School Resources and Centers
Scholarly Editions
The School of Liberal Arts is home to three scholarly edition projects: the Peirce Edition Project, a contributor to the school’s research culture since 1976; and two recent arrivals, the Frederick Douglass Papers and the Santayana Edition. This remarkable concentration of major editions establishes IUPUI as a world center for scholarly editing and provides unique opportunities for our students and faculty.
Frederick Douglass Papers
A runaway slave, Frederick Douglass became a leading orator and author of the abolitionist movement. Modern historians regard Douglass as the most influential African American of the nineteenth century, yet most Americans know little about this great humanitarian. The Frederick Douglass Papers Project already has published a five-volume series of the edited texts of Douglass’s principal speeches, interviews, and debates. Editors currently are working on a five-volume series of Douglass’s correspondence and a three-volume critical edition of his autobiographical writings. The Frederick Douglass Papers Project started at Yale University and moved to West Virginia University before locating at IUPUI. It is supported by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Peirce Edition Project
Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914) was a scientist and philosopher. He is the founder of pragmatism and is considered one of America’s greatest thinkers. The primary mission of the Peirce Edition Project is to produce a 30-volume critical edition of Peirce’s writings, many never before published. The Peirce Project, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is assisted by an internationally renowned team of advisors and contributors. The resources of the project, which include an extensive photocopy and microform collection of Peirce’s manuscripts and the Max H. Fisch Library (a large private collection on classical and American philosophy and on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American culture) serve a wide community of students and researchers. The Peirce Project, with its resources and its academic staff, gives Indiana University students an opportunity to study modern critical editing and the many historical and philosophical subjects related to Peirce’s life and thought.
The Santayana Edition
George Santayana (1863-1952) is considered a classical American philosopher. Born in Spain, he became one of the widest-read American philosophers of his time. His naturalistic philosophy is explicated in his extensive philosophical works, but he also was a best-selling novelist, poet, and critic of culture and literature. The plan of the Santayana Edition is to produce a 20-volume critical edition. Each volume is published by MIT Press and simultaneously published in a CD-ROM format. The Santayana Edition, formerly located at Texas A & M University, is the latest arrival at IUPUI and rounds out the profile of the consortium of scholarly editions in the School of Liberal Arts, making the combined editions a real center for the study of American thought and culture. The Santayana Edition is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Public Opinion Laboratory
The Public Opinion Laboratory (POL) is the interdisciplinary survey research center at IUPUI that provides data-gathering and data-analysis services to a wide variety of private, governmental, and university organizations. It is a research center of the School of Liberal Arts but serves clients as diverse as the School of Medicine, other universities, local and national businesses, local and national media, municipal and state agencies, and the Indiana University system.
All employees are students, who gain experience in all aspects of survey research, including face-to-face, telephone, and mail surveys. The POL also conducts focus groups. The POL has a fully operational computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system with 20 stations. The POL allows students the opportunity to participate in ongoing survey research in a variety of topics, including political behavior, consumer behavior, media impact, and evaluation of programs such as medical delivery and company personnel policies.
Sussman Research Library
The Sussman Research Library, established through a contribution of the books, journals, and papers of Marvin B. Sussman, an internationally known family sociologist, is located in Cavanaugh Hall 316. The library contains an extensive collection of family science and sociology books and journals with emphasis on population/demography, aging, family violence, sexuality, medical/health, law, history, race/ethnicity, and deviance. The library is available to students, staff, and faculty for research use. Materials do not circulate.
