Notes on the Papers of
Guglielmo Ferrero

NINA FERRERO RADITSA
 

The collection of mamiscripts and correspondence forming the
personal files of the late Guglielmo ferrero—historian, novelist,
and social scientist—arrived at Columbia University almost exactly
one year ago. Mrs. Raditsa and her husband. Professor Bogdan
Raditsa, had made, during the preceding summer, a first cursory
inspection of her father^s papers before shipping them from the
family residence, L'Ulivello, Strada in Chianti, Florence, Italy.
Since then Mrs. Raditsa has given much of her time to sorting and
arranging the papers, preparatory to presenting them to Colwnbia.
The first part has already been presented (see Library Columns,
February, 1962).                                                   Editor's Note
 

H EN I was a child, I was handed a packet of letters
to wrap and date every six months or so. The
packages then joined hundreds of others stored
in great cases in an unused garage. I never paid much attention
from whom the letters came or from where. It was only when I
returned to my father's villa up in the Chianti Hills of Tuscany,
some 20 years later, that my husband made me aware of the im¬
mense value to scholars resulting from my parents' habit of saving
everything—manuscripts, newspaper clippings, letters, telegrams,
cards, bills, bank statements, visiting cards. All these papers, I now
see, reflect the life of a fascinating couple: Guglielmo Ferrero, the
historian, philosopher and columnist; and his wife, Gina Lom-
broso, a medical doctor, a psychologist and a sociologist. Their
friendships followed their interests. More European than Italian,