Entretiens de Pontigny.

Hide Profile

The Entretiens (symposiums) de Pontigny at Mount Holyoke were a series of three summer gatherings held at the College from 1942-1944. The gatherings were modeled on the Decades, ten day discussion meetings, founded in 1910 and held in Pontigny, France until the German occupation during World War II. In 1942 a committee began exploring the possibility of continuing the conference in the United States. Members of this committee were Jacques Maritain, Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes President; Gustave Cohen, Dean of Humanities at the Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes; Helen Elizabeth Patch, chair of the French Language and Literature Department at Mount Holyoke College; Jean Andre Wahl, professor at the Sorbonne; Mrs. Raymond de Saussure, and Pierre Guedenet, a French professor at Mount Holyoke. With the support of the Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes and Mount Holyoke College President Roswell Ham, the first conference was held at Mount Holyoke in the summer of 1942. For three consecutive summers European and American intellectuals, musicians, artists, and writers attended these conferences. Discussions concerned poetry, literature, anthropology, diplomacy, music, science, and cinema. Topics included "Literature and the Idea of Crisis," "Problems of American music," "Liberty and Authority," "The Responsibility of Literature in the World Crisis," and "The Place of the Spiritual in a World of Property." The conferences also featured performances of classical and modern music by many notable musicians. After the liberation of France in 1944, the Entretiens do Pontigny resumed in that country.

From the guide to the Entretiens de Pontigny records MS 0768., 1942-1945., (Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Entretiens de Pontigny records MS 0768., 1942-1945. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Bespaloff, Rachel. person
associatedWith Boas, George, 1891- person
associatedWith Chagall, Marc, 1887- person
associatedWith Cohen, Gustave, 1879-1958 person
associatedWith Entretiens de Pontigny - (Mount Holyoke College) corporateBody
associatedWith Fisher, Dorothy Canfield, 1879-1958 person
associatedWith Hadamard, Jacques, 1865-1963 person
associatedWith Hyslop, Beatrice Fry, 1899- person
associatedWith Jahiel, Cecile. person
associatedWith Kogbetliantz, E. G. (Ervand George), b. 1888 person
associatedWith Manziarly, Marcelle de, 1899-1989 person
associatedWith Maritain, Jacques, 1882-1973 person
associatedWith Masson, André, 1896- person
associatedWith Mirkine-Guetzvich, Boris. person
associatedWith Motherwell, Robert. person
associatedWith Mount Holyoke College - Congresses. corporateBody
associatedWith Patch, Helen E. (Helen Elizabeth), 1891-1959 person
associatedWith Saussure, Raymond de, Mme. person
associatedWith Sessims, Roger, 1896- person
associatedWith Spire, André. person
associatedWith Venturi, Lionello, 1885-1961 person
associatedWith Viatt, Auguste, 1901- person
associatedWith Wahl, Jean Andr, 1888-1974 person
Place Name Admin Code Country
France - Intellectual life.
Subject
Intellectuals
Intellectuals
World War, 1939-1945
Occupation
Activity

Corporate Body

Related Descriptions
Information

Permalink: http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g03nvc

Ark ID: w6g03nvc

SNAC ID: 7957593