Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1749-1801 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 box (36 items)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Claude Adrien Helvetius, born 1715 in Paris, was a French philosopher. He studied at the College Louis-le Grand, and in 1738 received the lucrative post of farmer-general, which, however, he soon exchanged for the position of chamberlain to the queen. Tiring of the idle and dissipated life of the court, he married in 1751, and retired to a small estate at Vore, in Perche, where he devoted himself chiefly to philosophical studies. He was one of the "Encyclopaedists," and held the skeptical and materialistic views common to that school of philosophy.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Letters to the French philosopher from 18th century writers, philosophers, diplomats, ecclesiastics, government officials, patrons or friends of the arts.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- French