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What Is the Center for Dewey Studies?The Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale was established in 1961 as the "Dewey Project." In the course of collecting and editing Dewey's works, the Center amassed a wealth of source materials for the study of America's quintessential philosopher-educator, John Dewey. By virtue of its publications and research, the Center has become the international focal point for research on Dewey's life and work. Its location at the University makes it possible for visitors to take advantage of the resources and professional expertise of the faculty and staff of the Department of Philosophy, the College of Education, Special Collections in Morris Library, and the Southern Illinois University Press.
Original letters and manuscripts, Dewey's professional library, photographs, and memorabilia are in Special Collections, Morris Library. The Center houses photocopies of original research materials, including the Dewey correspondence located in repositories around the world. The Center's collections include copies of published writings about John Dewey, oral history interviews, audio cassettes, slides, and biographical and bibliographical materials.
Requests for reprint and translation permissions, information, and assistance come from all parts of the world. Staff members at the Center and in Morris Library's Special Collections try to answer these requests and to provide assistance by mail and by telephone. Additionally, numerous researchers, graduate students, and advanced scholars spend extended periods of time working at the Center and at Special Collections.
The Chronology of John Dewey's Life and Work, compiled by Barbara Levine, is a work in progress. The chronology will be updated frequently as Dewey's correspondence is transcribed and as additional information is gathered from other sources.
In 1990, the staff of the Center completed work on the monumental thirty-seven-volume edition of Dewey's complete writings. The Collected Works of John Dewey, 1882-1953, published by the Southern Illinois University Press, is divided into three series (Early, Middle, and Later Works). In 1991 a cumulative short-title and subject index to the Works was published. Support for this project was provided by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent Federal agency, as well as the John Dewey Foundation and private donors. In 1996 the Center, in cooperation with the InteLex Corporation, published The Collected Works on CD-ROM.
The first essay in this series explores some of the similarities between Dewey's pedagogy and that of the Japanese educator and anti-war activist Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944). "John Dewey and Tsunesaburo Makiguchi: Confluences of Thought and Action" thus inaugurates the series. Its author is Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, President of Soka Gakkai International.