The Telluride House, formally the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association (CBTA),
and commonly referred to as just "Telluride",
is a highly selective
residential community
A residential community is a community, usually a small town or city, that is composed mostly of residents, as opposed to commercial businesses and/or industrial facilities, all three of which are considered to be the three main types of occup ...
of
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
students and faculty. Founded in 1910 by American industrialist
L. L. Nunn, the house grants room and board scholarships to a number of undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and faculty members affiliated with the university's various colleges and programs.
A fully residential intellectual society, the Telluride House takes as its pillars
democratic self-governance,
communal living
An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...
and intellectual inquiry.
Students granted the house's scholarship are known as Telluride Scholars.
The Telluride House is considered the first program of the educational non-profit
Telluride Association
The Telluride Association is a non-profit organization in the United States founded in 1910 by Lucien Lucius Nunn and named for his city of residence, Telluride, Colorado. The organization states its mission as providing young people with free e ...
, which was founded a year after the house was built and was first led by the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
’s fourth Secretary
Charles Doolittle Walcott
Charles Doolittle Walcott (March 31, 1850February 9, 1927) was an American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, and director of the United States Geological Survey.Wonderful Life (book) by Stephen Jay G ...
.
Nunn went on to found
Deep Springs College
Deep Springs College (known simply as Deep Springs or DS) is a private, selective two-year college in Deep Springs, California. With the number of undergraduates restricted to 26, the college is one of the smallest institutions of higher educat ...
in 1917. The Telluride Association founded and maintained other branches thereafter, two of which—at Cornell University and at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
—are still active. The Association also runs free selective programs for high school students, including the
Telluride Association Summer Program Telluride Association Summer Programs, or TASPs, are selective six-week educational experiences for rising high school seniors offering intellectual challenges beyond secondary school level.
The programs are designed to bring together young and int ...
.
In its more than a century of operation, the house's membership has included some of Cornell's most notable alumni and faculty members. Located in the university's
West Campus, the Telluride House is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
History
Lucien Lucius Nunn
Lucien Lucius Nunn (16 March 1853 Medina, Ohio – 2 April 1925 Los Angeles, California) was an American entrepreneur and educator who founded Telluride House, Telluride Association and Deep Springs College. He received his higher education at O ...
was an American industrialist and entrepreneur involved in the early electrification of the mining industry. To staff the power plants he built, including ones in Colorado and the
Olmsted Station Powerhouse
The Olmsted Power Station is a historic building located in Orem, Utah, United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hydropower plant was dedicated on April 12, 1904 and decommissioned on September 21, 2015. The pla ...
in
Provo, Utah
Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU).
Provo lies between the ...
, Nunn created an early work study program, which he named 'Telluride Institute' after his city of residence of
Telluride, Colorado
Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first ...
. In the Institute, Nunn's students were trained in engineering and the liberal arts. Upon completion of their institute program, the student workers were sent to various academic institutions on a scholarship from Nunn to further their education. Many of these students went on to study at
Cornell University's engineering programs. On Cornell University's campus in
Ithaca
Ithaca most commonly refers to:
*Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey''
*Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca
*Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College
Ithaca, Ithaka ...
, Nunn built the Telluride House as a scholarship residence "for bright young men", many of whom have passed through Nunn's Telluride Institute.
The house's initial purpose, as described by Cornell historian
Morris Bishop
Morris Gilbert Bishop (15 April 1893 – 20 November 1973) was an American scholar, historian, biographer, essayist, translator, anthologist, and poet.
Early life and career
Bishop was born while his father, Edwin Rubergall Bishop, a Canadian p ...
was "to grant
he students
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
release from all material concern, a background of culture, the responsibility of managing their own household, and the opportunity to live and learn from resident faculty members and eminent visitors
o the university.
The house started electing members from disciplines outside engineering within years of its founding. With a solely male membership for its first half century of existence, the house would start electing female members to its residential scholarship in the 1960s, starting with
U.S. Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
as a resident faculty fellow in 1960,
Laura Wolfowitz (the elder sister of American politician and academic
Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943) is an American political scientist and diplomat who served as the 10th President of the World Bank, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and former dean of Johns Hopkins SA ...
