J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections
Rulon S. Wells papers
Wells, Rulon S.
ACCN 2121
5.5 linear feet
1916-2008
The Rulon S. Wells papers (1916-2008) contain notes, essays, and correspondence about the phonemics of the Korean language. This collection also contains manuscripts authored by Wells, manuscripts by other authors, personal materials, and information on The Plato Microfilm Project.
English
, French
, Korean
.
Rulon S. Wells III (1919-2008) was born 30 April 1919, in Salt Lake City, Utah to Rulon S. Wells Jr., and Helen Clawson Wells. Wells received his B.A. from the University of Utah in 1939, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1941 and 1942 specializing in Philosophy and Science of Languages. He was recruited by the Armed Services during World War II. He worked first for the Office of Naval Research, producing a monograph on the matrix method in linguistics, and then for the Army Specialized Training, teaching Japanese to special operatives who would act as interrogators to extract information from captured Japanese prisoners. During this time he met Virginia H. Bennett, whom he married 21 July 1945.
After the war, he joined the Yale faculty in philosophy in 1945 and was appointed professor of linguistics and philosophy in 1962. While there, Wells emerged as one of the leading linguists of the country, setting solid and critical standards for future linguistic research in a series of seminal articles that included "The Pitch Phonemes of English," "Immediate Constituents," "De Saussure's System of Linguistics," "Automatic Alternation" and "Meaning of Use." For his unique contributions to the field, Wells was elected president of the Linguistic Society of America in 1976.
Parallel to his researches in linguistics, Wells also wrote extensively on logic, metaphysics, epistemology and semantics – considering the latter more closely allied with philosophical issues than with linguistic ones. The mind of 19th-century logician Charles S. Peirce held a special fascination for Wells, and he explored Peirce's ideas in a number of studies. In recognition of these, he became president of the Charles S. Peirce Society in 1973. He was also a co-founder, with fellow Yale philosophy professor Robert S. Brumbaugh, of the Plato Microfilm Project, which began in 1957. The goal of the project was to microfilm the 260 extant manuscripts in Greek prior to 1600 that contain Plato's texts. Finally completed in 1990, The Plato Project now allows a researcher to compare variant readings in critical passages of Plato in order to explore differences in meaning.
The Rulon S. Wells papers (1916-2008) contain notes, essays, and correspondence about the phonemics of the Korean language. This collection also contains manuscripts authored by Wells, manuscripts by other authors, personal materials, and information on The Plato Microfilm Project.
Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library's Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Donated by Rulon S. Wells III Trust in 2008.
Processed by Elizabeth Rogers in 2004.
Addenda processed by Erin McCarthy and Aaron Curtis in 2009.
Photographs were transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections (P1558).
Korean language--Phonology
Language and Languages
Notes (documents)
Essays
Correspondence
Personal Materials
"The Phonemics of Korean, Part 1"
1946
1
1-3
Korean Morphophonemics
1947
1
4
Correspondence and Travel Vouchers
1961
1
5
Notebooks
1
6
Essays
1
7-9
Personal Material
1978
2
1
The folder contains a birth certificate, enlistment certificate, correspondence, and retirement certificate.
Death, Obiturary, and History Materials
1944-2008
2
2
Correspondence
1975-1998
2
3
Cove Fort, Utah; Correspondence
1926
2
4
Yale Weekly bulletin and Calendar, Newsletters
1969-1979
2
5
Various documents in other languages
1989
2
6
Miscellaneous
1946-1979
2
7
Personal Manuscripts
Biological Aspects of the Great Salt Lake
1936
3
1
Untitled Manuscript
1939
3
2
This folder contains a manuscript that seems to talk about the philosopher Wittgenstein and the Foundation of Mathematics.
"Pythagoreanism," Russell's lecture
1940
3
3
Language; The Pitch Phonemes of English
1945
3
4
Immediate Constituents
1947
3
5
An Analysis of Knowledge and Valuation: C.I. Lewis
1949
3
6
Automatic Alternation
1949
3
7
The State and Prospects of Semantics
1950
3
8
Wittgenstein
1950
3
9
Reviews
1951
3
10
Secondary Derivation from Sanskrit i-Stems
1953
3
11
Archiving and Language Typology
1954
3
12
Meaning and Use
1954
3
13
Leibniz Today
1956
3
14
Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure; A Mathematical Approach to Meaning
1957
3
15
b. Is Structure Treatment of Meaning Possible
1958
3
16
The Common Feature Method
1961
3
17
Synchronics and Function
1961-1968
3
18
This folder contains a manuscript and correspondence relating to title of this folder.
