Foundation’s Purpose
The purpose of the Kierkegaard House Foundation is to assist scholars from around the world to use the resources of the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
The Foundation assistance includes:
Guest housing in the Kierkegaard House.
Fellowship stipends.
Grants for preparing manuscripts for academic purposes and for publication.
Supplementary grants for travel expenses and for health insurance on a need basis.
Eventually, grants for helping publish manuscripts with limited circulation prospects.
The Hong Kierkegaard Library is the largest integral collection in the world devoted to the study and translation of the works of the eminent Scandinavian philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Established in 1976, the Library’s collection of more than 12,000 volumes includes a substantial number of editions matching those recorded to have been part of Kierkegaard’s personal library; it is working to obtain all of them. Its collection also includes complete sets of first and later editions of Kierkegaard’s own works, secondary publications on Kierkegaard and related writers, translations of the Danish works in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as copies of most English dissertations on Kierkegaard, and over 4,000 articles and monographs. It has a complete microfilm set of all extant original manuscripts and papers by Kierkegaard.
The Library hosts international conferences where scholars read and provide commentary on cutting edge research on Kierkegaard. Its well-established programs include year-long Visiting Scholars, Summer Fellows, Young Scholars (including many St. Olaf students), the Danish Kierkegaard Course, and the Utech Workshop for Kierkegaard Scholars. More than 60 scholars participate in the summer programs, and during the academic year there are four to six resident scholars for extended periods as well as daily visitors from the college, the community, and around the world.
The developing Archives of the Hong Kierkegaard Library offers primary source materials about Kierkegaard scholars, the international and interdisciplinary field of Kierkegaard studies, the history of the Hong Kierkegaard Library, and biographical materials about the founders, Howard and Edna Hong.
As part of St. Olaf College, the Hong Kierkegaard Library is tax-exempt, and, as an organization in support of the Library’s use, the Kierkegaard House Foundation is also tax-exempt.