, himself a house member) as a house member in 1962,
and literary theorist and postcolonial scholar
Gayatri Spivak
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Lite ...
as a house member in 1963.
Building
The Telluride House is located on Cornell University's
West Campus, directly downhill from
Willard Straight Hall
Willard Straight Hall is the student union building on the central campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is located on Campus Road, adjacent to the Ho Plaza and Cornell Health.
Background
The construction of Willard Straight Hall ...
, and houses Telluride scholars as well as the
Telluride Association
The Telluride Association is a non-profit organization in the United States founded in 1910 by Lucien Lucius Nunn and named for his city of residence, Telluride, Colorado. The organization states its mission as providing young people with free e ...
's main office. It has been described as an "
Arts and Crafts
A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
style mansion" outfitted with "expensive
Mission style and
Stickley furniture", with "high ceilings" and "large windows overlooking sloping lawns".
A 1980s project of the
Telluride Association
The Telluride Association is a non-profit organization in the United States founded in 1910 by Lucien Lucius Nunn and named for his city of residence, Telluride, Colorado. The organization states its mission as providing young people with free e ...
renovated the House and furnished it in accordance with its original architectural style.
In 2010, the Telluride House building was recommended by New York's
Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation for placement on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, the United States government's official list of buildings deemed worthy of preservation.
A year later, it was placed on the register.
Membership
Students and faculty members of
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
are invited to apply to the Telluride House in a yearly process known as 'preferment'.
Preferment, like other house matters, is decided on democratically by house members.
However, faculty members of the house cannot vote.
Telluride House members also contribute to the
Association
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
's work, through reading and evaluating applications for Telluride programs, such as the
Telluride Association Summer Program Telluride Association Summer Programs, or TASPs, are selective six-week educational experiences for rising high school seniors offering intellectual challenges beyond secondary school level.
The programs are designed to bring together young and int ...
.
Notable members
Alumni of the Telluride House, both students and faculty members, include many notable academics, politicians and scientists. Among those are two
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
presidents, two Nobel laureates in Physics, and a number of
neoconservative
Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and coun ...
scholars and politicians who co-resided in the Telluride House with House Faculty Fellow
Allan Bloom
Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell Universi ...
in the 1960s.
Notable residents include
theoretical computer scientist
computer science (TCS) is a subset of general computer science and mathematics that focuses on mathematical aspects of computer science such as the theory of computation, lambda calculus, and type theory.
It is difficult to circumscribe the th ...
Scott Aaronson
Scott Joel Aaronson (born May 21, 1981) is an American theoretical computer scientist and David J. Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. His primary areas of research are quantum computing an ...
,
British Jamaican artist and art historian
Petrine Archer-Straw
Petrine Archer-Straw (26 December 1956 – 5 December 2012) was a British artist and influential art historian and curator who specialised in the art of the Caribbean people.[Martin Bernal
Martin Gardiner Bernal (; 10 March 1937 – 9 June 2013)
was a British scholar of modern Chinese political history. He was a Professor of Government and Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University. He is best known for his work ''Black Athena'', a ...]
,
physicist
Carl M. Bender
Carl M. Bender (born 1943) is an American Applied mathematics, applied mathematician and Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist. He currently holds the Wilfred R. and Ann Lee Konneker Distinguished Professorship of Physics at Washington Uni ...
, philosopher and classicist
Allan Bloom
Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell Universi ...
,
Nobel laureate in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
Sir
William Lawrence Bragg
Sir William Lawrence Bragg, (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist and X-ray crystallographer, discoverer (1912) of Bragg's law of X-ray diffraction, which is basic for the determination of crystal structu ...
who resided in the house as a visiting professor,
former United States Congressman and President of the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
Barber Conable
Barber Benjamin Conable Jr. (November 2, 1922 – November 30, 2003) was a U.S. Congressman from New York and former President of the World Bank Group.
Biography
Conable was born in Warsaw, New York on November 2, 1922. Conable was an Eagle Scout ...
