“INVITATION TO LEARNING” SESSIONS

Marley Beach

Russell Research Centre / McMaster U.

beachm1@mcmaster.ca

I

nvitation to Learning by Martin Grams, Jr. (Kearney, ne: otr / Morris Publishing, 2002) lists a dozen appearances by Bertrand Russell in 1941–51. Of these, the texts of seven have yet to be found. Searches of the archives belonging to the programme’s various hosts and participants have been fruitless, as well as the promising radio collection at the Library of Congress. The show was rebroadcast locally from “transcription discs”, and some may still lie in local radio station archives or await discovery in private collections.

G. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837). Speakers: Huntington Cairns, Mark Van Doren, Allen Tate and Russell. 1 April 1941 (session #44). Reprinted as Paper 63 in Papers 10.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835–40). Mark Van Doren and Russell. 14 September 1941 (#65).

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865). Mark Van Doren, Katherine Anne Porter and Russell. 21 December 1941 (#72). 66 in Papers 10.

Benedict de Spinoza, Ethics (1677). Scott Buchanan, Mark Van Doren and Russell. 25 January 1942 (#77). 65 in Papers 10.

René Descartes, A Discourse on Method (1637). Jacques Barzun, Mark Van Doren and Russell. 26 April 1942 (#90). 64 in Papers 10.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English Traits (1856), and Washington Irving, The Sketchbook (1819). James Thurber and Russell. 18 October 1942 (#115).

Boethius, The Consolations of Philosophy (523). Irwin Edman, Ernest Nagel and Russell. 30 May 1943 (#146).

George Bernard Shaw, Heartbreak House (1919). Lee Simonson, John Anderson and Russell. 20 June 1943 (#149).

James Bryce, The American Commonwealth (1888). Max Lerner, Jacques Barzun and Russell. 4 July 1943 (#151).

John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689). Lyman Bryson, Jacques Barzun and Russell. 19 September 1943 (#162).

Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution (1867). Lyman Bryson, Lindsay Rogers and Russell. 5 March 1944 (#186).

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859). Lyman Bryson, Robert MacIver and Russell. 28 October 1951 (#567). 62 in Papers 11.