Events

Past Events

The Ideas of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Atlas Shrugged, 1957–2007

October 8, 2007, through December 11, 2007

50th Anniversary Exhibit Poster Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged was the subject of an exhibit which opened on October 8, 2007, at the Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library. Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the novel’s publication, the exhibit was jointly sponsored by the Los Angeles Public Library and the Ayn Rand Institute, and curated by Jeff Britting, archivist of the Ayn Rand Archives, a special collection of the Ayn Rand Institute. The exhibit included a reception, open to the public, on the date of the novel’s fiftieth anniversary, October 10, as well as four public talks devoted to the ideas of Atlas Shrugged and emphasizing their contemporary importance.

The exhibit—a sequel to the library’s 2006–07 exhibit on Ayn Rand’s time in Hollywood—displayed items from the Ayn Rand Archives, including rare and never-before-displayed reproductions of manuscript pages and notes from early drafts of the novel. Also on display were original promotional materials produced by Random House, including a dollar-sign cigarette; an excerpt from Rand’s manuscript for a television miniseries written shortly before her death; and the cover artwork of historic and foreign editions.

Exhibit space at
Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library
Presented by
Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library, in association with the Ayn Rand Archives, a Special Collection of the Ayn Rand Institute
Curator
Jeff Britting, archivist

Exhibit

The Ideas of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, A Fiftieth Anniversary Manuscript Exhibit, October 8 through December 11, 2007

Talks

Saturday Afternoon Discussions
“The Ideas of Atlas Shrugged and Their Relevance to Today’s World”

Four Saturday afternoon sessions were held to discuss the ideas of Atlas Shrugged and their relevance to today’s world. Hosted by exhibit curator Jeff Britting, this series featured presentations by speakers from the Ayn Rand Institute:

Saturday, October 20 3:00 pm
Thomas A. Bowden on Capitalism
Saturday, November 3 3:00 pm
Dr. Onkar Ghate on Morality
Saturday, November 17 3:00 pm
Elan Journo on Foreign Policy
Saturday, December 8 3:00 pm
Dr. Keith Lockitch on Environmentalism

All talks were held at the Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library, Exhibit Space

Credits

Some of the images, documents and quoted text from this exhibit were selected from Ayn Rand, an illustrated biography by Jeff Britting (The Overlook Press, 2005). Additional objects are courtesy of the Ayn Rand Archives.

This current exhibit was mounted with the generous cooperation of the Los Angeles Public Library, Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Branch.

The Ayn Rand Archives

The Ayn Rand Archives was established in 1996 by the Ayn Rand Institute to acquire, preserve and make available Ayn Rand’s papers and related documents to serious scholars and general writers. For information about the Ayn Rand Archives and its programs, please visit the Ayn Rand Institute’s archives page.

For more information on this exhibit, send e-mail to archives@aynrand.org or call 949-222-6550, ext. 242.