,
Nigerian academic
Michael Echeruo
Michael Joseph Chukwudalu Echeruo (born March 14, 1937) is a Nigerian academic, professor and literary critic from Umunumo, Ehime-Mbano LGA, Imo State. He is the William Safire Professor of Modern Letters in the English Department at Syracuse Univ ...
, theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superflu ...
,
political scientist and political economist
Francis Fukuyama
Francis Yoshihiro Fukuyama (; born October 27, 1952) is an American political scientist, political economist, international relations scholar and writer.
Fukuyama is known for his book ''The End of History and the Last Man'' (1992), which argue ...
,
American political theorist
William Galston
William Arthur Galston (; born January 17, 1946) holds the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in Governance Studies and is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; he joined the think tank on January 1, 2006. Formerly the Saul Stern Professor and Dean at t ...
, multiple Tony- winning director and producer and founding Artistic Director of the
Mark Taper Forum
The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighboring ...
Gordon Davidson, British philosopher
Paul Grice
Herbert Paul Grice (13 March 1913 – 28 August 1988), usually publishing under the name H. P. Grice, H. Paul Grice, or Paul Grice, was a British philosopher of language. He is best known for his theory of implicature and the cooperative prin ...
,
UCLA philosopher
Barbara Herman
Barbara Herman (born May 9, 1945) is the Griffin Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Philosophy. A well-known interpreter of Kant's ethics, Herman works on moral philosophy, th ...
,
author and diplomat
William vanden Heuvel
William Jacobus vanden Heuvel (April 14, 1930 – June 15, 2021) was an American attorney, businessman, author and diplomat of Belgian descent. He was known for advising Robert F. Kennedy during the latter's campaigns for Senate in 1964 and Presi ...
,
conservative politician and diplomat
Alan Keyes
Alan Lee Keyes (born August 7, 1950) is an American politician, political activist, author, and perennial candidate who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1985 to 1987. A member of the Repub ...
,
Ukrainian writer
Sana Krasikov,
European intellectual historian
Dominick LaCapra, former
New York City Schools Chancellor
The New York City Schools Chancellor (formally "Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education") is the head of the New York City Department of Education. The Chancellor is appointed by the Mayor of New York City, Mayor, and serves at th ...
Harold O. Levy
Harold Oscar Levy (December 14, 1952 – November 27, 2018) was an American lawyer and philanthropist who last served as the executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. Having previously held leadership roles as a corporate attorney, ...
,
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Wallace Loh
Wallace Dao-kui Loh ( zh, c=陸道逵, p=Lù Dàokuí; born 1946) was the president of the University of Maryland, College Park, a position assumed November 1, 2010. He retired from the presidency on June 30, 2020 and was succeeded by Darryl ...
,
NYU philosopher
Thomas Nagel
Thomas Nagel (; born July 4, 1937) is an American philosopher. He is the University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University, where he taught from 1980 to 2016. His main areas of philosophical interest are legal philosophy, ...
,
chemist, peace activist and Nobel
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and
Peace
Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
Prize laureate
Linus Pauling
Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific top ...
,
American classical musician
Martin Pearlman
Martin Pearlman (born May 21, 1945 in Chicago) is an American conductor, harpsichordist, composer, and early music specialist. He founded the first permanent Baroque orchestra in North America with Boston Baroque (originally called Banchetto Music ...
, United States
Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...
and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
,
historian
Kenneth Pomeranz
Kenneth Pomeranz, FBA (born November 4, 1958) is University Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1980, where he was a Telluride Scholar, and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1988, ...
,
Cornell philosopher, dean and vice-president
George Holland Sabine
George Holland Sabine (9 December 1880 – 18 January 1961), popularly known as Sabine, was a professor of philosophy, dean of the graduate school and vice president of Cornell University. He is best known for his authoritative work '' A History of ...
, gender and queer studies theorist
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (; May 2, 1950 – April 12, 2009) was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory ( queer studies), and critical theory. Sedgwick published several books considered groundbreaking in the fiel ...
