April 7, 2014

Plans in Place for Finishing the Official Churchill Biography

Hillsdale, MI: Following the successful publication earlier this year of the first new volume of documents to accompany the Official Biography of Winston Churchill since 2001, Hillsdale College Press announced a program for completion of the magisterial work. The recently published Volume 17, Testing Times, will be the last to be edited by Sir Martin Gilbert, whose health precludes him from continuing the Olympian task. Dr. Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College and a former research assistant for Sir Martin, will take over as editor of the remaining volumes. The project is funded by Hillsdale’s “Rebirth of Liberty and Learning” campaign.

To assist him, Dr. Arnn has assembled the following team: two full-time research assistants, one full-time copyeditor, six part-time undergraduate students, and four to five part-time graduate students. Sir Martin provided the Hillsdale team with his personal archive, which consists of thousands upon thousands of photocopies made at the Churchill Archive Centre and at the National Archives in Kew. For documents that require inclusion that are not in Sir Martin’s archive, a researcher is dispatched to the appropriate archive to retrieve them if they cannot be found online. The standard for inclusion is that set by Sir Martin’s example of including the full text of any document referenced in the narrative volumes as well as other important contemporary documents.

At least six additional document volumes are anticipated. Volume 18 will cover the first eight months of 1943 (January-August); Volume 19 will pick up in September of 1943 and carry on through April 1944); Volume 20 will finish off the year 1944; Volume 21 will cover the year 1945; two or three volumes will cover the remaining two decades of Churchill’s life. For information about purchasing volumes in the Official Biography, please CLICK HERE.
Dr. Larry Arnn (front & center) with the Hillsdale Research Team