Welcome to
The Bertrand Russell Archives
at McMaster University
1280 Main St. W.
Hamilton, Ont., Canada L8S 4L6
(905) 525-9140 x24738
MCMASTER UNIVERSITY is home to the
scholarly study 
of Bertrand Russell (1872-1970),
British philosopher, logician, essayist,
and renowned
peace
advocate. The Bertrand Russell Archives came to McMaster University
Library in 1968, where they are in the Ready
Division of Archives and
Research Collections. (See this link for hours of service.) Russell's library is part of the Russell Archives, along with his correspondence,
manuscripts, tapes, photographs, medals and permanently displayed writing desk. Details of major guides
to the archival holdings and of international activities in Russell
studies follow. Send us
any queries you may have about the Russell Archives.
BOOK CATALOGUES
For the original holdings, see B. Feinberg, ed., A
Detailed Catalogue of the Archives of Bertrand Russell
(London: Continuum, 1967). In 1973 another large purchase
arrived from
Lord Russell's estate. See K. Blackwell and C.
Spadoni, A Detailed Catalogue of the Second Archives of
Bertrand Russell (Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1992). Further
acquisitions
have been made from many other sources.
ARCHIVAL GALLERY
For dozens of scanned images of documents and other artifacts relating to
Russell's life, and for accompanying text that introduces readers newly
interested in Russell studies to
the Bertrand Russell Archives, visit McMaster's Bertrand Russell
Gallery. The scans are of exceptionally high quality.
RUSSELL JOURNAL
For updates on scholarly
materials in Russell
studies, and contributions to the field, see
Russell: the
Journal of the Bertrand Russell Archives (1971- ), published
by
McMaster
University Press. Comprehensive tables of contents covering 26 years
of Russell are
available. A complete index for the same period,
published in Vol. 15, no. 2 (winter 1995-96), may be consulted or
downloaded here. Back issues may be
ordered.
ONLINE CATALOGUE The
Bertrand Russell Archives Catalogue Entry
and Retrieval System, BRACERS, is a database of some 64,000 correspondence
records.
Advanced inquiries have been written, including date
searches. The full text of some letters is available online. Apply to the
Ready Division staff for
assistance.
BRACERS' Correspondents is a 1.5 MB index of some 29,900
persons and groups who corresponded with Russell, with the total numbers
of letters to and from each one. Search the full BRACERS here.
RUSSELL'S WRITINGS
A subject, name and title guide to over 4,300 of Russell's
publications is in K. Blackwell and H. Ruja, A Bibliography
of Bertrand Russell, 3 vols. (London and New York: Routledge, 1994).
The Russell Archives have
copies of all of Russell's publications as well as most secondary materials.
An electronically
available text by Russell is his last manuscript essay, "1967".
A hypertextual edition of "The Bomb and Civilization" may be viewed.
A selection of Russell's essays for the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
in
the 1960s and
the complete text of
Prevent the Crime of Silence are on the Web.
Links to many other writings by Russell on the Web are at the site of the
Bertrand Russell
Society. Search David Blitz's
database of Russell's books
by title word or category, or sort them by year, title or category.
NEW WORKS IN RUSSELL
STUDIES Click here for a table of
forthcoming, new and recent works
published in Bertrand Russell studies. Email us
if you have additions to the table. The aim is to stay current over a
three-year period for works in all languages. To qualify as forthcoming, a
book should be with the publisher or at least contracted for.
RUSSELL EDITORIAL PROJECT
The Bertrand Russell Editorial Project (sponsored by Humanities, McMaster) has
completed
sixteen volumes of
The
Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. Routledge is the
publisher. Send email inquiries to the Director,
R.A. Rempel. An
illustrated brochure on the current state of the
Russell Project is available for the asking. Visit the
condensed Web version of the brochure on the Project's
website.
RUSSELL PEACE LECTURES The Bertrand Russell Peace Lectures are a prestigious
annual lecture series, sponsored by the Centre
for Peace Studies at McMaster University. The
series focuses on issues related to the maintenance
of world peace based on respect for human rights,
democracy and justice. Past lecturers are listed here.
