Peirce Online Manuscripts, Graphics, Marginalia, & Letters

Related resources:

Annotated Catalogue of the Peirce Papers by Richard S. Robin (Peirce Edition Project)

Table of Published Peirce Manuscripts (Centro Studi Peirce at U of Milan) (Note that the Milan list includes numeric bullets visually spaced too closely to the manuscript number-ranges; so, for example, "10-200" represents "(1) 0-200", and "2200-300" represents "(2) 200-300"; etc.

Humboldt University

The Peirce Archive: the digitized images of Harvard's Peirce Papers microfilm.
https://rs.cms.hu-berlin.de/peircearchive/pages/home.php

Harvard University's Houghton Library

Catalog of digitized Peirce manuscripts and letters online at Houghton

https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/24/resources/6437/digital_only
Houghton's list of online-viewable Peirce manuscripts and letters has not only grown considerably, but also now includes descriptions (some quite lengthy), and is still conveniently on a single webpage. So, the list here at Arisbe has become redundant and no longer worth updating, and I have removed it.

The Scalable Peirce Interpretation Network (SPIN)

C. S. Peirce manuscripts at SPIN

https://fromthepage.com/collection/show?collection_id=16
From the Overview page:
The goal of the Scalable Peirce Interpretation Network (SPIN) is to develop a model environment for distributed collaboration that can support an international network of researchers, students, and citizen scholars in cooperative efforts to encode and interpret handwritten manuscripts, including those of high complexity. As our testbed, we plan to use the "Logic Notebook" that Charles Sanders Peirce, the founder of Pragmatism, kept as the seedbed and greenhouse for his ideas together with related sets of manuscripts in logic and semiotics. [….]
The work, spearheaded by Jeffrey Brian Downard, is underway and many manuscript pages and transcriptions are viewable there.

Grupo de Estudios Peirceanos — Peirce Studies Group

For GEP's PDFs, you may wish to go directly to Los manuscritos de C. S. Peirce. (Google-Englished), as I haven't kept updating the GEP PDF list here. However, I'll begin with links leading to other GEP pages, ones that contain links to numerous pages with images of manuscripts and people. Afterward I include the old, unupdated list of GEP PDFs.

