The Ayn Rand Collective - Definition

The Collective was a group of men and women who were close confidants, students, and proponents of Ayn Rand and her theories of Objectivist philosophy during the 50's and 60's.

At its height, the Collective consisted of:

• Nathaniel Branden
• Barbara Branden
• Alan Greenspan
• Allan Blumenthal
• Leonard Peikoff
• Harry Kalberman
• Elayne Kalberman
• Joan Mitchell
• Erika Holzer
• Mary Ann Rukavina

The group (whose name was chosen somewhat self-mockingly considering Objectivism's staunch focus on individualism) originally started out as informal gathering of friends who met with Ayn on weekends at her apartment in New York City to discuss philosophy. As the years went on, the Collective would proceed to play a larger, more formal role, helping edit Atlas Shrugged and promoting Rand's philosophy through the Nathaniel Branden Institute. Many Collective members gave lectures at the NBI in cities across the United States, while others wrote articles for its sister newsletter, the Objectivist.

In 1968 after a complex series of events resulting from the breakdown of a romantic affair between Rand and Nathaniel Branden, Rand expelled Branden from the Collective, followed by his wife Barbara a short time later. In the subsequent years, the Collective slowly broke apart, with members either leaving or being expelled.

Leonard Peikoff eventually became the leading Collective survivor, and was designated as Ayn's "intellectual heir," a title once given to Branden. Following Rand's death in 1982 he founded the Ayn Rand Institute to continue the Objectivist movement.