Felton will send BR the draft of The Observer article.

The letter discusses various ramifications with regard to the sale of BR's archives. The Observer article is also mentioned. The letter also exists in draft form.

With regard to the embargo BR writes: "I do not wish any items which are by, to, from or about the following persons to be made public during my lifetime or theirs."

There is also a photocopy of this letter with "about" underlined and a question mark in the margin.

Felton responds to BR's letter of 16 March (record 122834) with regard to the embargo. He asks that BR consider removing Ottoline Morrell from the embargoed list because of "enormous social significance". Very personal letters could still be embargoed.

With regard to the embargo: "It is more difficult to ensure, in over 1000,000 items, that there is no brief mention of any of these people in what are, apparently, innocent letters between other people."

BR writes in response to Felton's letter of 30 March 1967 (record 122836): "I agree with all you have to say. If we run into difficulties with anyone from now on, about anything in the Archives, we can always fall back upon a private apology and—if necessary—the imposition of a further embargo. But I very much hope that such a course will be quite unnecessary."

"I enclose herewith the whole of the introductory section to the catalogue of your Archives."

Farley writes on BR's behalf, pointing out changes to be made to the introductory section of the Archives catalogue.

Felton asks for BR's help in identifying a manuscript [the ms. of "Theory of Knowledge"]. There is also a draft of this letter, by K. Blackwell. BR did not reply. When Blackwell went to Plas Penrhyn the next month or so, he asked BR about it. He responded that it would take some time to think back that far, and left it at that. (K.B., 4 March 2016)

Farley writes on behalf of BR in identifying the manuscript:

"He says that the work contains many inaccuracies, which is why it was never published. It was, in fact, abandoned and BR is anxious that it remain that way. The whole theory of knowledge which the manuscript discusses was very considerably revised and later published in a different form." BR is unable to put a precise date on its composition.
 

This appears to be an insertion for an anecdote about Ravenna, G.P. Gooch and Procopius.

"Moreton Hall bills".

BR has mislaid Smith's letter of Nov. 10 and accompanying sketch.

BR encloses "a short statement of my hopes for the coming year", found in dictated form above this letter.

BR agrees to be one of Ayer's referees for the Chair of Logic at Oxford.

BR is glad Lloyd is taking an active part in CND.

BR sends 3 cheques for deposit: $10, $5, and £5.0.5.

BR is in agreement but cannot spare the time for Larson's unspecified project.

BR needs to hear "the other side" of the membership question.

"Send Cox and Millward letter".

BR does not know enough to comment on Wokes' interesting thesis about B12 (the vitamin).

BR does not agree that a decimal system vs. one based on 12 fingers "has any relation to harmony and discord in human affairs."

BR finds McClenathan's point of view "thoroughly congenial".

BR asks whether their proposal is affected by Stuart Robertson's death.

The Catalogue of Archives 1 is being printed. 300 copies will be printed of which 200 will be bound. So far, 90 copies have been ordered. A list of illustrations forms part of the letter.

BR is pleased with the selection of illustrations for the Archives 1 catalogue. They are "well chosen and entirely meet with my approval."

Farley replies on BR's behalf to Feinberg's letter of 5 December to BR. BR is "delighted with the catalogue and grateful for your kind words in The Times. He is particularly sorry not to write to you personally at the present time lest he be thought to be ungrateful for the magnificent catalogue, but hopes to write at a later date."

Regarding Volume 2 of the Autobiography, Farley notes what changes BR has agreed to and what is still under consideration. "A revised version" of the acknowledgements "is being posted to you separately."

"With reference to your letter of December 1 to Malcolm Barnes of Allen and Unwin, BR does not agree to the suggestion in your third paragraph."

"I have tried further to get some compliment slips signed by BR in connection with the catalogues, and I regret to say that I have failed completely."

BR writes with regard to the Archives 1 catalogue: "You have clearly done a most thorough job of work, and the catalogue is beautifully produced. Please convey my gratitude to all concerned."

BR writes with regard to the Archives 1 catalogue: "… I am delighted with the result. It is a most impressive document, and I congratulate you on your achievement."

"I understand from Chris Farley that you are satisfied with the progress we have been making towards the sale of the Archives."

