Guide to the Papers of Peter Singer, 1965-1999

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9870

Creator:

Peter Singer

Extent:

8.4 metres and (60 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Peter Singer, National Library of Australia, MS 9870, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part not available for research until 2020. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers constitute a record of Singer's academic career and public life as philosopher, ethicist, activist and author from his undergraduate years at the University of Melbourne up to his departure from Australia in 1999 on his appointment to Princeton University. They include early student notes and essays, teaching notes and course materials from his Monash University years, records of the activities of the Centre for Human Bioethics, and extensive papers relating to Singer's research and publishing, including drafts and/or copies of many of his books and articles.

There is voluminous correspondence with colleagues, institutions, co-authors, publishers, organisations and individuals relating to his work and activities, and responding to his ideas and campaigns, particularly in relation to animal rights, the ethics of IVF, abortion and euthanasia. There are also papers that document the establishment and activities of Animal Liberation (Victoria), the Australia and New Zealand Federation of Animal Societies, the Great Ape Project, and animal rights activism more generally. Singer's association with the Australian Greens and his political candidature is only minimally documented.

Papers relating to the journal Bioethics, donated to the Library separately through Dr Helga Kuhse, have been separately accessioned.

Biographical Note:

Peter Singer was born in Melbourne on 6 July 1946, the son of Cora (née Oppenheim) and Ernst Singer. He undertook his undergraduate and initial postgraduate studies at the University of Melbourne, obtaining his B.A. (Hons) in 1967 and M.A. in 1969, and further postgraduate study at Oxford University, being awarded his B. Phil in 1971.

Singer was Radcliffe Lecturer at University College, Oxford from 1971 to 1973, then Visiting Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at New York University from 1973 to1974. He returned to Australia to take up a senior lectureship in the Philosophy Department at La Trobe University in 1974 and in 1977 was appointed Professor of Philosophy at Monash University. He held this position until 1999, when he was appointed Professor of Bioethics, University Centre for Human Values, Princeton University.

In 1983 Singer was appointed Director of the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University, which he had been instrumental in establishing. He held this position part-time jointly with his professorial appointment from 1983 to 1987 and on full-time secondment to the Centre for the period 1987-1997 (as Deputy Director 1992-1997, when he was also Co-Director of the Institute for Ethics and Public Policy). In 2005 Singer renewed his association with Melbourne on appointment as (part-time) Laureate Professor, Centre of Applied Philosophy and Public Values, at the University of Melbourne, a position held concurrently with his Princeton appointment.

Singer was widely recognised for his contribution to ethics in Australia, being elected Fellow of the Academy of the Humanities (1982) and of the Academy of the Social Sciences (1989) and Australian Humanist of the Year in 2004. He was similarly recognised internationally through numerous lectureships, including at Yale, Stanford, Princeton and Oxford, and by his election as Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism in 2004. He has published extensively for over 30 years, many of his books being widely translated.

Singer's interest in animal rights developed during his years at Oxford. He prepared the manuscript for his influential book Animal Liberation while in the United States in 1973-1974 and after his return to Australia he was influential within the organisation Animal Liberation (Victoria), a body established in 1980 devoted to abolishing 'speciesist' attitudes and practices towards animals. He subsequently founded, with Paola Cavalieri, the Great Ape project, which sought to have all the great apes included in the 'community of equals' and accorded the rights of the human species.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The papers were donated by Professor Singer in 1999 under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme [Cultural Gifts Program]

Arrangement:

Most of the papers were received as files or bundles with a descriptive title. Such file arrangements have largely been retained, with additional explanatory notes as required. The extensive correspondence was sorted into alphabetical sequence within the various (often overlapping) chronological sequences, and other papers have also been grouped into series to assist access and research.

Indexed terms

Names:

Peter Singer

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn770330).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Peter Singer, National Library of Australia, MS 9870, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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