What Has Linguistics Done for Philosophy?
1962
3
19
A Treatise on Language, A Review
1963
3
20
De Saussre's System of Linguistics
1963
3
21
The Bobbs-Merrill Reprint Series in Language and Linguistics
1964
4
1
This folder contains De Saussure's System of Linguistics, The Pitch Phonemes of Englis, Immediate Constituents, and Automatic Alternation.
Non-Phonological Factors in Linguistic Change
1965
4
2
Acronymy
1966
4
3
Synchronics and Function (master copy)
1968
4
4
Studies in Thought and Language: Comprehension and Expression
1970
4
5
"The Indispensable Word 'Now'"
1972
4
6
Phonemics in the Nineteenth Century, 1876-1900
1974
4
7
Action Knowledge and Reality: Critical Studies in Honor of Wilfrid Sellers
1975
4
8
Criteria for Semiosis
1977
4
9
Linguistics As A Science: The Case of the Comparative Method
1978
4
10
Semantics In A Linguistics Framework
1979
4
11
The Life and Growth of Language: Metaphors in Biology and Linguistics
1982
4
12
Metonymy and Misunderstanding: An Aspect of Language Change
4
13
Pensées Secondaires
4
14
List of Wells' Essays
4
15
Plato Microfilm Project Materials
Plato Manuscripts: A Catalogue of Microfilms in the Plato Microfilm Project
1962
5
1
Plato Microfilms, Correspondence and Roalty Information
1957-1978
5
2
Syllogisms in Plato; Wells
1976
5
3
Syllogisms in Plato; Wells, Form Henry Schwab
1990
5
4
Yale's Plato Project, Information
1979-1982
5
5
Articles and Manuscripts
Anderson, Alan Ross, Pamphlets and Articles
1955-1972
6
1
Bruce, Cas O.; Knigin, Tamarath D.; Yolles, Stanley F.; A Discussion of the Chigoe based on experiences in British Guiana
1942
6
2
Bruce, Charles O.; Knigin, Tamarath D.; Yolles, Stanley F. ; Graham, Austin E., Jr.; Report on Species of Anopheles in British Guiana
1943
6
3
Chamberlin, Ralph V., Life in Other Words: A Study in the History of Opinion
1932
6
4
Dyen, Isidore; Pamphlets and Articles (Files 12-24)
1946-1981
6
5-6
Fitch, Frederic B.; Pamphlets, Articles, Correspondence
1976-1982
6
7
Goodenough, Ward H.; Property, Kin, and Community on Truk
1951
7
1
Goodman, Nelson and Quine, W.V.; Steps Toward a Constructive Nominalism
1947
7
2
Grünbaum, Adolf; Simultaneity by Slow Clock Transport in the Special Theory of Relativity
1969
7
3
Guenther, Herbert V., Journals and Pamphlets
1967
7
4
Hay, W.H. and Weinberg, J.R., Philosophical Studies: Concerning Allegedly Necessary Nonanalytic Propsitions
1951
7
5
Hiz, Henry; Semantic Niches or a Logic for Historians; Praxiology, Society, and Ethnics
1994-1995
7
6
Jakobson, Roman, Pamphlets and Articles
1945-1978
7
7
Jakobson, Roman; General Materials
1957-1979
7
8
The Journal of Philosophy, Truth and Correspondence
1962
7
9
Kemeny, John G.; Assorted Manuscripts
1953-1956
7
10
This folder contains A Treatise on Induction and Probability, A Contribution to Inductive Logic, Two Measures of Complexity, The Use of Simplicity in Induction, Degree of Factual Support, The Journal of Symbolic Logic (Reviews, Pt I and II), and A Generalization of the Von Neumann Model of an Expanding Economy.
Lamb, Sydney M., General Materials
1962-1969
7
11
This folder contains authored manuscripts, correspondence, and other manuscripts by other authors relating to topics discussed by Lamb.
Lamb, Sydney M.; General Materials
1959-1964
8
1
This folder contains authored manuscripts, correspondence, and other manuscripts by other authors relating to topics discussed by Lamb.