"I am writing to ask for your confirmation that to the best of your knowledge and belief and quite apart from all publishing and newspaper and magazine contracts, so far as you are aware you have not given copyright in your letters to anyone. This is quite separate to the assignment to the Foundation in November 1966."

"We are anxious to make one enquiry about the letters in the archival material assigned to the Foundation by you. Are there amongst these letters any of which you no longer hold the copyright?"

BR is replying to Felton's letter of 20 March (record 122867):

"I write to confirm that to the best of my knowledge and belief and as far as I am aware I have not given copyright in my letters to anyone. I have written to the Foundation today confirming similarly...." See record 122868.

"I was pleased to see a copy of the letter to you from Professor Ready dated March 13, and feel confident that under him the Archives would be well cared for and put to good use."

"It was a great pleasure to see you again yesterday. Although the Canadian man was not very forthcoming about the future of the Archives, I did welcome the opportunity to tell you how much I have appreciated all your work over the past eighteenth months."

BR tells Felton:

"I attempted today to obtain on the telephone your information and advice about the story in The Observer, but you could not be reached. As you may imagine, I read the story with the greatest distaste, and felt that I had no alternative but to issue a statement, a copy of which I enclose."

Also enclosed is a list of questions.

The statement reads: "I was surprised to read the derogatory story in The Observer today concerning my Archives, which appears almost throughout to suggest my only interest is in making money. In fact the Archives will not put an extra penny into my pocket."

K. Blackwell had added a note to the file: "BR's statement of 31 March 1968 did not appear in [the next issue of] The Observer on 7 April."

This is a detailed reply to BR's letter of 31 March and enclosed questions with regard to the story in The Observer. "I cannot tell you how personally distressed I am that the happy conclusion to our last eighteen months work has become overshadowed by this...."

Feinberg encloses a notice from the Times Literary Supplement, 4 April 1968, re the Archives 1 Catalogue. The notice is not present.
 

"As you will know, Mr. Black proposes to charge approximately £1,000 for his work in connection with the sale of the Archives. At first sight, this appears to me quite preposterous."

This letter is a reply to BR's letter of 10 April 1968 (record 122876). "May I suggest that Chris Farley ask Mr. Black for a more detailed analysis of the work done." Felton notes that Jack Black did a great deal of work and that the charges are probably fair.

Farley writes that BR is satisfied with Felton's letter of 11 April (record 122876) and asks that Jack Black of Heald Johnson be paid for his services.

"We are looking again at the correspondence with governments and heads of state because some of it is rather delicate and we may have to advise McMaster University about this. I understand Mr. Blackwell has been told already of our concern." There are only 42 copies of the Archives 1 catalogue unsold. BR wonders if he could have another copy.

A copy of the Archives 1 Catalogue is enclosed (not present).

BR notes that the Archives 1 catalogue is now sold out and he "was interested to see the list of some of the institutions which have bought copies." Following this letter are photocopies of two introductions to the Archives 1 catalogue.

One, dated 16 March 1967, contains the text as published. The signature, while undoubtedly genuine, does not match the one used in the catalogue.

The second one, unsigned, titled "Second Draft", is a one-line joke: "These papers are worth £1,000,000. Pay up!"

Felton writes about the advantages for transferring the Library with the Archives. There are three copies of this letter, one of which has handwritten changes. There are also handwritten notes in preparation for writing the letter.

BR asks if his library could remain with Edith throughout her lifetime. Failing this, he suggests that the "scientific and technical section" remain at Plas Penrhyn "during my lifetime, and the literature" remain "during my wife's lifetime."

Felton agrees with BR's suggestion in his letter of 3 April (record 122882) that the library be divided.

This letter is an expansion of Felton's letter of 10 April (record 122883) with regard to BR's library. There is also a draft version of this letter, handwritten notes by Christopher Farley, and a typed note by Farley about the letter.

"I was pleased to receive from Chris Farley confirmation that you do not wish to divide your library, that it is to remain with you at Plas Penrhyn throughout your lifetime and be sold with the Archives subject to this condition." Felton wants to send someone [it was Blackwell; see record 99236] to Plas Penrhyn to "make a fuller inventory of your library than that made by Sotheby's."

