Russell’s American Lecture Tours

Abstract

Russel/'s American Lecture Tours As' .is well known, Bertrand Russell travelled extensively and widely during his lifetime. His travels took him to Russia, China, Australia, and especially America. He spent Christmas 1896, aboard ship enroute to the United States, and Christmas 1931, 35 years later, also aboard ship, this time returning from the United States.1 His longest period of residence outside of Great Britain was the six years between 1938 and 1944 which he spent in the United States. . ' In addition to his travels in 1896, when he lectured at Bryn Mawr College and Johns Hopkins University on non-Euclidean geometry, he toured the United States on at least six subsequent occasions: 1914, when he taught at Harvard; 1924, 1927, 1929, and 1931, when he travelled extensively throughout the United States lecturing on popular subjects; 1950, when he delivered the lectures at Columbia University which were published as The Impact of Science on Society (1951); and finally 1951. In November, 1950, incidentally, he had the immense satisfaction of learning in the city which had rejected him as its professor of philosophy just ten years earlier that he had been chosen to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. His lectures on philosopJ1ical topics either were drawn from books or became books. (The 1914 lectures at Boston were published as Our Knowledge of the External World.) But the lectures which he delivered in 1924, 1927, 1929, and 1931 were aimed at general audiences. Though of course he drew on his published works for issues and materials for these lectures, they consisted largely of unpublished materials. He lectured and debated on education, civilization, marriage, divorce, the family, the role of science, and various political issues. Large audiences heard him even in modest-sized cities like San Diego, California . Since many of his then advanced views on child-rearing, feminism, marriage and divorce, the need for an international government, and the dangers of concentrated power have since then become widely accepted, he may perhaps have been one of the influences producing the ferment in American thought which led to these basic changes. The primary and in some instances only form of "publication" of these lectures was as newspaper summaries, often in great detail, sometimes with extensive quotation. Occasionally, editorials commented on Russell's challenging views. I have wanted to seek out these newspaper reports and editorials and have had SCllllle modest success in doing so. Newspapers on microfilm are for the most part readily available on interlibrary loan. Newspapers on newsprint, however, must of course be consulted in the libraries where they are kept. I have had opportunity to examine newspapers in the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the University of California libraries at Berkeley and at Los Angeles. There are many other newspapers which are 'at present not readily available to me. If some Russell devotee would be willing to search through some of these newspapers and send me photocopies of any articles on Russell's lectures he could find, I would be immensely grateful. (I can pay for the photocopies but not for research time!) Here are Russell's itineraries for the four years, with an indication of the places and dates. When I have verified his presence I, supply the names and dates of newspapers I have searched. All other local newspapers still need searching. 1924 Dallas Atlantic City New York Nation, 11 Dec. Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. San Diego Union, 28 Oct. San Francisco ChronicZe, 30 Oct., 1 Nov. Detroit Free Press, 12 Oct. New York Times, 26 Sept. New York Times, 7 Oct. New York Times, 23 Oct. N.Y. Herald Tribune, 1 & 7 Oct. Christian Science Monitor, 12 Oct. Boston Daily Globe, 13 Oct. New York Times, 15 Oct. New York World, 12, 13 April Washington Evening 'Star, 10 April Washington Times, 12 April Minneapolis Journal, 18 April New York Times, 4 & 6 May rh., 26 May Chicago Daily News, 4 Oct.; 8 Nov. St. Louis Globe-Dispatch, 12 Nov. Philadelphia Public Ledger, 12 Nov. Chicago Daily News, 2 Nov. New York New York Burlington, Vt. Detroit Chicago Grand Rapids Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco Syracuse, N.Y. Montreal Hanover, N.H. Trenton, N...