campbell, Joseph
  • Carse, James P.
  • Chrisman, Neil, 1983-84
  • Chrisman, Richard N.
  • Clark, Anderson D.
  • Conklin, William, J.
  • Cox, Harvey
  • Cunningham, Merce, 1983
  • DeAntonio, Emile
  • Dillenberger, Jane
  • Dillenberger, John, 1984-86
  • Driver, Tom F.
  • Erdman, Jean
  • Farqui, I.R., 1983
  • Fiedler, Leslie
  • Fink, Lois M.
  • Fish, Howard
  • Franck, Frederick
  • Geber, Hana
  • Gensel, John
  • Gill, John A.
  • Graves, Michael
  • Happel, Stephen
  • Harvey, Mark S.
  • Hayes, Barlett, Jr.
  • Hayward, John F.
  • Hazelton, Roger
  • Heller, Erich
  • Hillman, James
  • Hopper, Stanley

Box Six

  • Hubley, Faith
  • Hudson, Robert B.
  • Hunter, Howard
  • Hyams, Harriet
  • Irion, Mary Jane
  • Johnson, Philip
  • Kegley, Charles
  • Kuntz, Paul G.
  • Lincoln, C. Eric
  • Maitland, David J.
  • Martin, Guy
  • Marty, Martin E.
  • May, Rollo
  • McFague, Sallie
  • Meyer, Betty
  • Mihaly, Eugene
  • Miller, David L.
  • Miller, Patricia Cox
  • Motherwell, Robert, Lithograph
  • Motherwell, Robert
  • Nevelson, Louise
  • O'Connor, Francis V.
  • O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger
  • Olson, Alan
  • Pitt, Malcolm
  • Post, Avery D.
  • Progoff, Ira
  • Remick, Oscar E.
  • Rood, Wayne
  • Schechner, Richard
  • Schoen, Myron E.
  • Scott, Nathan A., Jr.
  • Sheen, Martin
  • Sherrell, Richard E.
  • Spragg, Howard E.
  • Stella, Frank
  • Stern, Robert A M
  • String fellow, William
  • Terrien, Samuel
  • Thomson, Virgil
  • Underwood, Richard
  • Updike, John H.
  • Valyi, Emery I.
  • Vos, Nelvin
  • Warren, Robert Penn
  • Wiggins, James
  • Wilder, Amos N.
  • Wilder, A. Tappan
  • Winter, Gibson
  • Wyton, Alec
  • Zucker, Wolfgang

Box 7

  • Hopper, Stanley: correspondence and administrative records, 1955-1978

Box 8

  • Adams, James Luther, Forum material, 1996
  • Conklin, William: correspondence and administrative records, 1973-1988
  • Hunt, Howard: correspondence and administrative records, 1973-1982
  • Vos, Nelvin: correspondence and administrative records, 1984-2001
  • Corporation and other legal papers, up to 2001
  • Grant proposal, and correspondence, 1997-2001
  • Material from closely allied groups

Box 9

  • Biographical information on fellows of SARC, plus nominating policies and reports and notices from the Nominating Committee, 1989-2003.
  • Seedbed, newsletter, 2001-

Box 10

  • Program material, 1970-2004 (brochures, correspondence, etc.) (includes 40th anniversary, February 2000, Meaning of Myth)
  • Board meeting minutes and notices, 1980-2004; includes financial reports, committee, reports, etc. 
  • Miscellaneous correspondence, reports, 2000-2001

Boxes 11-12

  • Arc Library Summations, Fall 1986 Draft (books by SARC members)

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