Correspondencia europea de C. S. Peirce: creatividad y cooperación científica
Google-Englished: European correspondence of C. S. Peirce: creativity and scientific cooperation
- Letter to The Sun, MS 325, p. 4, c.1907.
- El primer viaje de C. S. Peirce por Europa (18 de junio de 1870 – 7 de marzo de 1871
  Google-Englished: The first trip of C. S. Peirce through Europe (June 18, 1870 – March 7, 1871)
- El segundo viaje de C. S. Peirce por Europa (3 de abril de 1875 – agosto de 1876)
  Google-Englished: The second trip of C. S. Peirce to Europe (April 3, 1875 – August 1876)
- Jaime Nubiola and Sara Barrena: "Charles Peirce’s First Visit to Europe, 1870-71", European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy I, 1 (2009)
Los manuscritos de C. S. Peirce. (Google-Englished.)
- 1851–1870
  https://www.unav.es/gep/1851_1870.htm
  MS 339: "Logic Notebook", 1865-1909. Complete manuscript accessible online at the Houghton Library.
  MS 732: "Introduction" [On a Method of Searching for the Categories], 1866. MS 732 is a draft of MS 133 ("On a Method of Searching for the Categories," 1866), which is published in Writings 1:515–28.
  MS 1549: "Catalogue of Books on Medieval Logic which are available in Cambridge" A. MS., notebook, n.p., January 1, 1868
- 1870-1887
  https://www.unav.es/gep/1870_1887.html
  MS 380: "On the Nature of Signs", 1873. Corresponds to R 381, and is published in Writings 3:66–8 (1873).
  MS 381: "Logic. Chap. 7: Of Logic as a Study of Signs", 1873. Corresponds to R 380, and is published in Writings 3:82–4 (1873). MS 64: "Notes for my Treatise on Arithmetic", 1876. The obverse faces of two of its pages contain calculations of the experiments with the pendulum in Paris (1876).
  MS 1018: "[Color experiments]", 1876. Notebook bought in Cologne on 6 March 1876 with notes on the experiements with color.
  MS 1063: "[Notes for Pendulum Research]", 1875. A. MS., two notebooks, n.p., n.d.
  MS 1098: "[Fragments]", 1876. A. MS., n.p., n.d., 18 pp.; plus pp. 1-7 of a typewritten report on tide elevations and 4 pp. of TS. (bibliographical notes). Includes two pages of "Barometric readings" in Kew between 25 June and 12 July 1876.
- 1887–1914
  https://www.unav.es/gep/1887_1914.html
  MS 717: "Chapter II. The Categories" (circa 1893). Published in New Elements of Mathematics 4:307–12.
  *MS 717 Chapter II. The Categories
  A. MS., n.p., n.d., 8 pp. (text is consecutive); plus 24 pp. (fragmentary).
  Probably from the period of the Grand Logic. Assertions about systems of more than three subjects can be reduced to triadic assertions at most. The whole endeavor to deny the irreducibility of triadic facts is termed "nominalism." The realism-nominalism controversy. Nature of signs. Categoriology. Continuity and continuous series. — Logic, Robin Catalog
  MS 1395: (1894).
  MS 1604: My reading in philosophy. A. MS., n.p., September 1894, 5 pp.
  MS 865: [Notes on Religious and Scientific Infallibilism], circa 1897. Partly published in Collected Papers 1.8–14.
  MS 867: [Religion, Science, and Fallibilism], circa 1897. Partly published in Collected Papers 1.3–7.
  MS 825: FRL [First Rule of Logic], c. 1899. Publicado �ntegramente en CP 1.135-40.
  MS 692, listed as MS 732: "The Proper Treatment of Hypotheses: a Preliminary Chapter, toward an Examination of Hume's Argument against Miracles, in its Logic and in its History� [Hist. Test.], 1901.
  MS 596: "Reason's Rules", 1902. Partly published (pp. 21-45) in Collected Papers 5.538–545. Transcription and Spanish translation by Miguel Angel Fernández.
  MS 599: "Reason's Rules", circa 1902. Transcription and Spanish translation by Miguel Angel Fernández.
  MS 600: "Reason's Rules", circa 1902. Transcription and Spanish translation by Miguel Angel Fernández.
  MS 1246: [The Study of Languages Based Upon Translations of the New Testament], 1902.
  MS 1514: [Translations of Dr. Marey's Exhibition of Instruments and Photographs appertaining to the History of Chronophotography], 1902. Published in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the Year Ending June 30, 1901, Washington: Government Printing Office, p. 317-340. A. MS., G-1902-5, December 12, 1901, pp. 1-45, with extensive marginal notes, including sharp criticism of the author.
  MS 7: "On the Foundations of Mathematics", circa 1903.
  MS 449: [Lecture I], G-1903. This is a draft of the first conference of the Lowell Lectures of 1903.
  MS 776: "The Rhetoric of Scientific Communications", 1904.
  MS 280: "The Basis of Pragmaticism", 1905. Transcription by A. V. Pietarinen.
  MS 1334: [Adirondack Summer School Lectures], 1905. Partly published in Collected Papers 1.284.
