In the Rand Archives, Part 1: Gaining Access

Jennifer Burns is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia.

In the Rand Archives, Part 1: Gaining Access

September 05 2009

[Author's Note: this is the first of a series of postings about my experience in the Ayn Rand Archive.]

The legacy of Ayn Rand is a source of never-ending controversy, which I seem to have stirred up again with my forthcoming book, Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right (Oxford University Press). Many observers are wondering: How did I get access to the Ayn Rand Archives?

Very simply: I asked.

Rather, since I was a graduate student at the time, my advisor inquired in a formal letter. This was back in the fall of 2001. I had written a research paper on Ayn Rand, but before I proceeded to design a dissertation about her, it was vital to know if I could work in the archives. For my project to make an important contribution to scholarship, I would have to go to the original sources generated by Rand herself. At the time, the archive was not officially open. But there was a newsletter, and I reasoned that if the archive published a newsletter, they must want visitors.

As it turned out, the archives were open, and willing to have me, with stipulations. The primary stipulation was that I not use the archival material to write a full length biography, since the Ayn Rand Institute had commissioned an Objectivist literary scholar, Shoshana Milgram, to write an authorized biography. Because my focus was on Rand in relationship to a particular aspect of American history – the American right – my work was classified as a “special study.” I was also told I would not be shown certain material related to legal disputes and a few items of sensitive nature pertaining to persons still living. Other than that, I had free rein in the archive. (Along the way, I did in fact stumble across some material I wasn’t supposed to see – more on that later).

So in the summer of 2003, all my qualifying exams behind me, I packed up my car and drove down to Irvine. It would be the first of many visits over the years.

Next installment: the edited letters and diaries

Comments (4)

|2009-09-06 06:47:22 Neil Parille - Interviews

Hello Prof. Burns,

This sounds fascinating.

Did you have access to the numerous interviews that the Archives have taken over the years?

Thanks,
NP

|2009-09-13 08:07:19 Jennifer Burns

Yes, I was able to see both the raw and the edited transcripts, as well as outtakes from the "Sense of Life" documentary. I was also able to read full transcripts from the interviews with Rand conducted by Barbara and Nathaniel Branden in the early 1960s.

|2009-09-27 11:11:16 Jerry Biggers - Barbara Branden taped interviews with Rand

Dr. Burns,
In your book's discussion of Barbara Branden's biography of Rand, you state that "Sentences that are presented in quotes as if they were spoken verbatim by Rand have been significantly edited and rewritten, as anyone who listens to or reads the original interviews Branden used will quickly detect."
Where did you see the transcripts, at the ARI archives, or from Barbara Branden? Did you have a chance to directly compare these transcripts with the original audio recordings? I assume that after noting these differences, you spoke with Barbara Branden about this issue. If so, what was her explanation for the changes?

|2009-09-27 16:59:49 Anonymous

Hi Jerry,

I worked with transcripts at the Ayn Rand Archives. I did not ask Barbara about why she made the changes, but I assume they were done for two reasons: literary style, and because the rights to the interviews are held by Rand's estate, so direct quotes require permission. JB