The memo concerns the arrangement of BR's Archives. It is in file 5 along with progress reports, 12 Sept.-22 Nov. 1966, salary reports, and a classification document.

The contents of this file concern the insurance of BR's Archives, 1961-1968. There are typed lists of materials to be insured.

"It would be helpful if you could confirm that there is no further material by, from or about Dora and Patricia which we do not know about, as BR is confident that that would be the most certain way to land the Archives into difficulties."

"The Russells have drawn my attention to the proposed sale of the papers of J.L. Garvin". Farley asks for information "about how this sale is being conducted."

Enclosed typescript: "'The essential difference between Ramsay MacDonald and Wilson is that Ramsay did bad things in order to stay in power, whereas this man stays in power in order to do bad things.'—Bertrand Russell, March 26, 1967." BR is referring to Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

"Many thanks for your letter of 11 July concerning BR's Nobel Prize money." "BR asks me to thank you for it and to say that it is not necessary to do anything further."

"Would you kindly explain to Miss Dadlez of the Foreign Rights Department of Allen and Unwin Ltd. that Lord Russell does not wish to autograph any books?"

The letter concerns the publishing correspondence in the Archives, recent and possibly delicate. (There is no reason why K. Blackwell should not see the Allen & Unwin correspondence concerning him, Farley says.)

"As you know, BR would like the Archives to be as complete as possible." Three suggestions are made to increase the content of the Archives.

"Thanks so much for coming here [Plas Penrhyn] today. BR was delighted to see you after all your labours, and says that he plans to write to you tomorrow. He was rather surprised that Weatherall [Frank Weatherston, McMaster's lawyer, who went in William Ready's place] knew so little of the University's intentions." "He resorted to entertaining us all. ('They must think I'm in my anecdotage'.)"

See record 121536 for Weatherston's account of his visit to Plas Penrhyn.

The letter was dictated on 1 July. "Thank you for telephoning about the interest shown by The Daily Express about the new question to be put in the House of Commons by Sir John Parker." Not all the letters in file 7 have been entered.

De Jong lists letters from BR to Sylvia Pankhurst, Emma Goldman, Miss Everard, Alex Berkman and Emma Goldman to BR, of which he is sending photocopies to Feinberg from the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.

Other letters in this file have not been entered.

"B.R. has suddenly raised the question of seeing the catalogue before he writes an introduction!" Most of the documents in this file concern the production of the Archives 1 catalogue.

Unwin has looked through the Archives 1 catalogue and noticed a number of items that might be published in book form.

He wants to acquire BR's papers. [Schoenman replied, with another letter from Gotlieb.]

Schoenman sent this letter to several university academics on the same date. In addition to Goodman at Harvard, his letters went to Dana Scott, University of California; Carl Hempel, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences; Robert Goheen, Princeton; Willard Quine, Harvard. The letters announce that the archives of BR are getting ready for sale. The letters are also entered into BRACERS.

BR's papers are being prepared for sale. Also in this file are other letters to and from Schoenman re the sale.

This is the first of three letters from Rosenbaum concerning the sale of BR's papers. The others are dated 19 July 1967 and 11 September 1967. The University of Toronto wants to acquire the papers.

The letter concerns legal action against Newsweek. The enclosures are letters to W.H. Smith & Son Ltd. and Seymour Press Ltd.

Also in the file are tear-sheets from Newsweek, item in "The Periscope", "Lord Russell, Texas and the VC", 17 April 1967, and tear-sheets from British newspapers about that issue of Newsweek being banned.

Ralph Schoenman "tells me that he has had a long talk with you about Newsweek and the only thing to work for is a letter of correction from B.R. I hope that you do not feel such a course will be too damaging to the Archives."

"We are shocked almost beyond expression relative the nature of the Newsweek comment concerning the Archives. If there is any truth in the news release no American can approach within 40 miles of this matter, let alone seriously consider any acquisition."

Anton Felton repudiates the Newsweek comments of 17 April 1967 and confirms that the proceeds from the sale of Bertrand Russell's Archives will not go "to aid Communist forces in Vietnam." There is a photocopy of the original letter in Rec. Acq. 1584, record 119965. The text of these two letters is the same but this carbon is done by a different typewriter; thus it must be a copy.

