Library Acquires Essays by Ayn Rand
Six dozen essays penned by ber-objectivist author and philosopher Ayn Rand were recently donated to the Library of Congress.
The nearly 1,300 pages of hand-written material features Rand’s ruminations on topics ranging from Watergate to the Supreme Court to inflation and the energy crisis.
The manuscripts — on blue paper with corrections in red and black pen, and pencil — comprise the sum total of Rand’s nonfiction output from 1971 to 1974 for the “Ayn Rand Letter.”
Rand, a Russian emigre, died in 1982.
The gift of collector Stuart Rose, the papers are from the collection of Robert Hessen, Rand’s longtime personal secretary.
The recent Randian acquisition joins the complete manuscripts and typescripts of Rand’s quartet of novels: “The Fountainhead,” “Anthem,” “Atlas Shrugged” and “We the Living,” which are already housed in the Library. Pages from “The Fountainhead” have been on display in the Library’s “American Treasures” exhibition.
Readers will be able to access the newly donated papers in the Library’s Manuscript Room as soon as they are processed. Scholars with an immediate interest should contact the curator.
— Bree Hocking