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Ayn Rand as a Person and Author

Biographical Information about Ayn Rand

The ORC's Ayn Rand Biographical FAQ answers many common questions about Rand's life.

A chronology of events in Rand's association with Nathaniel and Barbara Branden is available. At present, this is the only such comprehensive chronological summary available from any source, print or electronic. Another chronology reviews the life of Alan Greenspan and his relationship with Rand.

There are a number of published books that deal with Rand's life and literature. A listing of these, with links to more detailed information, can be found in the ORC Books section under the heading "Books about Ayn Rand's Life and/or Literary Works."

The ORC also hosts excerpts from works with biographical material about Ayn Rand:

From James Baker's Ayn Rand, discussing Rand's activities in the early 1960s and the media coverage she received.
From Barbara Branden's The Passion of Ayn Rand, discussing the critical reaction to The Fountainhead.
From the memoirs of Bennett Cerf, in which he discusses his work with Ayn Rand as a publisher and their personal friendship.
From an article by Nora Ephron, in which she describes the history of publishing The Fountainhead.
From an essay by Robert Hessen reviewing the history of the magazines edited by Ayn Rand.
From Justin Martin's Greenspan: The Man Behind Money, describing how Greenspan joined Rand's inner circle.
From Ronald Merrill's The Ideas of Ayn Rand, theorizing that Rand made allusions to Jewish myths in Atlas Shrugged.
From George Reisman's Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics, discussing his first meetings with Ayn Rand.
From Chris Matthew Sciabarra's Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical, discussing the conditions of her life at a Soviet university.

A variety of biographical sources can be found on the elsewhere on the internet:

Todd Goldberg maintains a detailed Chronology & Bibliography of Ayn Rand's Life & Works.
The Ayn Rand Institute provides a brief biographical sketch of Rand, as well as a Timeline of Ayn Rand's Life.
The Atlas Society also provides its own biographical sketch and chronology. (The biographical sketch contains a minor error regarding when Rand chose her professional name, but otherwise appears to be accurate.)

There are a number of other brief biographical summaries about Rand at various sites (sites about literature, etc.), but it does not appear that any of these contain useful information that is not included in the references listed above. Some of them contain errors. Therefore, links to those briefer summaries are omitted.

Other relevant sources on the internet:

David Hayes has a page on the possible origin of Ayn Rand's professional name (her birth name was Alisa Rosenbaum).
Hayes has also developed a list of the screen credits of Rand's husband, Frank O'Connor.
An essay by Chris Matthew Sciabarra discusses Rand's college transcript.

Pictures and Audio

Ayn Rand was born and raised in St. Petersburg (later called Petrograd and then Leningrad). See photographs of St. Petersburg from Ayn Rand's youth. Various photos, dated 1905 to 1922, depicting the everyday life and sometimes violent history of the city where Rand grew up.

The Ayn Rand Institute has a collection of photographs and audio clips of Ayn Rand.

Dismuke maintains a site about early 20th century music, and has a section on "Music with an Ayn Rand Connection." It includes songs that Rand liked, that she mentioned in her works, or that were used in movies she wrote.

In the 1940s and 50s, Rand lived in a house designed by Richard Neutra. It was known as the von Sternberg house after its original owner, and was demolished in 1972.

The Find A Grave web site includes a photo of Ayn Rand's grave (and Frank O'Connor's as well).

Bibliographies of Ayn Rand's Works

One might think that little effort would be required to maintain a bibliography of the work of an author who has been dead for almost two decades, but Ayn Rand's estate has released an ongoing stream of posthumous works, ranging from revised editions of existing books to previously unpublished material. The following bibliographical resources are available on the internet:

The most comprehensive bibliography available online is the one maintained by Todd Goldberg in his previously mentioned Chronology & Bibliography of Ayn Rand's Life & Works.
A complete list of Rand's published books with links to content details and other information can be found in the ORC Books section.
The Ayn Rand Institute maintains a bibliography of Rand's books that are available for order from the Ayn Rand Bookstore.

Other Ayn Rand References

The Objectivism Reference Pointer, although not to be confused with the ORC, does have a somewhat similar purpose. It contains information on a wide variety of books, essays and other items that discuss or mention Ayn Rand or Objectivism.

The Randex tracks online media references to Rand.

About the Objectivism Reference Center

The philosophy of Ayn Rand, a twentieth-century novelist and philosopher, is known as Objectivism. The Objectivism Reference Center provides resources about Rand, her ideas, her works, and places where those are discussed and debated. Visit the Site Information page for details on site policies. Suggestions for additional materials or additional links are welcomed.

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