"I have just seen a letter to BR from Mark Twain's son who says that the Red Dean of Canterbury, Hewlett Johnson, left all his papers and manuscripts to BR. What will Newsweek think of next?"

"I wish only to record the hope that BR's letter in Newsweek has effectively silenced the sort of complaints which you have received from the House of El Dieff."

Felton's reply to Farley's letter of 15 May (record 122910): "There has been a distinctive freeze and loss of local interest from America for the past two months, and I would associate this with the increased activity of the Tribunal."

"The main market of right-wing American universities, is, in the short-term, very hostile to B.R."

Re BR's Archives: "Recently, the other universities of Ontario petitioned the Canada Council to make funds available for their purchase and designated this university as the depository...."

File 1 contains correspondence, mainly between Ready and Felton, regarding the purchase of BR's Archives by McMaster University. All the letters were written in 1968. Not all of them are entered individually.

Farley is responding on BR's behalf to Ready's letter of 9 January 1968 (record 122912). He asks that Ready communicate with Continuum 1 Ltd. about the acquisition of the Archives.

"The British Museum is, at this moment, making efforts to acquire the Archives." Any institution wanting to acquire them will have to pay what they are worth.

Ready is raising the money and will have a figure to offer next week.

Felton plans on visiting McMaster on 20 February as part of his tour of Europe and North America. He will be bringing a small portfolio of original materials with him. "I am pleased to add that Lord Russell has consented to hold an interview with the head of the department of that institution which will finally house the Archives, wherein he will discuss the Archives and their uses. The interview will be tape recorded...." [There was no tape recording, possibly because McMaster's lawyer, Weatherston, had to substitute for Ready.]

Re the purchase of BR's Archives: "I arrive in London March fourth I will meet with you to formally complete the deal. Please confirm your end of it so that I can sleep nights. Pray keep this matter confidential until we can arrive at a mutually agreeable release of the good news."

"I am not in a position to discuss your proposals meaningfully with Lord Russell until I have received your draft contract from your solicitors. I would stress however that speed and flexibility are of the utmost importance if the Archives are to go to McMaster."

Ready puts forth McMaster's case for acquiring BR's Archives and praises BR.

"We write to confirm that on completion of the contract between your university and our clients, Earl Russell and Furtina Limited, we will hold all the deeds, documents and papers referred to in that contract solely and exclusively to your order and instructions."

"I was a little bit surprised to read in today's Daily Telegraph the following: 'McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario has paid Earl Russell, the philosopher, $480,000 (£200,000) for a collection of 150,000 of his letters....' I thought we had agreed that no mention of price should be made!"

BR is sorry he was not able to meet with Ready because of the death of Ready's mother.

"I have complained to Mr. Felton about the story in The Observer of March 31, but should point out to you that the story in The Daily Telegraph of April 2 emanated from Hamilton and is in direct breach of the agreement entered into with you not to reveal the price of the Archives. This failure appears to me to be entirely your responsibility, and there is nothing in your letter to suggest that you recognize this fact".

"The price did not come from our release. I see there have been many figures quoted in some of the newspapers. I have written to Lord Russell explaining that the releases were to be disregarded and that I felt as badly about it as I am sure he did."

The BR Archives arrive at McMaster University. "The first shipment of the papers arrived today. They were delayed in the warehouses because of the Easter holidays here."

"I think we should be able to make the last shipment of the Archives very soon and I would confess I have fantasies of Ken Blackwell climbing on to the lorry after the last filing cabinet, opening the bottom draw, jumping in, and as the lorry speeds away closing the draw upon him with a resounding clang!"

"Lord Russell wrote me recently complaining, with reason, of newspaper accounts of our activities regarding the Archive, accounts that were altogether false and which we have denied, both to the papers and to Lord Russell."

BR says he has contributed to the expense of the treason trials in S. Africa. The letter is crossed out.

"Guiana to be invited to conference".

BR cannot remember any occasion on which his grandchildren tried to frighten him. Therefore the Portmadoc shopkeeper was pulling Magee's leg.

A note to send a letter from the Home Office re Schocklin to Rotblat.

BR is glad to have Popper's The Logic of Scientific Discovery in English with the new appendices. BR read it "many years ago when it first appeared in German".