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William Foxwell Albright, who died almost four years ago, left a major manuscript tentatively entitled The History of the Religion of Israel which has yet to be published.
At the time of his death in September 1971, Albright was considered the world’s most eminent Biblical archaeologist.
According to one source who has read the unpublished manuscript, “It sums up his life’s work.” Another told the BAR, “It is one of the best things Albright has ever done.”
When the manuscript will be published is not known. Negotiations with publishers are being directed by the late scholar’s son David Albright, a Baltimore attorney who serves as counsel to the estate.
024Professor Albright wrote the book in the years after his retirement from Johns Hopkins in 1958. The bulk of the work was done while the great scholar held a research appointment at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York; he continued to add to and update the manuscript until his death in 1971. However, according to one source, the manuscript still needs considerable editing. Although the Jewish Theological Seminary provided Professor Albright with office space, a secretary, and research assistance to write the book, it has no claim to the manuscript which resulted. That belongs to the Albright family.
In addition to the manuscript, Professor Albright left 60 years of correspondence, which is now stored at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Albright was an inveterate correspondent, who kept copies of his own letters as well as those he received. At one time or another he corresponded with most of the world’s great Near Eastern scholars. No plans have yet been made to edit or publish this correspondence.
The American Schools of Oriental Research has recently embarked on a project to republish Albright’s Collected Works. The first volume in the series is The Archaeology of Palestine and the Bible, which was originally published in 1932. In this volume, Albright gives his only popular account of his crucial excavations at Tell Beit Mirsim. The archaeological chronology Albright developed from this site, based on ceramic typologies, makes Tell Beit Mirsim the type-site of the country.
Also just published by the American Schools of Oriental Research is a comprehensive bibliography of Albright’s published works, prepared by Professor David Noel Freedman of the University of Michigan with the assistance of Robert B. MacDonald and Daniel L. Mattson.
William Foxwell Albright, who died almost four years ago, left a major manuscript tentatively entitled The History of the Religion of Israel which has yet to be published.
