About This Collection Of Documents
This collection of documents (in paper form) was originally distributed by George Reisman and Edith Packer (who are married to each other). George Reisman is an economist. Edith Packer is a psychologist. For several years they were on the Board Of Advisors of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI). George and Edith also own and operate The Jefferson School (TJS), an independent organization that organizes and promotes conferences on Objectivism, sells Objectivist materials, etc.
Opposing George and Edith are Peter Schwartz, Harry Binswanger, and Leonard Peikoff. Peter and Harry are on the Board of Directors of the Ayn Rand Institute. Leonard is Chairman Emeritus, and holds veto power over the actions of the Board.
George and Edith criticized the way ARI was being run. Harry and Peter did not take kindly to these criticisms. As might be expected, money was involved. In 1994, the Board voted to kick out George and Edith. It was not an amiable parting of the ways. There were hard feelings on both sides.
George and Edith did not like the official explanation (offered by the Ayn Rand Institute) as to why George and Edith had been kicked off the Board of Advisors. Therefore George and Edith distributed a collection of documents, letters, and faxes, which they felt showed their innocence, and the culpability of Peter Schwartz, Harry Binswanger, and Leonard Peikoff (all of whom are still with the ARI). See a Statement Of Principle for an explanation of why George was willing to publish Peter's letter, and Harry's fax.
I have obtained a copy of this document collection, and am making it available via the World Wide Web. Feel free to link to this web site, download the documents, print them out, copy them, add them to your own web site, and distribute them as you see fit. Tell your friends!
I have made every effort to reproduce these documents as accurately and fully as possible (including misspelled words and bad grammar). Some of the documents were originally handwritten. Some of the original documents apparently contained handwritten notes by Leonard Peikoff. Most of these notes were too illegible for me to read, and the ones I could read seemed to convey no important information. I have made no attempt to include these handwritten notes in this web site collection. If you want your own original copy of the documents (complete with handwritten notes), you may be able to get it by writing to The Jefferson School. The address is:
Or visit the home page of The Jefferson School.
Needless to say, this web site is entirely my idea. Nobody else had anything to do with it (including George and Edith.)
Chris Wolf
cwolf41@comcast.net