Mario Dal Pra Archive

Donated to the Department of Philosophy by his family following his death, the archive comprises the personal papers of philosopher Mario Dal Pra. Complementing the collection is an extensive range of material relating to his academic work and the courses he taught at the University of Milan from 1952 to 1981.

Mario Dal Pra has been a full professor at the University of Milan since 1951, first of History of Medieval Philosophy, then (1956) of History of Philosophy. He founded (1946) and directed the Rivista di Storia della Filosofia. After taking an active part in the Resistance in the ranks of “Giustizia e Libertà,” Mario Dal Pra militated in the Italian Socialist Party, collaborating in the political and cultural reconstruction of the country, with a didactic and scientific work always sustained by a high moral inspiration. A gold medalist as a well-deserving of School, Culture and Art, he was also a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, the Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, and the Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza, as well as an influential member of the Italian Philosophical Society (SFI), of which he was also national president. He has worked on the entire span of the history of philosophy in controversy with idealistic historiography: hence his interest in skepticism and anti-metaphysical (not “theoretical”) currents and the elaboration of an original position, the transcendentalism of praxis, which descends from the encounter of pragmatism with the philosophy of Marx.

Archive Contents

(by Giuseppe Barreca)

The archive, consisting of 1,212 folders, is organised into six series (with further subdivisions for certain types of documents), as outlined below:

1. Correspondence (folders 1–620)
2. Writings by Mario Dal Pra (folders 1–421)
3. Writings about Mario Dal Pra (folders 1–92)
4. Miscellaneous folders (folders 1–11)
5. Writings by other authors (folders 1–117)
6. Academic activities (institutional and teaching) (folders 1–42)

The correspondence, by far the largest section, is divided into three parts, each arranged alphabetically by recipient’s name. The largest segment is private correspondence (folders 1–538), which spans from the 1930s to the year of Dal Pra’s death in 1992. There is also correspondence with publishers (folders 539–575), including letters concerning contracts, publications, and exchanges with authors. Lastly, the institutional correspondence (folders 576–620) documents Dal Pra’s interactions with cultural institutions in Italy and abroad—most notably the Italian Philosophical Society and the journal Rivista di storia della filosofia, which he founded and directed for many years.

The second series gathers Dal Pra’s extensive writings, totalling 422 folders, further subdivided according to the type and date of each document. The series opens with dated manuscripts and notes (folders 1–182), including handwritten texts and loose sheets relating to his teaching and research activities. These are followed by typed documents (folders 183–328), some unpublished, comprising lecture notes, conference talks, teaching materials, and preparatory drafts for printed works. The printed writings (folders 329–413) largely consist of journal articles and newspaper pieces authored by Dal Pra.

For manuscripts and typescripts with no exact date, a classification by decade has been attempted. When even this was not possible, items have been listed based on the categories assigned by Dal Pra himself, before the archive was donated to the University. The series concludes with drafts of his printed works—often annotated by hand—reflecting the significance of his contributions to the history of philosophy (folders 414–421).

The third series, Writings about Dal Pra, comprises 92 folders arranged in chronological order. Most of these contain reviews of his numerous publications, drawn from journals and newspapers. Items are organised based on the publication date of the first edition of the work being reviewed. This section also includes a folder of general press clippings about Dal Pra, as well as obituaries and tributes published after his passing.

The fourth series contains a diverse range of documents concerning Dal Pra’s academic life, his work with the National Research Council (CNR), his involvement in the development of philosophy teaching in schools, and his own political activity. The arrangement follows the order originally given by Dal Pra.

The fifth series, a substantial one comprising 117 folders, includes Writings by other authors in Dal Pra’s possession. Some materials are photocopies of books—especially works by medieval and Renaissance philosophers—while most are typescripts by colleagues or thesis drafts and coursework by students. The documents are catalogued alphabetically by the author’s name.

The final series brings together a wide array of material relating to Dal Pra’s academic activities. The most substantial and significant part consists of 26 folders containing documents from the courses he taught at the University of Milan between 1952 and 1981. These include course programmes, preparatory notes, and in some cases, lecture handouts and notes compiled by Dal Pra himself. Additional folders contain coursework submitted by students who graduated under his supervision, as well as documents relating to his institutional academic commitments.

