Burnham Terrell papers

The collection consists of teaching and course related materials-syllabi for 1000-, 3000-, 5000- and 8000-level classes in Philosophy, bibliographies, annotated reprints and lecture copy and notes, and a small amount of administrative material related to the Philosophy Department and CLA Honors Program; clippings, correspondence, essays and drafts relating to Terrell's participation in political activities including anti-Vietnam protests and vigils on campus, civil rights protests during the 1960s including the Morrill Hall takeover and administration reponses, protests pertaining to police survellience on the University of Minnesota campus; tenure procedures, and participation in DFL electoral politics; and materials documenting a translation project of a German publication on the life of David Hume that Terrell ceased working on due to concerns about plagerism in the original manuscript. This grouping also contains correspondence between Terrell and his editors and publishers of other translation projects he worked on during his career.

The collection of teaching materials covers courses for which Terrell was well known and regarded, including courses on George Berkeley, David Hume, the history of ethics, Medieval philopsophy and Francis Brentano. There are extensive hand-written notes in most of the course folders. Reprints refered to in bibliographies have been removed from the collection save where they are annotated.

Terrell was also a participant in two of the most signifcant social protests of the civil right era (1960-1969), the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama (March, 1965), and the March on Washington (August, 1963). In both cases, Terrell was a member of Minnesota delegations. There is some personal writing and reflection in the collection, but this group of materials is mainly composed of clippings and and handouts Terrell accumulated during both protests.

Terrell was also well known on campus for his longstanding presense in the 7 year long Vietnam War Vigil (1966-1972), and ongoing weekly silent protest against the war. Other materials related to Terrel's outspokeness against the war include letters to the editor of the Minneapolis Tribune and Star and the Minnesota Daily and intermitent correspondence with U.S. Representative Donald Fraser and Senator Eugene McCarthy about anti-war legislation and activities.

Terrell was prolific translator, and the third segment of the collection contains publisher correspondence about translation projects Terrell worked on, as well as documentation from a project that was abandoned in 2004. In 2003, Terrell had taken on the German-to-English translation of a history of the life and work of David Hume by an acquaintance, Gerhard Streminger. Mid-way through the project, Terrell became concerned about similarities in his translation and an original English-language biography of Hume that Streminger would have consulted for the new publication. The folder of correspondence contains an exchange between Terrell and Streminger and Terrell's rendering of evidence concerning the allegded plagerism. The complete Streminger manuscript is in the collection, along with some of the Terrell translation and correspondence detailing Terrell's concerns.