Ames, Van Meter, 1898-

Van Meter Ames was born on July 9, 1898 in De Soto, Iowa. He was the son of Mabel Van Meter Ames and Edward Scribner Ames (1870-1958), who taught in the Philosophy department at the University of Chicago and was pastor of the University Church of the Church of the Disciples of Christ and dean of the Disciples Divinity House. Van Meter Ames received his B.A. and Ph.D (1924) from the University of Chicago.

Ames joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati in 1925 and became chairman of the department of philosophy in 1959. Ames received a Rockefeller grant to study French philosophy in 1948, was named Fulbright research professor at Komazawa University in Tokyo, and was designated Humanist Fellow for Outstanding Contributions to Humanist Thought in Ethics and Aesthetics in 1976 by the American Humanist Association. He had interim appointments at Cornell University, the University of Texas, the University of Hawaii, Columbia University, and the University of Aix-Marseille where he was the first American faculty member. He retired in 1966.

Ames’ works include Aesthetics of the Novel (1928), Proust and Santayana: The Aesthetic Way of Life (1937), Zen and American Thought (1962), and To Find the Simple Things (1978).

Ames married Betty Breneman. Their children are Sanford Scribner Ames, Damaris Ames, and Christine Ames Cornish.

Van Meter Ames died on November 5, 1985.

From the guide to the Ames, Van Meter. Papers, 1931-1985, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)

Van Meter Ames joined the University of Cincinnati Philosophy Department in 1925 and was department head from 1959 until 1966, when he retired. He was a founding member of the American Society for Aesthetics and its president 1961-1962. He was also president of the Western Division of the American Philosophical Association (1959-1960). Ames was a Rockefeller grantee, a fellow of the UC graduate school, and a Fulbright research professor in philosophy at the University of Komozawa, Tokyo (1958-1959).

Throughout his career, Ames wrote and published on a vast range of topics including aesthetics, the self, ethics, religion, science, freedom, existentialism, and Eastern philosophy. His interest in Zen paralleled Cage's and solidified their mutual respect for one another, which is evidenced in this collection of his papers which outline their friendship as well as Cage's career.

Born in Los Angeles in 1918, John Cage became one of the most notable avant-garde composers of the 20th Century. He studied music with famous composers like Schoenberg, Cowell, Weiss, and Buhlig but developed a style that was uniquely his own. Cage believed that any sounds could be music which led him to compose for not only standard instruments, but also found objects, magnetic tape, amplified cacti, vegetables, water, and even silence. An avid Zen Buddhist, Cage sought to compose without intention and often used chance operations, via the I-Ching, when composing. Cage has written for multiple genres, including opera and ballet as well as various forms of chamber ensemble.

Included in Cage's chamber works are numerous pieces for percussion ensemble, many of which were written specifically for The Percussion Group Cincinnati, trio in residence at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory Music, consisting of Allen Otte, James Culley, and Russell Burge. This group worked directly with Cage and even joined him on tour, premiering and recording many of his pieces.

Though most widely recognized for his musical achievements, Cage had a strong influence in the worlds of dance, art, writing, and philosophy. He was the musical director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Co. in NYC and often performed his music with the company, in addition to composing it. Evolving from a need for compactness when on tour with the dancers, Cage invented the prepared piano. Placing various objects in between the strings of the piano allowed Cage an endless array of percussive sounds without having to lug around percussion equipment.

In the realm of visual art, Cage produced lithographs, plexigrams, etchings, and prints. Like his music, much of his art incorporated chance operations and unconventioinal mediums/materials. His well-known works include, but are certainly not limited to, Not wanting to Say Anything About Marcel (1969), Score Without Parts (1978), and Changes and Disappearances (1979-80). Cage often talked about the overlap between music, film, and art. Considering that "the essential meaning of silence is the giving up of intention," Cage compared Raushenberg's white paintings to Paik's film with no images to his own piece, 4'33". He became a part of American Underground film, working with filmmakers like Brakhage and Vanderbeek. During his term as artist in residence at the University of Cincinnati, in the 1966-7 academic year, Cage was part of a Cinema Now discussion series, and made a huge impact on Cincinnati's art culture.

More of Cage's philosophy on art, and life in general, can be found in his writings, which include Silence, M, Empty Words, X, A Year from Monday, and Anarchy. Additionally, Cage's obsession with mushrooms led him to co-author The Mushroom Book which includes lithographs of mushrooms and hand-written texts on mushroom hunting, identification, and cooking. In conjunction with all of his other artistic works, Cage's writings involve chance and unusual formal and textual designs.

From the guide to the Van Meter Ames papers, 1966-1995, (University of Cincinnati, Archives and Rare Books Library)

Van Meter Ames was born in 1898 in De Soto, Iowa to Edward Scribner Ames and Mabel Van Meter Ames. Edward Scribner Ames was a philosophy professor at the University of Chicago and pastor of the University Church of the Church of the Disciples of Christ and dean of the Disciples Divinity House. Ames attended the University of Chicago and received his Ph.D. in 1924. He began teaching at the University of Cincinnati in 1925. He was head of the University of Cincinnati philosophy department from 1959 until 1966.

From 1958 to 1959, he was Fulbright research professor of philosophy in Japan where he studied Zen Buddhism. He lectured at Komazawa, a Zen university in Tokyo. Ames also held visiting professorships at Cornell University (1931), University of Texas (1934-1935), the University of Hawaii (1947-1948), Faculte des Lettres, University of Aix-Marseille (1949), and Columbia University (1957).

In 1965, Van Meter Ames helped to introduce the Congressional bill that established the National Foundation for the Endowment of the Arts and Humanities and was a member of the national committee that established the foundation.

His published works inlcude Aesthetics of the Novel (1928), Introduction to Beauty (1931), Out of Iowa (poetry, 1936) . Proust and Santayana: The Aesthetic Way of Life (1937), Andre Gide (1947), Zen and American Thought (1962), and To Find the Simple Things (1978).

Ames was married to Betty Breneman. They had three children: Sanford Scribner Ames, Damaris Ames and Christine Ames Cornish. He retired in 1966 and passed away in 1985.

From the guide to the Van Meter Ames Book Collection, 1899-1977, (University of Cincinnati, Archives and Rare Books Library)