John Dewey's Personal and Professional Library

Book excerpt: Among the letters, memorabilia, manu­scripts, films, and tapes in the eighty-four warehouse boxes of the John Dewey Papers that came to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1972 were a number of boxes that contained the books and journals from Dewey’s personal and professional library. The circumstances surrounding the growth of that library were these: after John Dewey died in 1952, the second Mrs. Dewey, Roberta Grant Dewey, continued to live in the same apartment with the couple’s two adopted children. Upon her death in 1970, the household was dismantled and all the books there were packed away. The library therefore comprises the many volumes col­lected through the years by the two families of John Dewey: the first, John and Alice Chipman Dewey and their children—Lucy, Evelyn, Jane, Fred, Gordon, and Sabino; the second, John and Roberta Dewey and their adopted children—Adrienne and John, Jr. In addition to the books signed or anno­tated by Dewey—well over a hundred have marginalia—or inscribed to him, a number of books with the names of other family members have been included in this checklist because evidence exists that Dewey also used them; others have been included because they were available for possible use. Only school textbooks have been excluded. The checklist is divided into two basic sections: works in English and works in other languages; entries in both sections are anno­tated to indicate Dewey’s notes, marginalia, inscriptions, and similar information. Beyond its use as a research tool, both in editing the Collected Works and in verifying Dewey’s references, this checklist of Dewey’s library provides interesting, often important, insights into his life and work.