Séries 710 - Personal correspondence

13.35 m of textual records (121 boxes)

Series consists of correspondence acquired with Archives 1 and 2. (It should be noted, however, that correspondence continues to be acquired). The scope of this series is vast both in terms of the time period covered and the topics and correspondents featured. The letters range from Russell’s teen years to the last year of his life. While the series is called ‘personal’ correspondence to distinguish it from his more ‘political’ correspondence featured in the 300, 500 and 600 series, as well as his publishing (400) and legal (800) correspondence, it touches on all aspects of his life, including philosophy, peace, social issues, love affairs and family matters.

Included is correspondence with Russell's wives Alys (Pearsall Smith) Russell, Dora (Black) Russell, Patricia (Spence) Russell, and Edith (Finch) Russell; Russell's children, Conrad, John Conrad, and Katharine (Tait); the wives of his brother, Frank; and Russell's lovers, Ottoline Morrell and Constance Malleson.

In terms of large volumes of letters received from particular individuals, some of the most notable—in addition to the above—include:
• Margaret Llewelyn Davies
• Lucy M. Donnelly
• Helen Flexner
• Ken Holland
• Harold Kastner
• Corliss Lamont
• Hiram J. McLendon
• Catherine Marshall
• Gilbert Murray
• Victor Purcell
• Charles Percy Sanger
• F.C.S. Schiller
• Ralph Schoenman
• Lucy Silcox
• Lord (Ernest) Simon of Wythenshawe
• Alfred North Whitehead
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Alan Wood

Other notable correspondents include:
• Muhammad Ali
• A.J. Ayer
• Max Born
• F.H. Bradley
• Martin Buber
• Georg Cantor
• Joseph Conrad
• Albert Einstein
• T.S. Eliot
• E.M. Forster
• Erich Fromm
• Gottlob Frege
• Roger Fry
• Aldous and Julian Huxley
• William James
• Augustus John
• Philip Jourdain
• John Lennon and Yoko Ono
• Katherine Mansfield
• Spike Milligan
• G.E. Moore
• Giuseppe Peano
• Vanessa Redgrave
• George Santayana
• Siegfried Sassoon
• Albert Schweitzer
• George Bernard Shaw
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Charles, George and Robert Trevelyan
• H.G. Wells
• Rebecca West

Some of the letters received have been annotated by Russell. In many cases, carbon copies of Russell’s outgoing letters are included; in more recent years, copies of Russell’s replies were typed on the verso of the original letters received. In a few cases, there are also original letters written and sent by Russell that found their way back to him or the archive--for example, those written to Margaret Llewelyan Davies and Lucy Donnelly.