The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein is one of the most ambitious publishing ventures ever undertaken in the documentation of the history of science. Selected from among more than 40,000 documents contained in the personal collection of Albert Einstein (1879-1955), and 15,000 Einstein and Einstein-related documents discovered by the editors since the beginning of the Einstein Project, The Collected Papers provide the first complete picture of a massive written legacy that ranges from Einstein's first work on the special and general theories of relativity and the origins of quantum theory, to expressions of his profound concern with civil liberties, education, Zionism, pacifism, and disarmament.

The series will contain over 14,000 documents and will fill twenty-five volumes. Sponsored by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Princeton University Press, the Einstein project was located at and supported by Boston University from 1986 to 2000. 

Currently located at and supported by The California Institute of Technology, the project will continue to make available a monumental collection of primary material.

About The Series

After Volume 1, the papers divide into two series, with the documents in each volume presented in chronological order. One series, the Writings, includes such items as Einstein's published and unpublished articles, lecture and research notebooks, book reviews, patent applications, and available accounts of his lectures, speeches, interviews, and other oral statements. The other series, the Correspondence, includes a wide selection of letters written by and to Einstein, as well as significant documents about him by third parties. The Correspondence volumes also contain calendars of Einstein's life for the years covered. The two series are extensively cross-referenced.

Every document in The Collected Papers appears in the language in which it was written, while the introduction, headnotes, footnotes, and other scholarly apparatus are in English. Upon release of each volume, Princeton University Press also publishes an English translation of previously untranslated non-English documents.