Lamb, Sydney M.; Articles and Pamphlets (File 201)
1967-1979
8
2
Language: Reviews
1956
8
3
Lee, Dwight Lee and Beck, Robert N.; The Meaning of Historicism
1954
8
4
Liebert, Herman W.; The Yale University Library Gazette
1970
8
5
Martin, Samuel E.; Language Pamphlets
1957-1967
8
6
Martin, Samuel E.; Materials for a Japanese Reference Grammer
1963
8
7
Peirce, Charles Sanders; The Journal of Philosophy Psychology
1916
8
8
Schlanger, Jacques; La Philosophie de Salomon ibn Gabirol
1968
8
9
Sellars, Wilfrid; Acquaintance and Description Again
1949
8
10
Sellars, Wilfrid; Epistemology and the New Way of Words
1947
8
11
Sellars, Wilfrid; Imperatives, Intentions and the Logic of Ought
1956
8
12
Sellars, Wilfrid, Induction as Vindication
1964
8
13
Sellars, Wilfrid; On the Logic of Complex Particulars
1949
8
14
Sellars, Wilfrid; Particulars
1952
8
15
Sellars, Wilfrid; Reviews
1953
8
16
Sellars, Wilfrid; Science, Sense Impressions, and Sensa: A Reply to Cornman
1971
8
17
Sellars, Wilfrid; Some Reflections on Language Games
1954
8
18
Semiotic Manuscripts and (File 166: 13-26)
1975-1985
9
1-2
These folders contain many articles by Thomas A. Sebeok.
Sturtevant, Edgar H.; Tenuis and Media
1917
9
3
Weiss, Paul; Manuscripts
1940-1955
9
4
White, Morton G.; The Revolt Against Formalism in American Social Thought of the Twentieth Century
1947
9
5
Yolles, Stanley F. and Knigin, Tamarath D.; Note on a New Transparent Cage for Collecting and Feeding Mosquitoes
1942
9
6
Assorted Manuscripts
1950-1984
9
7
This folder contains the following manuscripts: "Analytic and Synthetic Moral Judgements" and "What Is the Philosophic Problem?" by Jack Kaminsky; "Aristotles's Syllogism and its Platonic Background;" a discussion by Friedrich Solmsen; "The Morning Star Paradox" by Stig Kanger; "Pictures Can't Say Ain't" by Sol Worth; and "Derrida: Philosophy of the Liminal" by James Jakób Liszka.
Assorted Manuscripts, copies, other authors (Files 570-581)
9
8
Vorlander's Index (File 350-1)
1976
9
9
Personal Materials
Correspondence
1967-1992
10
1
Event Programs and Pamphlets
1933-1975
10
2
Sihabout, Samane; The Story of a Lao Boy
1983
10
3
Plan de Paris
1956
10
4
Notebooks
10
5
Personal Manuscripts
The Pitch Phonemes of English
1945
11
1
De Sassure's System of Linguistics
1947
11
2
Immediate Constituents
1947
11
3
Automatic Alternation
1949
11
4
Reviews
1951
11
5
Secondary Derivation from Sanskrit i-Stems
1953
11
6
Leibniz Today
1957
11
7
A Mathematical Approach to Meaning
1957
11
8
The Plato Microfilm Project
1960-1973
11
9
The Plato Microfilm Project, Syllogisms in Plato
1966
11
10
The True Nature of Peirce's Evolutionism
1964
11
11
Charles S. Peirce as an American
1965
11
12
Peirce's Notion of the Symbol
1977
11
13
Distinctly Human Semiotic
1967
11
14
Comprehension and Expression
1970
11
15
Criteria for Semiosis
1977
11
16
Linguistics as a Science
1979
11
17
Semantics in a Linguistic Framework
1979
11
18
Thought Without Language
11
19
What Has Linguistics Done for Philosophy
11
20
Personal Manuscripts and Articles by Other Authors
Synchronics and Function, A chapter in the history of science and philosophy
1979
12
1
Brumbaugh, Robert S. and Rulon Wells; Studies in the History of Logic
12
2
Brumbaugh, Robert S.; The Text of Plato's Parmenides
1972
12
3
Ellison, Robert S.; Fort Bridger, Wyoming, A Brief History
1927-1930
12
4
Catalogues de Manscrits Grecs
12
5
Dove, Kenley R.; Assorted Manuscripts (File 193: 14-22)
1970-1977
12
6
Assorted Manuscripts and Articles (Files 183-195)
1946-1971
12
7