Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German-American physicist best known for his theory
of relativity, his unified field theory, and his contributions to the fields of
statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. He was the recipient of the Nobel
Prize
in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect.
Scope and Contents
The Albert Einstein Collection consists of handwritten manuscripts, typescripts, and
correspondence by Einstein and others, dating from 1906-1979 (bulk 1906-1955).
The
materials are arranged in three series: I. Einstein Works, 1920-1955, undated;
II.
Einstein Letters, 1906-1955, undated; and III. Third-Party Works and Correspondence
re Einstein, 1920-1979, undated. The manuscripts and letters are primarily written
in German, although some English- and French-language items are present. Part
of
this collection was previously accessible through a card catalog, but has been
recataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.
Among works by Einstein are an undated handwritten manuscript with revisions of Über
die Grundbegriffe der Physik und ihre neuester Wandlungen; an undated handwritten
manuscript with revisions of Über Gravitationswellen; a typescript autobiographical
statement prepared for Georges Schreiber's Portraits and
Self-Portraits in 1935; and marginal annotations and handwritten notes
in a copy of Über die Spezielle und die Allgemeine
Relativitatstheorie (Gemeinverständlich). Unpublished notes and
calculations dating from 1950-1955 show Einstein's final work on the hydrodynamical
equations in general relativity, the variational principle, and the unified field
theory.
Letters by Einstein include forty-six letters written to Gustav Bucky between 1933
and 1950, fifty-six letters written to Maurice Solovine between 1906 and 1955,
and
one or more letters to Pascal Covici, William and Hans Lebach, Walther Mayer,
Georges Schreiber, and others. A complete index of correspondents is included
in
this finding aid.
Also present in the collection are two handwritten manuscripts of Maurice Solovine's
introduction to Lettres à Maurice Solovine: Reproduites en
Facsimile et Traduites en Français; a reminiscent essay about Einstein
by Frida Sarsen Bucky; and a typescript of Einstein: The Life
and Times, a biography by Ronald William Clark.
Nearly all of the materials in the Einstein collection, as well as Einstein materials
from other Ransom Center collections, are described in: Albert Einstein, 1879-1955: A Centenary Exhibit of Manuscripts, Books, and
Portraits Selected from the Humanities Research Center Collections by
Albert C. Lewis. Austin: University of Texas. Humanities Research Center, 1979.
Related Material
Additional Einstein letters and manuscripts are located in a number of other Ransom
Center collections. These include Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; Julian Beck; Thomas Bertram
Costain; Enit Kaufman; Ludwig Lewisohn, International PEN; John G. Moore; Ilya
Prigogine; Robert Haven Schauffler; Evelyn Scott; George Bernard Shaw; and Edward
Weeks.
In addition to Einstein books held by the Ransom Center Library, there are portraits
of Einstein by Ivan Opffer, William Rothenstein, and S. J. Woolf present in the
Center's Art Collection. The Personal Effects Collection includes a cardboard
box
bearing the ownership stamp of Albert Einstein and containing a Molecular Model
Kit
manufactured by the Fisher Scientific Company of Pittsburgh, accompanied by a
booklet on the model with a few handwritten annotations, possibly in Einstein's
hand. Three photographs of Einstein that were acquired with Einstein's letters
to
Maurice Solovine are part of the Literary File Collection in the Center's
Photography Collection. These holdings include portraits of Einstein alone and
with
others, including Maurice Solovine and Conrad Habicht. The Vertical File Collection
contains a folder of general information plus two posters related to Einstein
centenary celebrations at the University of Minnesota and the Ransom Center in
1979.
The bulk of Albert Einstein's papers are held by the Jewish National &
University Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and may be accessed via
the
Einstein Archives Online at
http://www.alberteinstein.info/, a joint project with the Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena with the support of Princeton University Press, publisher of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein.