  MS 792: "On the Logical Nature of the Proposition", 1906.
  MS 793: [On Signs], 1906. Brief fragments published in The Essential Peirce 2:544 n. 22.
  MS 283: "The Basis of Pragmaticism", 1906. Published (not in its totality) in The Essential Peirce 2:371–97 with the title "The Basis of Pragmaticism in the Normative Sciences". Partly published in Collected Papers 1.573-74; 5.44; 5.549-54.
  MS 322: (Prag.) [Pragmatism], circa 1907.
  MS 602: On Classification of the Sciences (M) A. MS., n.p., later than the Minute Logic, but before 1908, pp. 1-16.
  MS 296: The First Part of an Apology for Pragmaticism (A1) A. MS., n.p., [c.1907-08 or 18 months after "Prolegomena"], pp. 1-14; 14-32, with p. 25 missing (but with no break in the text); pp. 7-16 of another draft; plus 24 pp. of variants.
  MS 200: "The Fourth Curiosity", 1907-8 (?).
  MS 618: "Introduction" [Meaning], 1909.
  MS 633: Preface (Meaning Preface to the volume) A. MS., n.p., September 4-6, 1909, pp. 1.1-1.8.
  MS 634: "Preface" [Meaning Preface], 1909.
  MS 640: "Essays on Meaning: Preface" [Meaning Preface], 1909.
  MS 654: "Essays, by C. S. Peirce" [Essays 1st Pref.], 1910.
  MS 664: "The Rationale of Reasoning", 1910.
  MS 670: "Assurance, through Reasoning", 1911. Transcription by A. V. Pietarinen.
  MS 675: "A Sketch of Logical Critics", 1911. Published in The Essential Peirce 2:451–62 (1911).
  MS 676: "A Sketch of Logical Critics", 1911. This is another version of MS 675, published in The Essential Peirce 2:451-62. L 231: "Draft Letter to J. H. Kehler", 22 June 1911. MS 683: [An Essay toward Improving Our Reasoning in Security and in Uberty] A. MS., n.p., late, pp. 4-38, 12-28, and 16 pp. of variants.
- Undated
  https://www.unav.es/gep/MSsin_fecha.html
  MS 499: "On the System of Existential Graphs considered as an Instrument for the Investigation of Logic", s.f. (possibly 1906).
  MS 801: "Logic: Regarded as a Study of the General Nature of Signs" [Logic], s.f. possibly 1908).
  MS 840: ---, s.f. This is a single page in which there appears written the following: "Logic is a sort of tree of knowledge of good and evil which costs the loss of paradise to him who tastes of its fruit"
  MS 866: [On the Reconciliation of Religion and Science], s.f. possibly circa 1897).
  MS 868: [Notes on Science and Religion], s.f. (possibly circa 1897).
  MS 1054: [Sothic Period], s.f. (c. 1870-71) A. MS., n.p., n.d., pp. 1-10. Comparison of star catalogues from Ptolemy on down
  MS 1304: [Analysis of the Almagest], s.f. (c. 1889) A. MS., n.p., n.d., pp. 601-622. Notes on several chapters of Ptolemy's work [W6: 529, n. 23]
  MS 1305: [The Constellations], s.f. (c. 1892) A. MS., n.p., n.d., pp. 1-5, 1-2. Star catalogues: the beginning of a discussion of Ptolemy's work. Published partly in HP 2: 689-91
  MS 1306: [The Ptolemaic System], s.f. A. MS., n.p., n.d., pp. 1-4, incomplete; plus 11 pp. of fragments.
  MS 1307: [Notes on Ptolemy], s.f. A. MS., n.p., n.d., 7 pp.
  MS 1326: [Notes on the Sothic Period], s.f. A. MS., n.p., n.d., 2 pp.
  MS 1327: [History of Astronomy: Diurnal Motion], s.f. A. MS., n.p., n.d., 1 p. Note on Ptolemy: a correction of his data.
- Correspondence A–E
  https://www.unav.es/gep/corresp_AE.html
  L 67: Correspondence M. Calderoni — CSP. Draft of a letter from CSP to MC (1905). Partly published in Collected Papers 8.205–13. Transcription and Spanish translation.
  L 98: Correspondence W. W. Cooper — CSP. Letter from WWC to CSP (16th of December of 1872).
- Correspondence F–J
  https://www.unav.es/gep/corresp_FJ.html
  L 181: Correspondence G. B. Halsted — CSP. Letter from GBH to CSP (7th of December of 1891); Letter from GBH to CSP (17th of December of 1895).
  L 224: Correspondence William James - CSP. One letter (fragment) to CSP, n.d.; one postal card to CSP, Rome November 26, 1900; one telegram to CSP, March 20, 1903; several letter drafts and fragments of drafts from, most of which are dated or have been dated, with the dates ranging from [April 1897] to [December 25, 1909]
- Correspondence K–O
  https://www.unav.es/gep/corresp_KO.html
  L 261: Correspondence H. MacColl — CSP. Letter to CSP (16th of May of 1883); draft of a letter from CSP (16th of November of 1906). Announcement (17th of August of 1887).
- Correspondence P–T
  https://www.unav.es/gep/corresp_PT.html
  L 387: Correspondence F. C. Russell — CSP. Two letters from CSP to FCR (1894-5).
  L 390: Correspondence F. C. S. Schiller — CSP. Two letters from FCSS to CSP (30th of April of 1905; 6th of May of 1905); eight drafts from CSP to FCSS (12th and 23rd of May of 1905; 10th of September of 1906; s.f.).
- Correspondence U–Z [None yet.]
  https://www.unav.es/gep/corresp_UZ.html

