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Fritz Marti Papers, 1909-2009

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Marti, Fritz, 1894-
Title
Fritz Marti Papers
Dates
1909-2009 (inclusive)
Quantity
15 linear feet, (29 boxes)  :  Primarily typewritten correspondence and newspaper clippings, research notebooks and manuscript notes; a few esoteric items including teeth, locks of hair, stickers and stamps
Collection Number
MSS Marti
Summary
Fritz Marti (1894-1991), was a Swiss-born philosophy professor highly regarded as an expert on post-Kantian idealism. His papers contain a significant trove of correspondence, including letters with such figures as Jacques Barzun, Walter Lippman and John F. Kennedy. The archive likewise features a wide swath of biographical items, research notebooks and unpublished manuscripts. One particular highlight of the collection is an annotated manuscript of Marti's unpublished translation of F. W. J. Schelling's The Method of University Studies.
Repository
Oregon State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives Research Center
Special Collections and Archives Research Center
121 The Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR
97331-4501
Telephone: 5417372075
Fax: 5417378674
scarc@oregonstate.edu
Access Restrictions
Restrictions on Access

Permission to examine the Marti Papers will be granted to qualified researchers upon completion of an "Application for Use" form, and contingent upon the researcher's agreement to abide by the rules and policies governing the use of manuscripts.

Languages
English, German
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Fritz Marti was born January 1, 1894 in Winterthur, Switzerland. After serving in the Swiss Army during World War I, Marti earned two degrees in Mechanical Engineering (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 1917, 1918) before completing his Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Bern (1922) under the tutelage of Fritz Medicus.

Marti's teaching experience began at the University of Oregon in 1923, and took him to 11 institutions of higher learning before his retirement from Southern Illinois University in 1974. In the meantime, Marti and his wife also founded the Marti School, a college preparatory academy in Ohio, now known as the Miami Valley School.

Marti published four books on philosophy, the most notable of which is On Being Human: The Life of Truth and Its Realization, a translation of work by his mentor Fritz Medicus. His scholarship focused primarily upon post-Kantian idealism, but Marti was also widely respected in Hegelian circles and indeed "well versed in all sorts of speculative philosophy, especially Catholic philosophy and Continental rationalism." Marti was also considered an expert on the work of Friedrich Schelling.

Fritz Marti died in 1991 at the age of 98.

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Historical Note

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Content Description

Marti's papers reflect his varied interests in philosophies of education, philosophies of religion and the culture and history of his native Switzerland. The archive likewise includes an assortment of biographical materials detailing the lives of both Marti and his family. Marti's formative years as a gymnasium (high school-era) and college student are particularly well-documented in the dozens of his research notebooks that remain extant from that time period.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Preferred Citation

Courtesy of the Fritz Marti Papers, Special Collections, Oregon State University Libraries

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Marti collection is divided into three series.

The first series, titled "Individual Correspondence and Articles," consists of letters, newspaper clippings (especially obituaries) and an array of other background materials concerning specific individuals with whom Marti had occasion to interact. Marti's correspondence with his family is held at the end of this series.

The bulk of Marti's scholarly output is located in series 2, "Notebooks, Scholarly Manuscripts and Research Interests." Highlights of this series include the dozens of high school-era research notebooks that Marti saved, as well a substantial collection of scholarly manuscripts dating from the late 1920s to the late 1980s. Special attention likewise has been paid to Marti's work on Fritz Medicus and F. W. J. Schelling.

A wide assortment of materials related to Marti's non-academic life have been arranged into series 3, "Biographical Materials, Organizational Affiliations and Financial Records." Here researchers will find a handful of biographical and autobiographical manuscripts, as well as photographs of Marti, his family and colleagues. Materials related to Marti's upbringing and life-long interest in Switzerland are also located in series 3, as are a small collection of records related to Marti's finances and organizational affiliations, including The Marti School.

Preservation Note

All materials in good to very good condition.

Related Materials

A collection of personal papers and components of the personal library of Fritz Marti, with special focus on German Idealism, are housed in the Fritz Marti Reading Room, Office of the German Idealism Yearbook, Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame. An itemized list of this donation is contained in OSU's Marti collection.

Custodial History

Custodial History

The Marti Papers were donated to the OSU Libraries in 2000 by Dr. Paul Farber, chair of the OSU History Department, and his wife Vreneli Farber.

Acquisition Information

Acquisition Information

Initial accession received from Paul and Vreneli Farber in July 2000. Second major accession received from the Farbers in December 2008.

Future Additions

Future Additions

Processing Note

Processing Note

Preliminary arrangement by Ian McKelvey and Chris Petersen. Final arrangement by Chris Petersen.

Separated Materials

Separated Materials

Bibliography

Books by Fritz Marti
Medicus, Fritz . On Being Human: The Life of Truth and Its Realization . [translated by Fritz Marti] St. Louis: Warren H. Green, 1973 . Medicus, Fritz . Religion, Reason and Man . [translated by Fritz Marti] St. Louis: Warren H. Green, 1974 . Religion and Philosophy. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1979 . Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von The Unconditional in Human Knowledge: Four Early Essays by F.W.J. Schelling . [annotated translation by Fritz Marti] Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press, 1980 . Unpopular Truths. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1981 .

Related Materials

Related Materials

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Christianity--Philosophy.
  • Philosophy and religion.
  • Philosophy--Study and teaching (Higher)
  • Religion--Philosophy.

Personal Names

  • Croce, Benedetto, 1866-1952.
  • Medicus, Fritz, 1876-1956.
  • Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 1775-1854.

Corporate Names

  • Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule.
  • Marti School.
  • Universitat Bern.

Geographical Names

  • Switzerland.

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 1775-1854. (creator)

Finding aid prepared by Chris Petersen and Ian McKelvey.
2003

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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