From the Ayn Rand Archives: Featured Essays, 2021

Elsewhere on New Ideal, I list some of our best in-depth essays and podcasts of 2021 that explore crucial issues of the day from the perspective of Objectivism. I want to now turn the spotlight toward four essays that belong in a special category, and which I was especially pleased that we were able to feature in New Ideal.

Common to all four is the reliance on the resources of the Ayn Rand Archives to illuminate Rand’s thought and life. The Archives is the world’s preeminent collection of materials documenting Rand’s work and development. The collection is comprehensive, including handwritten drafts of her most important works, audio recordings, photographs and hundreds of letters.

In these articles you will learn about Rand’s adoption of the term “capitalism” to designate her ideal social system, her experience as a columnist for the LA Times, her speeches at Boston’s storied Ford Hall Forum, and the special place that music held in her life as reflected in her “musical biography.”

“Capitalism”: When and How Ayn Rand Embraced the Term

When did Ayn Rand begin using the term “capitalism” to designate her political ideal? Shoshana Milgram, a scholar of Rand’s life and work, offers a biographical answer.

Ayn Rand, Columnist: The LA Times Experiment

For six months in 1962, Ayn Rand wrote a weekly column on current affairs for the Los Angeles Times. What did she hope to get out this enterprise, how did she fare, and why did she decide to end it? Tom Bowden, research fellow at ARI and web editor of New Ideal, draws on a wealth of materials in the Ayn Rand Archives to answer these questions.

Ayn Rand’s Musical Biography

Michael Berliner, retired CEO of ARI and senior advisor to the Ayn Rand Archives, guides us through the musical selections that Rand identifies in her “musical biography” as being favorites at particular times in her life.

Reaching Active Minds: Ayn Rand and the Ford Hall Forum

For twenty years, Boston’s historic Forum hosted Ayn Rand’s most controversial viewpoints in annual talks. How did this tradition begin? What did Rand like about speaking at the Forum? Read Tom Bowden’s vivid account.