In the German-language scholarly tradition, a Festschrift is a collection of writings published in honor of a living scholar, containing original contributions by close colleagues and former students. On Freedom and Free Enterprise: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises (1956), edited by Mary Sennholz, was the first Festschrift in Mises's honor, and the essays it contains have proven fruitful sources for decades. Preeminently, it contains Murray N. Rothbard's reconstruction of utility and welfare theory. The other contributors are Jacques Rueff, William E. Rappard, Henry Hazlitt, Bertrand de Jouvenel, Hans F. Sennholz, F.A. Harper, Wilhelm Röpke, Faustino Ballvé, Carlo Antoni, Louis M. Spadaro, Fritz Machlup, L.M. Lachmann, Leonard E. Read, W.H. Hutt, William H. Peterson, F.A. Hayek, Percy L. Greaves, Jr., and Louis Baudin. There is also an introduction by the editor, Mary Sennholz.
Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) brought the Austrian School of political economy to the United States. His colleagues in Europe called him the "last knight of liberalism" because he was the champion of the classical-liberal ideal of liberty and property that they considered dead and gone in an age of central planning and socialism of all varieties.