Ludwig Wittgenstein only published one book in his lifetime, the Tractatus. He left his literary estate to Georg Henrik von Wright, Elizabeth Anscombe and Rush Rhees. Wittgenstein’s wish was that the three of them would publish “as they saw fit” a sample of his work.

After Wittgenstein’s death in 1951, von Wright spent over fifty years editing and publishing his late colleague’s writing. And his role in shaping Wittgenstein’s contribution to philosophy has proved decisive.

In the 1960s von Wright set up an archive containing copies of nearly the entire Wittgenstein oeuvre. The archive was housed in von Wright’s study in the University of Helsinki’s Metsätalo (‘Forest house’). A substantial part of the correspondence relating to the publication of Wittgenstein’s works form part of the archive. Von Wright bequeathed the archive to the University of Helsinki together with his own literary estate in 2000.

Since 2009 the archives have gone under the name the von Wright and Wittgenstein Archives (WWA). It is currently located on the sixth floor of the Metsätalo building, together with the University’s philosophy department. The archive collections have lately increased with further bequests from the von Wright family. The present collection includes unique objects such as Wittgenstein’s walking stick and von Wright’s typewriter.

In recent years the WWA has become increasingly popular. In particular, researchers interested in the posthumous editorial process have made use of the archive. The archive is complemented by the Georg Henrik von Wright Collection, which can be found in the Finnish National Library. The collection contains correspondence relating to both his private life and work as well as his personal library. Since 2014 the University has organised the annual Georg Henrik von Wright Lecture, in 2015 delivered by his student Professor Jaakko Hintikka.