,
American anthropologist
Clare Selgin Wolfowitz Clare Selgin Wolfowitz (born November 1945) is an American anthropologist with a specialism in Indonesia. She currently works at the IRIS center at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Governance Institutions Group, primarily on its proj ...
, political scientist
Stephen Sestanovich
Stephen Rockwell Sestanovich (born June 8, 1950) is an American government official, academic, and author. He is the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University where he is the D ...
,
political scientist
Abram Shulsky
Abram Shulsky (born August 15, 1942) is a neoconservative scholar who has worked for the U.S. government, RAND Corporation, and the Hudson Institute. Shulsky served as Director of the Office of Special Plans, a unit whose function has been comp ...
,
political theorist
Joseph M. Schwartz, literary theorist and postcolonial and gender studies scholar
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Lite ...
,
lawyer, legal scholar and former Dean of
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...
Kathleen Sullivan Kathleen Sullivan may refer to:
* Kathleen Sullivan (lawyer) (born 1955), American lawyer and former dean of Stanford Law School
* Kathleen Sullivan (journalist) (born 1953), American television journalist
* Kathleen Sullivan Alioto
Kathleen Sul ...
,
Czech economist and politician
Jan Švejnar
Jan Švejnar (born October 2, 1952) is a United States-based, Czech-born economist. He was a candidate for the 2008 election of the President of the Czech Republic.
Professor Švejnar is director of the Center on Global Economic Governance an ...
,
theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics
Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interactio ...
,
Former United States
Deputy Secretary of Defense
The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America.
The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the se ...
,
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
president, diplomat and academic
Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943) is an American political scientist and diplomat who served as the 10th President of the World Bank, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and former dean of Johns Hopkins SA ...
,
journalist and writer
William T. Vollmann
William Tanner Vollmann (born July 28, 1959) is an American novelist, journalist, war correspondent, short story writer, and essayist. He won the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction with the novel ''Europe Central''. ,
and
biophysicist
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study Biology, biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from Molecule, molecular to organismic ...
and
virologist
Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...
Robley C. Williams.
File:Richard_Feynman_Nobel.jpg, Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superflu ...
Theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
laureate
File:Francis_Fukuyama_2005.jpg, Francis Fukuyama
Francis Yoshihiro Fukuyama (; born October 27, 1952) is an American political scientist, political economist, international relations scholar and writer.
Fukuyama is known for his book ''The End of History and the Last Man'' (1992), which argue ...
Political scientist and author of ''The End of History and the Last Man
''The End of History and the Last Man'' is a 1992 book of political philosophy by American political scientist Francis Fukuyama which argues that with the ascendancy of Western liberal democracy—which occurred after the Cold War (1945–1991) ...
''
File:Perkins USNR.jpg, Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
United States Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...
and first female member of the Cabinet of the United States
The Cabinet of the United States is a body consisting of the vice president of the United States and the heads of the executive branch's departments in the federal government of the United States. It is the principal official advisory body to t ...
File:Eve_Kosofsky_Sedgwick_by_David_Shankbone.jpg, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (; May 2, 1950 – April 12, 2009) was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory ( queer studies), and critical theory. Sedgwick published several books considered groundbreaking in the fiel ...
Gender studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
, queer theory, and critical theory
A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
scholar
File:Gayatri_Spivak_on_Subversive_Festival.jpg, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Lite ...
Literary theorist
Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mora ...
and postcolonial
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...
scholar
File:Paul_Wolfowitz.jpg, Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943) is an American political scientist and diplomat who served as the 10th President of the World Bank, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and former dean of Johns Hopkins SA ...
Politician, diplomat, academic, and former President of the World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
Reputation
The Telluride House has been variously described as an organization "so peculiar in purpose and practice",
an "unusually rich and intense academic experience",
and an "intellectual non-fraternity",
where residents gather "over dinner to discuss popular culture, history, civil life, or scientific advances."
James Atlas
James Robert Atlas (March 22, 1949 – September 4, 2019) was a writer, especially of biographies, as well as a publisher. He was the president of Atlas & Company and founding editor of the Penguin Lives Series.
Early life and education
Atlas wa ...