Arisbe Website & PEIRCE-L Online Forum

Images of Peirce's marginalia.
- In Why the Mind Has a Body by Charles Augustus Strong.

'Fugitive Pages'
MS 339D.664 (PDF) (Same page as Houghton's 339, sequence 676)	A late definition of "sign" (1909) that expresses Peirce's view of it as functioning as a surrogate
MS 339D.663 (PDF) (Same page as Houghton's 339, sequence 675)
A transcription of this document (PDF)

It's a shame that Texas Tech University has lost its peirce-l archive and has gone silent on any effort to recover them. The gmane archive has also disappeared. So, some of the links below are broken. The lost web pages were not saved at the Internet Archive.

From MS 339 page dated (on its reverse side) August 7, 1904. Peirce's schematized ninefold classification of signs.
https://www.cspeirce.com/backgrnd/ninefold.jpg
Supplied by Bernard Morand in a post Re: Sinsign, Legisign, Qualisign on June 8, 2006 to peirce-l. From same page as Houghton's MS 339, sequence 450, see bottom of image. (The succeeding page image, in Houghton's MS 339 sequence 451, has the date August 7, 1904, and has "240r" added in its upper right corner.)
Three drawings of the Decad (triangular set of ten boxes) of sign classifications, supplied by Joseph Ransdell to peirce-l
- MS799.2 (CP 2.264)
  https://www.cspeirce.com/backgrnd/backgrnd/MS799-2.jpg
  in peirce-l post "1st image of triangle of boxes (MS799.2)" June 17, 2006. (Also at gmane.)
  The Roman numerals appear on the manuscript but were added by an editor (see the following two peirce-l posts: Vinicius Romanini June 16, 2006 "Re: representing the ten classes of signs (corrected)" (& at gmane) and Joseph Ransdell June 18, 2006 "Re: 1st image of triangle of boxes (MS799.2)" (missing from gmane)).
- MS540.17
  https://www.cspeirce.com/backgrnd/backgrnd/MS540-17.jpg
  in peirce-l post "2nd image of triangle of boxes (MS540.17)" June 17, 2006. (Also at gmane.)
- MS540.27
  https://www.cspeirce.com/backgrnd/backgrnd/MS540-27.jpg
  in peirce-l post "3rd image of triangle of boxes (MS540.27)" June 17, 2006. (Also at gmane.)
For the multiple threads discussing the decads and images, see:
- representing the ten classes of signs (corrected) (Also at gmane)
- image of original boxed triangle at CP 2.264 (Also at gmane)
- a second triangle of boxes in the MS material (Also at gmane)
- a third triangle of boxes in the MS material (Also at gmane)
- 1st image of triangle of boxes (MS799.2) and Remarks on manuscripts (Both also at gmane which connects the two threads but seems to be missing much from the first one)
- 3rd image of triangle of boxes (MS540.27) (Also at gmane)
- 2nd image of triangle of boxes (MS540.17) (Also at gmane)
- classes of signs (Also at gmane)
One can also do a Lyris header search image of boxed triangles and searches on other titles (be sure to click "header" in Lyris peirce-l advanced search.)

