Initial proposal by F.A. (“Baldy”) Harper for what would become the Institute for Humane Studies, now at George Mason University. At this time, Baldy had not disclosed his plan to Leonard Read, Director of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) where Baldy was a staff member. Baldy’s reason for deciding to leave FEE and form an institute was that Read (for unknown reasons but possibly lest he be branded with “anarchy” and thereby alienate some of his major contributors) was not willing to go beyond what was already well known about the free market — to explore and encourage the growing edge for break-throughs in understanding human social organization. Heath, Baldy’s friend and confidant, edited this document and offered his hundred-acre property, Roadsend Gardens at Elkridge, Maryland as a home for the Institute. Hosted by Heath and Spencer MacCallum, Baldy and his family visited for a weekend and looked over the property, but Baldy eventually decided the intellectual climate on the West Coast might be more hospitable to the kinds of thinking the Institute would engage in. Following this initial, unedited proposal is the same draft as edited by Heath, set in a contrasting typeface to avoid confusion between the two. See the original with Heath’s pencil markings in the Originals Envelope.

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