Correspondence Course in Mental Science [Class Lessons] by Harvey S. Hardman

Correspondence Course in Mental Science [Class Lessons] by Harvey S. Hardman

Denver, Colorado: Mental Science Institute, 1940–1944. Privately issued.

A substantial mimeographed run of Harvey S. Hardman’s Mental Science Institute correspondence-course material, issued in Denver during the early 1940s. Hardman served as a minister in the Divine Science movement in Denver and later headed the Mental Science Institute, where he offered systematic instruction in Mental Science for students, teachers, and practitioners. The lessons were issued from 509 Seventeenth Street, Denver, the address printed throughout the course material.

The collection includes Hardman’s 1940 introductory broadcast lecture, Mental Science: How It Works, followed by a nearly complete sequence of the later correspondence course: a complete Class I comprising all ten lessons, a complete Class III comprising all ten lessons, and nine of the ten lessons from Class IV, lacking only Lesson Five.

The introductory lecture, dated October 13, 1940, predates the formal 1942–1944 course sequence. Its concluding page advertises Hardman’s books, classes, magazine, Sunday lectures, and the activities of the Mental Science Institute, providing useful context for the development of the later correspondence program.

The course reflects the intersection of New Thought, Divine Science, and American metaphysical religion, addressing such subjects as the objective and subjective mind, thought as a creative or causative force, mental healing, hypnotism and suggestion, the interpretation of Jesus through the framework of mental law, and the relationship between the individual mind and a universal creative intelligence. The later classes move into religious instruction, teaching, and leadership.

Material includes:

• Mental Science: How It Works, broadcast lecture, October 13, 1940.
• Class I — The Principles of Mental Science, 1942: Lessons 1–10, complete, with five additional duplicate lesson texts.
• Class III — The Principles of Religious Science, 1943: Lessons 1–10, complete.
• Class IV — Principles of Teaching and Leadership, 1944: nine of ten lessons, lacking Lesson 5.

Condition: Stapled mimeographed lessons, each secured with three staples, with oxidation/rusting to the staples. A few issues in Class III show damp staining to the upper covers. The five duplicate Class I lessons lack the printed cover/title leaves. Overall, the material is in very good condition.