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Report from the Ayn Rand Archives INewsletterM of the Ayn Rand®P InstituteA Volume 6, NumberC 8, AugustT 2000 Report from the Ayn Rand Archives Established in 1995, the Ayn Rand Ar- tures recorded on cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes are being chives preserves the physical evidence converted into digital files and stored on CDs, which are far of Ayn Rand’s achievements for the more durable. Having digital copies of all our items will serve benefit of scholars and of other insti- as a backup in case any item is damaged. Moreover, by having tutions. Although it is not yet open to a computerized audio-visual database of all our holdings, we outside researchers, the content of the can provide access to the most delicate items without fear of Archives is generating much interest destroying them—we can even make some items accessible re- among researchers. In the following motely via the Internet. report, Archivist Jeff Britting describes “In parallel with our preservation efforts, we are compil- recent activities and future plans: ing detailed catalogs of all items in our holdings. Ultimately “We are currently focusing our ef- we will have a variety of catalogs and indexes that accurately forts on rehousing our collections. describe every item. This cataloging project is progressing Racing against time, we are slowing the ahead of schedule. decay of many fragile photographs, “Once cataloging and preservation are completed, and tape recordings, and documents. Our when adequate space is available, the Archives will be opened collections are being transferred into to researchers and scholars. An Archives Reference Librarian protective, chemically inert containers will be available to consult with visiting researchers and to to shield them from pollutants. help them map out a course of study. A researcher might pe- “This year we reached a preserva- ruse Miss Rand’s original research files (including her notes Handwritten draft of “Galt’s oath.” Page 2 shows a typed manuscript of tion milestone. The microfilming of and revisions), or listen to audio recordings of the private lec- the same passage, with Ayn Rand’s ed- more than 17,000 draft pages of Ayn tures she gave to associates. With the help of an Archival cat- iting marks and the published passage. Rand’s novels, held at the Library of alog, a researcher will be able to pinpoint letters and journal Congress, was completed. In 1992 Dr. entries germane to his study from among thousands of pages Leonard Peikoff donated these documents to the Library of in her correspondence and journals. Long range, we will create Congress. The Archives collaborated with the Library in fund- a fully equipped Archives Reading Room for researchers to ing and coordinating the project. The 28 reels of microfilm work in. containing the scans of manuscripts, typescripts, and galley “In 1999, as a first step toward making our holdings proofs of Miss Rand’s novels have a projected lifespan of 500 widely available to researchers, we began promoting the Ar- years. chives through mailings, publications, public speeches, and “In due course, we will scan all of the photographs, exhibitions. The following is a summary. prints, and documents in our collection. Interviews and lec- Early 1999 Winter 1999 Volume one of our newsletter, Archive Annual, was pub- The Archives presented its first public program—a lecture/ lished. The inaugural issue summarized the goals of the Ar- screening to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the chives and reproduced items from its holdings. Copies of Warner Brothers’ film adaptation of The Fountainhead. the Annual were mailed to 100 university libraries through- The opening remarks and concluding lecture by archivist out the United States. In a cover letter, librarians were of- Jeff Britting traced Ayn Rand’s experiences in Hollywood fered a reference service, via postal and electronic mail, during the production of the film. pertaining to Ayn Rand, her life, and to materials held at the Archives. Summer 2000 To date, the Archives has fielded numerous reference The Hoover Presidential Library invited the Ayn Rand Ar- queries from journalists, biographers, and philosophers, as well chives to contribute to its April 22–October 29, 2000, ex- as architectural and cultural historians, on a range of topics. hibition “American Women!” The Ayn Rand display focus- Spring 1999 es on her writing of Atlas Shrugged and features items on loan from the Archives. (See the July 2000 Impact.) The Archives published its first monograph through ARI Press, Russian Writings on Hollywood. The book was displayed along with other ARI publications at the 1999 American Library Asso- ciation national meeting held in New Orleans. Continued on page 2 Archives—Continued from page 1 “To extend our reach worldwide, we are exploiting the power of the Internet. In the next