Biography: Francis Perry Chisholm, semanticist, and chairman of the English Department (to 1963), and of the Humanities Division (1963-1965) of the Wisconsin State College-River Falls (since 1971, University of Wisconsin-River Falls), was born on 19 March 1905 at Auburn, New York. He was educated in the Auburn public schools and continued his education as an undergraduate at Cornell University. He received both the M.A. and the Ph.D. degrees in English literature from Syracuse University, and taught English there from 1936 until 1942. From 1942 to 1944, Chisholm acted as director of Syracuse’s Annex School in Auburn, New York, and in addition, taught courses in English grammar and composition and in physics. In the autumn of 1944, Chisholm became a professor of English at Stephens College, Columbia Missouri. He left Stephens the following year to join the English Department faculty at the State Teachers College, River Falls (later Wisconsin State College-River Falls).

Dr. Chisholm’s professional interests were many and varied. He was closely involved in the general semantics movement of the early 1940’s to late 1950’s. He knew and corresponded with the two leaders in general semantics, Alfred Korzybski and S.I. Hayakawa, was also a Fellow of the Institute of General Semantics, and served as president and director of the International Society for General Semantics. He contributed many articles to professional journals and was a frequent speaker at semantics institutes and seminars around the country. A member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), Chisholm helped to organize the Wisconsin Council of NCTE in 1958. From 1957 to 1965 he was, concurrently, editor of the Wisconsin English Journal and chairman of the National Council of Teachers of English committee on publications. He also sponsored NCTE’s first Junior Affiliate Council at River Falls. In addition to his journal articles, Chisholm was the author of two published books on semantics: Introductory Lectures in General Semantics (1945) and Grammatical Structure in Linguistic Behavior (1943). He left unpublished the manuscript of a book entitled “Techniques for Maturity.”

Apparently a gifted and inspiring teacher, Chisholm seems to have had a strong intellectual influence on many of his students. His correspondence was continuous and voluminous. He was a tireless traveler and speaker, often presenting four lectures in three days at a seminar.

Chisholm married Margaret Sullivan in 1929 while a graduate student at Syracuse. They had one daughter, Sara. His death occurred two days after a heart attack on 23 March 1965.

Scope and Content: The Francis Perry Chisholm papers are arranged in ten series: Personal, Correspondence, Instruction, Notes and Outlines, Class Lectures, Public Lectures, Articles and Publications by F.P. Chisholm, Articles by Others, Semantics Societies, and Other Societies. They were accumulated in the course of Chisholm’s professional life, as a university professor, university department chairman, and as a lecturer and writer on general semantics. There is very little of a personal nature in the collection. Most of the material is dated in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. The major part of Chisholm’s papers dating from the late 1950’s until his death in 1965 was deposited in the Archives of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls before 1968. For those materials, see UWRF Series 62 (Additions).

The one archives box of PERSONAL papers pertains to Chisholm personally and to his family. A folder of family memorabilia include four sermons from the 1850’s. “May Day – U.S.A. Way” refers to a celebration in River Falls in 1956. With the May Day material is a signed letter from Senator Alexander Wiley congratulating Chisholm on the celebration (12 June 1956).

The second and largest series is a CORRESPONDENCE file which is arranged alphabetically. Letters from those people with whom Chisholm had extensive correspondence are filed in separate folders, by name of correspondent within the general alphabet. S.I. Hayakawa, Hilaire Hiler, Alfred Korzybski, Irving Lee, R.U. Redpath, and Margaret Kendig are important correspondents, among others.

The three series entitled INSTRUCTION, NOTES AND OUTLINES, and CLASS LECTURES relate to Chisholm’s college teaching. The Instruction series contains material on faculty matters at River Falls and similar items from Chisholm’s pre-River Falls career. Chisholm’s Notes and Outlines are for courses he taught and include tests. The Class Lectures, in outline, note, or essay format, are classroom lectures by Chisholm on Chaucer, Shakespeare, the Restoration, modern criticism, and other subjects.

The PUBLIC LECTURES series contains the formal public lecture-tour material which Chisholm used in addresses to various institutes and seminars. These papers consist of correspondence, publicity, an untitled course in general semantics, and Introductory Lectures in General Semantics, followed by a group of files alphabetically arranged according to the names of the cities in which Chisholm lectured. These latter files include notes, memos, programs, correspondence, drafts of lectures, and miscellaneous items, in varying amounts, pertaining to the lectures given in the city listed.

ARTICLES AND PUBLICATIONS by F.P. Chisholm include a folder of original poems, some book reviews, a typed manuscript of his unpublished book, “Techniques for Maturity,” and a folder of drawings for, and correspondence about the book. A group of typewritten copies and reprints of articles by Chisholm follow under the heading, General – A-Z. Also found here are clippings from journal publications.

ARTICLES BY OTHERS is a general grouping, alphabetically by author, of articles by fellow semanticist and others. Alfred Korzybski’s writings are filed separately at the end of this section.

The SEMANTICS SOCIETIES series is in two parts. The first section contains material about Korzybski’s Institute of General Semantics and the second segment pertains to Hayakawa’s International Society for General Semantics.

The final series, OTHER SOCIETIES, contains materials on various non-semantics organizations which were of interest to Chisholm. Important among these are: The National Council of Teachers of English, the National Society for the Study of Communication, and the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English.

Presented by Mrs. Mary Jean Rost, River Falls, Wisconsin, 10 Dec 1968; and by S.I. Hayakawa, San Francisco, California via William T. Hagestead, River Falls, Wisconsin, 20 March 1970, and via Walter Engler, River Falls, Wisconsin, 28 October 1971. M68-396; M70-134; M71-372.

Presented to the University of Wisconsin – River Falls by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 28 October 1977.

William R. Brandt (FGH) intern) – J. Hohler
12 August 1977

The Wisconsin English Journal records were donated by Nicholas Karolides in 1973.

UWRF Series 62: 1974 Additions Collection Inventory
College of Arts and Sciences
Francis Perry Chisholm Papers, 1974 Additions
Arrangement: Alphabetically by filing unit, chronologically by document.
Quantity: 3 boxes

This series contains additions to the Francis Perry Chisholm Papers. The materials were accessioned in 1974 in a donation from Mary Jean Rost.

UWRF Series 62: Additions (n.d.) Collection Inventory
College of Arts and Sciences
Francis Perry Chisholm Papers, Additions
Arrangement: Alphabetically by filing unit; chronologically by document
Quantity: 5 boxes

This series contains additions to UWRF Series 62, Francis Perry Chisholm Papers. The materials in this collection were accessioned before the main collection that was processed in Madison.

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