THE BERTRAND RUSSELL SOCIETY
The Bertrand Russell
Society maintains an active
existence, conferring annually in the U.S. and sometimes in Canada,
making annual awards for outstanding scholarship in
Russell studies, and
publishing a
quarterly news journal.
EMAIL LIST ON RUSSELL
STUDIES For a news and discussion forum on Russell studies, subscribe to
Russell-l. Postings include news from the Bertrand
Russell Archives
and the Bertrand Russell Editorial Project. Russell-l has some 235
subscribers, from two dozen countries. Archived message files from October
1993 to the present may be browsed and
searched.
ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA
ENTRIES ON RUSSELL AND HIS PARADOX.
The online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a lengthy and
pertinent entry on Bertrand
Russell, and others on
Russell's Paradox and
Principia Mathematica.
The entries are written by Andrew Irvine. The main
entry on Russell has a chronology of Russell's life and
sections on his logical, philosophical and social influence.
Considerable bibliographical assistance is also provided, including a
list of Russell's main published works, and sound clips are available.
WORLD COURSES IN RUSSELL STUDIES
Nino B. Cocchiarella, Indiana University, gives a graduate course, Analytic Philosophy I, or P530,
which emphasizes Bertrand Russell; the syllabus includes exam questions. Nicholas Griffin, McMaster University, gives a
course, PHILOS 4G03, on Russell. At St. David's University College, University of Wales,
Lampeter, R.R. Rockingham gives a course, "Russell".
PUGWASH'S NOBEL PRIZE The 1995 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Russell was
probably the chief founder of Pugwash. His archives show that he and Rotblat
worked closely together, and Rotblat
chaired Russell's announcement, in 1955, of the Russell-Einstein
Manifesto. Visit
Pugwash's home
page and read Rotblat's acceptance speech. Read the
Manifesto with Einstein's letter consenting to it, courtesy of Physicians
for Global Survival.
RUSSELL'S BOOKS AND
TAPES IN PRINT
The chief publisher of Bertrand Russell's works today is Routledge, with
offices in London and New York. Routledge's website allows searches on its
stocklist. Here is a
link to
its catalogue of the Collected Papers. From
this point you may find all their
other books by Russell.
W.W. Norton and Co.
still publish The Principles of Mathematics.
Many of Russell's titles are listed by the McMaster
University Bookstore, whose search results will tell you whether the
title is in stock. A comprehensive source for Russell books in some
major library systems and in virtual bookstores is Malaspina Great Books.
Cassettes of
many speeches and interviews by Bertrand Russell can be purchased from
Pacifica Radio Archives. Choose "search archives catalogue".
WEB PORTRAITS OF
RUSSELL The silhouette at the top
of this page is of the Jacob Epstein bust of Russell, executed in 1953. The
bust is in the Russell Archives.
The charcoal drawing of Russell on the Russell Editorial Project's page is by Carole Spaeth Hanschka. Signed by Russell in February 1944 in Princeton, it hangs in the Ready Reading-Room of
Mills Library. The Russell
Society's page has a photo of the white-haired Russell with his eyebrows still black.
Cosma Shalizi provides a photo of Russell tearing up his Labour Party card in 1965. Finally, a well-known photo copyrighted by Lotte Meitner-Graf
may be viewed on the MacTutor
History of Mathematics archive.
QUOTATIONS FROM RUSSELL'S WORKS
These quotations have been suggested by
subscribers to RUSSELL-L. Individual
copyright situations will vary, but several of the passages are ©
Routledge. The most recent book of quotations is The Quotable Bertrand
Russell, edited by Lee Eisler (Buffalo: Prometheus, 1993).
VIRTUAL VISITORS'
BOOK In the Russell Archives there is a visitors' book that began
in 1968. If you like, inscribe the virtual visitors'
book with a thought or two about Bertrand Russell or your visit here.