few months, an Archives Web site will be launched. It will include, among other fea- tures, volume two of the Archive Annual newsletter (which hereafter will be published on-line). A Web-based catalog of Archives holdings, currently in development, will be added to the site. Farther on the horizon, we are planning to exhibit our collections using the Web as a multimedia gallery. “By doing the crucial work of preserving AR’s achieve- ment and offering reference service to outside institutions— and by working toward the creation of a public study center— the Archives is emerging as the definitive source for documentary information about Ayn Rand’s life and work.” Helping the Archives The Archives is seeking copies of letters, book dedications, vid- eo clips, radio interviews, and other items related to Ayn Section of Galt’s Speech containing the “oath.” Left: typed manuscript with Rand. If you are interested in donating such material, or in Ayn Rand’s editing marks. Right: reproduction of the published version. making it available for reproduction, we are eager to hear from you. Please contact Jeff Britting at ARI, or by e-mail at Record Number of Interviews [email protected]. Material donated to the Archives may be ARI’s Media department generated a record number of radio interviews in June: tax-deductible at fair market value. our spokesmen were interviewed 33 times. Robert Tracinski was interviewed on radio 19 times on subjects ranging from AR Stamp Sales Ending the abolition of Social Security and the immorality of “slave reparations” to the The Ayn Rand stamp will not be available from the United anti-Americanism of both the Republican and Democratic parties. States Postal Service after September 30, 2000. Until then, as Edwin Locke was interviewed on television by Fox News about Elian Gonzalez long as supplies remain, it may be ordered in the United States and three times on radio about his op-ed “Graduation Day Values.” That op-ed by calling 1-800-STAMP-24. A sheet of twenty stamps costs was written in the form of a letter from parents to their graduating children, coun- $6.60; ask for item #441340. The stamps are also available at seling that “to lead a successful life, our most urgent advice to you is to reject your www.stampsonline.com. professors’ assaults on reason and individualism.” Other radio interviews, broadcast from dozens of stations, featured Yaron This article was produced for ARI’s op-ed program and has Brook, Andrew Bernstein, and Richard Salsman. been printed by 10 newspapers to date, including the San Diego Union-Tribune. And that brings us to the second mark of a dishonest campaign: the re- The “Sweatshop” Scam fusal to mention facts that don’t fit one’s prejudice. A group called Students by Robert W. Tracinski Against Sweatshops, for example, complains that baseball caps sold by sever- al major universities are made in a factory in the Dominican Republic where Well-off American college students and $25 per hour union workers have “the base pay for a typical worker is 69 cents per hour.” What they don’t banded together in a growing movement for what they describe as a “pro- tell you is that in the Dominican Republic, per capita GNP—the amount of gressive” cause and a battle against “exploitation.” Their goal: to take wealth produced each year per person—is only $1,770 (according to the away economic opportunities from desperately poor people in the Third World Bank). At 69 cents an hour—the base level of pay—the workers mak- World. ing these caps would roughly match that amount. In other words, these This is the vicious contradiction behind the recent campaign against so- workers are paid in accordance with the prevailing wages in that country. called “sweatshops”: The “progressives” scream loudly about “workers’ Bear in mind that the vast majority of people in the Third World have rights”—but their actual goal is to deprive poor people in the Third World little education or specialized skills; they own no investment capital or natu- of their right to work. ral resources. As recently as a few decades ago, most had to eke out their The first mark of a dishonest campaign is a refusal to define its terms. subsistence through back-breaking labor in the fields. Were these people Campus activists use the term “sweatshop” as a catchphrase to rouse the victimized by being offered jobs in clothing factories? Quite the contrary: hearer’s emotions, but not to convey information. And to the extent they they now have more economic opportunities than were available before— do explain the term, notice that they package together real, concrete viola- and that’s why so many of them voluntarily choose to work in these factories. tions of individual rights—such as forced labor—with such minor charges Why all the outrage, then, from the “progressives”? The anti-“sweat- as not providing enough bathrooms for workers.
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