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Don Werkheiser Papers, 1885-1998 (majority within 1950-1994)

8 linear feet

Don Werkheiser was a teacher, writer, and philosopher-reformer active in the last half of the 20th century. He is best described as an individualist anarchist and libertarian. Most of his writings center on the philosophy of Mutual Option Relationship, which he developed and promoted throughout his life. It is multidisciplinary in its nature but based mainly on principles of equal rights and freedom of the individual. The eight linear feet of papers consist primarily of Werkheiser's writings (in the form of notes, drafts, and finished typescripts), correspondence with friends and colleagues, and related ephemera. A small number of photographs, materials documenting Werkheiser's interests and activities, and works by associates of Werkheiser are also present.

Don Werkheiser, like many of his peers, received little recognition for his ideas and efforts during his lifetime, even among the relatively small circle of individualist anarchists within which he interacted. The papers consist mainly of various iterations of his Mutual Option Relationship philosophy and methodologies for realizing it, as well as his thoughts on the numerous social, economic, and political problems that he saw in contemporary American society. There is also correspondence with friends and associates in his intellectual and ideological sphere. The ephemera in the collection--consisting of newspaper clippings; pamphlets; and extracts from periodicals, books, and monographs, are significant because of their subject area (mainly freedom of speech), their relative obscurity, and also Werkheiser's extensive annotations. These materials are supplemented by a very small number of photographs.

The Don Werkheiser Papers (8 linear feet) have been divided into six series: Writings, Correspondence, Other Activities, Works by Others, Photographs, and Ephemera. Originally included with the Don Werkheiser Papers was a large collection of books and pamphlets by Theodore Schroeder, an important influence on Werkheiser, as well as published works by other authors. These have been removed and cataloged separately.

There is a significant amount of material in the Don Werkheiser Papers having to do with Theodore Schroeder. In addition to championing free speech causes, Schroeder developed a system of psychological thought which he named "evolutionary psychology." He was also interested in erotogenic interpretations of religious practices, and his writings on this topic generated much controversy in his day. Werkheiser was profoundly influenced by evolutionary psychology and other areas of Schroeder's thought, especially his advocacy of free speech. This is indicated not only in Werkheiser's own writings, but also in his substantial files of material by and about Schroeder and in a small amount of correspondence between the two, and between Schroeder and others. (As a point of clarification, Schroeder's evolutionary psychology appears to be entirely unrelated to the discipline of the same name established by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby in the 1990s.)

There is also a substantial amount of material related to the School of Living (mainly the one in Brookville, Ohio) and the ideas associated with it: decentralism, cooperative living, monetary and tax reform, alternative education, permaculture, wilderness and farmland preservation, and the environment. Its founders, Ralph Borsodi and Mildred Loomis, are also well-represented in the collection--particularly Loomis, who was a close friend of Werkheiser's. (As another point of clarification, the School of Living's journal-newsletter, Green Revolution, is unaffiliated with--and even in direct ideological opposition to--the Green Revolution in agriculture begun in the mid-1940s that encouraged large-scale chemical applications as a means to boost agricultural productivity.)

Other important influences on or associates of Werkheiser represented in the collection are Georgism and Henry George (on which Werkheiser wrote extensively), Laurance Labadie, Ralph Templin, and Arnold Maddaloni. There is also some material by the science fiction writer Robert Anton Wilson.

Folder

Writings

The largest series in the collection, Writings (5.25 linear feet), is made up of five subseries: Books, Essays, Drafts, Notes, and Creative Writing.

The Books subseries consists of book-length manuscripts, most of them unpublished, in their complete and finished (or nearly so) stage. There is considerable overlap with the Notes and Drafts subseries (which contains fragmented and/or very early drafts), particularly for the two Mutual Option Relationship (MOR) books. The first of the MOR books, The Book of MOR, was completed circa 1976, the fruit of a grant Werkheiser received to write an aid to human relations. The later Mutual Option Relationship: A New Approach to Human Freedom was a major reworking of the first book. Werkheiser worked on it for the two years before his death (although his notes files indicate that it had been a work-in-progress long prior to that time), and his wife, Lila Powers, edited it for publication after his death.

The undated work A Unifying Concept of Human Being appears to be an early form of a portion of The Book of MOR. Also included is Werkheiser's Master's thesis from Sacramento State College.

The Essays subseries includes the typescripts of standalone, short articles, both published and unpublished. Most of the essays are listed alphabetically by title in the contents list. There are also folders of college papers, speeches, untitled works, and fragments. Some essays may be portions of larger works; some were later published as pamphlets; some college papers may also appear in the individual title listing (either as duplicates or later reworkings).

The two subseries Drafts and Notes were originally one large file of materials that combined background materials and notes for Werkheiser's writings with drafts in varying stages of completion. For the purposes of clarity, the two types of materials have been separated, in those cases where discernible drafts could be found. The Drafts subseries consists of versions of incomplete drafts of Werkheiser's books. However, it frequently includes other notes that appeared to be closely linked to the drafts. There remains substantial overlap with the Notes subseries.

Most of the drafts within the Drafts subseries appear to be from The Book of MOR or Mutual Option Relationship. Because of the similarity between the books and the arrangement of the original files, it was impossible to determine which version of the book the drafts belong to, and so they have been grouped together. The researcher should also note that the chapter-numbering scheme used for Mutual Option Relationship differs greatly from that of the earlier The Book of MOR. Moreover, the chapter numbers assigned to the drafts frequently do not correspond to the finished versions of either book.

The Notes subseries, the bulk of the Writings series, is made up of Werkheiser's background materials and notes for a variety of his writings, but mainly for his MOR books or having to do with his MOR philosophy. The subseries will present some challenges to the researcher due to the fact that it has no clearly discernable arrangement. Although mostly undated, the notes appear to range from the 1940s through the 1990s, judging from the few items with dates and from contextual clues. (Werkheiser frequently used scrap paper--the backs of flyers, cancelled checks, and other ephemera--as note paper.) Furthermore, it appears that he often used materials originally created for an earlier purpose in his later work. Werkheiser's original filing system is not clear, and there is much that is fragmentary or unidentified. For these reasons, this section, while richly expressive of Werkheiser's thought, will present challenges in its ease of use and research value.

Some of Werkheiser's notes have been teased out by type of material: definitions, diagrams, and notes on readings. The rest (the bulk of them) have been left in a "General" category. The General notes section is made up primarily of topical notes, but also includes a mixture of essays in early stages, notes on readings, preliminary chapter drafts for the MOR books, and heavily annotated articles. Not all of this material may have been intended for the MOR books, but all of it seems to be related to the philosophy and practice of MOR. Topics covered include evolution, psychology, racism, sexism, economics (with subtopics of land, rent, usury, interest, taxes, etc.), game theory, government, capitalism, communism, libertarianism, and more.

The Creative Writing subseries is comprised of short stories, plays, and poetry written by Werkheiser.

Don Werkheiser Papers, 1885-1998 (majority within 1950-1994)
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