PORT

(Original I.U.P.U.I. site online from 1995 till at least 2000;
N.M.S.U. site till at least 2007.)

PORT: Peirce On-line Resource Testbed Project (via the Wayback Machine)

http://web.archive.org/web/20070730071842/http://port.cs.nmsu.edu:8080/

Christian Kloesel, Mary Keeler, Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis and later (the above link) at New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA.
MS 145 (p. 19H only, largest version ~1.6mb) & samples. JPEGs.

One can see more PORT images at

Heather D. Pfeiffer's erstwhile PORT mirror site https://web.archive.org/web/20160816201002/http://conceptualstructures.org/PORT/port.html	MS 145 (p. 19H only, largest version ~1.6mb) & samples (16). JPEGs.
Two never-repaired links at the mirror site, repaired: • PORT Workshop, ICCS2005, Kassel, Germany: Added Information for the Workshop • PORT Workshop, ICCS2004, Huntsville, Alabama: Report from the Workshop
PORT at Grupo de Estudios Peirceanos https://www.unav.es/gep/Port/	MSS 145, 460, 462, 464, & 507. Links to 75kb–100kb JPEGs. Annotations. Says the MS labeled "145" should be labeled "145s".
PORT at Jay Zeman's site https://web.archive.org/web/20180914015520/http://users.clas.ufl.edu/jzeman/ (Once there, click on "Peirce Contents" in the left sidebar.)	MS 145 & MS 460. Lead to links to ~160kb JPEG images, ~20mb TIF images, & transcriptions.
PORT at Frithjof Dau's site http://www.dr-dau.net/ms145/ms145.shtml	MS 145. 28 images (paired low- and high-resolution images of each page).
and (via the Wayback Machine) at
PORT at Jean-Marc Orliaguet's Computer Semiotics site http://web.archive.org/web/20041214092201/http://www.ckk.chalmers.se/people/jmo/port/	MSS 145, 460, 462, 464, 507, & samples. In DjVu format (install a DjVu viewer). The rulers have been cropped out. MS 460 seems to be missing.
Bill Tepfenhart's home page http://web.archive.org/web/20060221165813/http://peirce.monmouth.edu/%7Ebill/	MSS 145, 460, 462, 464, 507, & samples. Links to JPEG images in low and high (~1mb) resolutions. Clicking to see a low-resolution image triggers a Norton 360 warning of malware; clicking to see a high-resolution image does not.
Andrea Dirsch-Weigand's pages at Darmstadt http://web.archive.org/web/20031213145238/http://www.darmstadt.gmd.de/~dirsch/port/	MSS 145, 460, 462, 464, 507. JPEG images in low and high (~1.5mb) resolutions. Some page images are missing - anyway the links don't work. Try the option "Want to search for all archived pages under...?" that the Wayback Machine offers when a link comes up empty.
PORT's earlier IUPUI site location http://web.archive.org/web/20000823145222/http://accord.iupui.edu/accord/port.html	MS 145 & samples. Wayback Machine does not currently have the image link page available.

Note from B.U.: I saved an image and, for some reason, my computer gave me the sole option of saving it as a .bmp file, but I just typed the old filename including its correct extension (which happend to be .jpeg) into the popup window and was able to save it properly.

Miscellaneous

Image from Peirce, C. S., "Letter, Peirce to A. Marquand", dated 30 December 1886, Writings of Charles S. Peirce, v. 5, 1993, pp. 541–3. Letter describes how logical operations could be carried out by electrical switching circuits. Via Google Preview of page 541, scroll or click through to page 543 for image of Peirce's illustration of the circuit.

This page is part of the Arisbe website
https://www.cspeirce.com/digitized.htm
Page last modified by B.U. February 14, 2025, created August 8, 2011 — B.U.

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