Soren Hough

The Life and Work of Dr Marie Goldsmith

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£4,978
raised of £30,000 target
by 11 supporters
Churchill College

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Story

Dr Marie Goldsmith (1871–⁠1933) was an evolutionary biologist and political activist. She was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, before emigrating at a young age with her family to Paris where she spent the rest of her life. Goldsmith was a prolific scientist and political theorist; her writing spanned hundreds of essays, articles, and books across multiple continents and languages. She was an influential correspondent of many of the biggest names of her time, including two-time French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and radical geographer Peter Kropotkin.

Unfortunately, little if any of Goldsmith's oeuvre was ever translated into English or any other single language. As a result, her manifold contributions have been overlooked by scholars and laypeople alike.

Now, nearly one hundred years after her passing, our goal is to bring Goldsmith's work and ideas into the 21st century. Søren Hough is a Biochemistry PhD student at Churchill College who, early last year, partnered with an experienced historian named Christopher Coquard to correct this blind spot in the historical record. You can listen to a brief overview of our project presented at a 2021 conference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=154&v=1zvTY4fIR9o) or by heading to our website (https://mariegoldsmith.uk/). 

The mission of the Marie Goldsmith Project is to produce three books. The first is a translation of her famous Russian-language political tract, Revolutionary Syndicalism and Anarchism: Struggle with Capital and Power (1920), which has never been translated into English. The second book is an English-language anthology of Goldsmith’s writing selected from her hundreds of articles written in Yiddish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian, among others. Finally, we will write a scholarly biography of her life and ideas to help readers better understand Goldsmith's significance in the history of scientific and political development. In all cases, we will carefully annotate these publications so that they are accessible to a wide audience.

To accomplish these goals we will need funds to cover a variety of expenses — roughly £10,000 per book. One of the largest costs is professional translation to ensure we are accurately representing Goldsmith's words. Other fees include software tools, archival labour by our research assistants, and (eventually) printing fees.

Thank you for taking the time to consider supporting this project. If we can answer any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

About the charity

Churchill College

Verified by JustGiving

RCN 1137476
Our mission is to bring the best students and researchers to Churchill College, to make a difference to people’s lives and to go from Cambridge to help to transform the world. In the spirit of our foundation, our Think Forward campaign looks ahead by focusing on student support and the endowment.

Donation summary

Total raised
£4,977.09
Online donations
£977.09
Offline donations
£4,000.00

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