Bibliography on Mario Dal Pra

• Livio Sichirollo, DAL PRA, Mario, in «Treccani. Enciclopedia Italiana», Roma, Istituto Centrale della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1978.
• Franco Cambi, Razionalismo e prassi a Milano (1945-1954), Milano, 1983.
• La storia della filosofia come sapere critico. Studi offerti a Mario Dal Pra, Milano, 1984.
• Luca Bianchi, Bibliografia degli scritti di Mario Dal Pra (sino al 1983), in La storia della filosofia come sapere critico. Studi offerti a Mario Dal Pra, Milano, 1984, pp. 749-772.
• Averardo Montesperelli, Introduzione, in E. Mirri, L. Conti (a cura di), Filosofi nel dissenso, Foligno, 1986.
• M. Mirri, Fra Vicenza e Pisa. Esperienze morali, intellettuali e politiche di giovani degli anni ’40, in Il contributo dell’Università di Pisa e della Scuola Normale Superiore alla lotta antifascista ed alla guerra di Liberazione, Pisa, 1987.
• Arrigo Pacchi, Il filosofo e l’educatore, in In onore di Mario Dal Pra, Montecchio Maggiore, 1988, pp. 13-26.
• F. Cassinari (a cura di), Filosofia e storia della filosofia in Mario Dal Pra. Conversazione con Fulvio Papi, in “Itinerari filosofici”, 2(1992), pp. 68-79.
• Enrico Rambaldi, Ricordo di M. Dal Pra, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 47(1992), pp. 9-45.
• Eugenio Garin, Mario Dal Pra, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 48(1993), pp. 231-237.
• Antonio Santucci, Mario Dal Pra filosofo e storico della filosofia, in “Rivista di filosofia”, 85(1994), pp. 67-97.
• Enrico Rambaldi, Mario Dal Pra e l’esistenzialismo positivo di Nicola Abbagnano, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 50(1995), pp.  41-72.
• Maria Assunta Del Torre (a cura di), Mario Dal Pra e i cinquant’anni della "Rivista di storia della filosofia", Milano, 1998.
• G. Paganini, Dall’empirismo classico all’empirismo «critico». Le ricerche di M. Dal Pra tra storia e teo­ria, in “Cenobio. Rivista trimestrale di cultura della Svizzera italiana”, 1998, pp. 365-85.
• Piero Giordanetti, Il fondo manoscritto di Mario Dal Pra, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 55(2000), pp. 671-672.
• Enrico Rambaldi, Et vos estote parati. Mario Dal Pra, la vigilia, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 55(2000), pp. 625-644.
• Giuseppe Barreca, L’archivio Mario Dal Pra, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 59(2004), pp. 931-933.
• Enrico Rambaldi, Mario Dal Pra giovane insegnante a Vicenza, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 61(2006), pp. 397-401.
• Marzia Rigamonti, Gli Hume di Mario Dal Pra, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 63(2008), pp. 139-150.
• Massimo Parodi, Chiara Selogna, Per una filosofia minore. Mario Dal Pra e il pensiero debole, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 63(2008), pp. 771-789.
• Piero Di Vona, Ricordo di Mario Dal Pra, in “Rivista di storia della filosofia”, 63(2008), pp. 815-818.
• Enrico Rambaldi, Filologia e filosofia nella storiografia di Mario Dal Pra , in “ACME” LXII (2009).
• Emilio Franzina, Mario Dal Pra partigiano. Dal fascismo alla Resistenza e alla sua storia, in “Belfagor”, 65(2010), pp. 341-348.
• Borso Dario, Una precisazione su Mario Dal Pra resistente, in “Rivista di Storia della Filosofia”, 66(2011), n. 2, pp.343-343
• Enrico Rambaldi, Mario Dal Pra curatore e promotore di testi filosofici inediti, in “Rivista di filosofia neoscolastica”, 2014, pp. 271-302
• Fascicolo speciale in memoria di Mario Dal Pra per il settantesimo anniversario della fondazione della rivista, in “Rivista di storia della Filosofia”, 71 (2016), 4
• Luca Bianchi, Luca Natali e Giovanni Rota (a cura di), Teoria e impegno pratico: Mario Dal Pra e il suo archivio, in “Rivista di Storia della Filosofia”, 79 (2024), 1.