,
New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
editor, described the House in the early 1970s as a "commune for philosophy students" and dubbed
Allan Bloom
Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell Universi ...
the House's "resident
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
".
That the house was home to so many neoconservatives in the 1970s has led to it being dubbed "a designated breeding ground for conservative intellectuals in their larval state".
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
, the longest serving
U.S. Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...
and the first woman appointed to the
U.S. Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is a body consisting of the vice president of the United States and the heads of the executive branch's departments in the federal government of the United States. It is the principal official advisory body to ...
, was elected to the house in 1960, where she resided until her death in 1965.
Her time at the house was dubbed by one of her biographers as "the happiest phase of her life".
Perkins reportedly described her happiness at her invitation to the house to her friends saying, "I felt like a bride on my wedding night."
She was heavily involved in the house's self-governance process, attended weekly house meetings, tended the house garden, and befriended fellow house faculty member
Allan Bloom
Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell Universi ...
.
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superflu ...
likewise held a favorable view of the house and of his tenure as Telluride House Faculty Fellow. In an interview he described the House as "a group of boys that have been specially selected because of their scholarship, because of their cleverness or whatever it is, to be given free board and lodging and so on, because of their brains". Feynman lived at Telluride for much of his tenure at Cornell. He enjoyed the house's convenience and said that "it’s there that I did the fundamental work" for which he won the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
.
In a correspondence with a fellow Telluride associate congratulating him on the Nobel Prize, Feynman said, "It was at Telluride that I did do all that stuff for which I got the prize, so I look back at those days with nostalgia."
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (; May 2, 1950 – April 12, 2009) was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory ( queer studies), and critical theory. Sedgwick published several books considered groundbreaking in the fiel ...
met her husband Hal Sedgwick at the Telluride House. In her time at Cornell, women had only recently been allowed to join the Telluride House and it still had a predominantly male membership. As a result, the Telluride House was reportedly "a strongly masculine environment", and "proved a rich vein of experience for Sedgwick to mine in her explorations of
homosociality
In sociology, homosociality means same-sex relationships that are not of a romantic or sexual nature, such as friendship, mentorship, or others. Researchers who use the concept mainly do so to explain how men uphold men's dominance in society.
...
",
a term she popularized.
Unlike
Perkins
Perkins is a surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon corruption of the kin of Pierre (from Pierre kin to Pierrekin to Perkins), introduced into England by the Norman Conquest. It is found throughout mid- and southern England.
Another derivation com ...
and
Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superflu ...
, writer
William T. Vollmann
William Tanner Vollmann (born July 28, 1959) is an American novelist, journalist, war correspondent, short story writer, and essayist. He won the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction with the novel ''Europe Central''. had an unfavourable view of house life and his experiences there in the early 1980s. He described house culture as "elitist", "inbred" and "vanguardist", and criticized house members' use of ingroup jargon, such as "III" or "Informal Intellectual Interchange".
See also
*
Telluride Association
The Telluride Association is a non-profit organization in the United States founded in 1910 by Lucien Lucius Nunn and named for his city of residence, Telluride, Colorado. The organization states its mission as providing young people with free e ...
*
Lucien Lucius Nunn
Lucien Lucius Nunn (16 March 1853 Medina, Ohio – 2 April 1925 Los Angeles, California) was an American entrepreneur and educator who founded Telluride House, Telluride Association and Deep Springs College. He received his higher education at O ...
*
Deep Springs College
Deep Springs College (known simply as Deep Springs or DS) is a private, selective two-year college in Deep Springs, California. With the number of undergraduates restricted to 26, the college is one of the smallest institutions of higher educat ...
*
Telluride Association Summer Program Telluride Association Summer Programs, or TASPs, are selective six-week educational experiences for rising high school seniors offering intellectual challenges beyond secondary school level.
The programs are designed to bring together young and int ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Tompkins County, New York
*
Cornell University West Campus
References
External links
*
Cornell Branch, Telluride Association website
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York
1910 establishments in New York (state)
Collectives
Cornell University buildings
Cornell University student organizations
Intentional communities in the United States
Student organizations established in 1910
Student societies in the United States
Telluride Association
University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)