About

The current collection is both digital and physical. Digitally, we have hundreds (over 600 at the time of writing) of publicly available files that focus mostly on late 18th to early 19th century movements around New York, as well as a substantial collection of Rosicrucian and Alchemical texts. Physically, we have over 350 objects (books, pamphlets, decks of cards, and other items) spanning general Occultism, with a focus on Spiritualism and Rosicrucianism. As the collection grows, we expect the focus to change, as detailed below:

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Collection Plan and Policies

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Subjects and Topics

This archive intends to collect digital and physical materials based on the following categories:

• Western Esoteric and Occult, Spiritual, Religious, and Fraternal Movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries
• General Western Esotericism
• Eastern Esotericism
• New American Religions (for example: Spiritualism, Mormonism, etc.)
• Secret Societies and Hierarchical Mystery Schools (Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, etc.)
• Practical Tools of the above points (tarot cards, spirit boards, spiritualist trumpets, etc.)
• The History and Happenings of all these points as they specifically relate to Rochester, NY.

While this is a fairly wide net to cast, the intention is to become a large archive of these subjects. At its inception the collection contained a spattering of these topics, but the initial focus of this archive will be subjects as related to New York state and the Rochester area. The largest barrier we foresee at this time is time, money, and space. As this project continues, collecting may stop and start to accommodate our physical reality.

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Material Formats

The Archive collects two main varieties of material: Digital materials and Physical materials.

Digital Materials

• File types
  • The Archive far and above prefers files in .PDF format.
  • File types associated with images (.JPG, .PNG, etc.) are also acceptable
  • .PDF materials that depict photographs or photographic scans of a physical object (the original book) are strongly preferred
• Copyright
  • Because digital items can be copied at will, The Archive will only hold digital materials that are either:
    • already in the public domain, or
    • The Archive has received explicit permission to host and distribute said files by the copyright holder
  • Many collectors of digital materials have copies of material that is currently under active copyright in their personal collections. This website, nor webhost, nor the file storage service, is a personal or private collection and all of these services are used to provide materials to the public. Therefore, this is not the medium for copyright protected digital files.
  • The Archive strives to maintain good relationships with other organizations, so if any organization asks us to not distribute their public domain material, we will comply.

Physical Materials

If the Archive acquires more than the accepted quantity of a given material, the most worn versions must be sold or otherwise weeded from the shelves

The Archive collects the following types of materials:

• Books, in a variety of formats (Priority 1)
  • hardcover
  • softcover
  • pamphlets (stapled binding)
  • Printed materials bound cheaply or placed in a 3-ring binder
• Decks of cards (Priority 2)
  • Tarot, Lenormand, and Oracle decks
• Various items
  • Spirit/talking boards, etc. (Priority 3)
  • At this time, The Archive does not collect materials stored on CD, DVD, or any other such media
• Quality/Value
  • The Archive purchases gently to moderately used books in order to make financially-sound choices
    • Books may show signs of wear, and even include writing and notes.
  • Rare and valuable works are currently a very low priority, as they cannot circulate. With limited space, we want to prioritize objects that can circulate.
• Number of copies
  • The Archive allows up to 2 copies of each title
  • In the case of card decks only, up to 4 copies may be held

Cataloging: For more information about how the EAR sorts and organizes its collection, please review this post.

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Why Esotericism?

The term esotericism is defined in widely different ways across the globe and is used to address a variety of different practices and schools of thought. This Archive was created with the understanding that esotericism describes a unique and individual approach to spirituality, specifically an inner path. Esotericism shows us that the path to peace, the path to happiness, the path to enlightenment, is accessible within us right now. Furthermore, esotericism invites us to interact with the world around us in an enchanted, magical way. It brings a sense of wonder to a world that is often dark and scary. It is the belief of The Archivist that an esoteric course of study, an esoteric world view, and/or an esoteric spiritual practice can be a deeply liberating to the human mind. It is his belief that Rochester, NY, a place where esoteric thought has inspired and supported a variety of social and religious reform movements, can especially benefit from esotericism. Reading the works of early Spiritualists or Rosicrucians is not going to solve homelessness or end poverty on their own, but the potential for inspired thinking that leads us to new solutions and new ways of living together is great.