Good call, Leo - I'm neither staff nor student at Cambridge, but have consulted the SPR archive (held in the splendid 1930s central library building) on a few occasions, without difficulty. And the current 'curiosities' exhibition is well worth a visit, featuring a spirit trumpet, seance photographs (complete with ectoplasm) and more!
Sent from my iTrumpet
> On 21 Feb 2017, at 12:05, Leo Ruickbie <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dear Ken,
>
> Firstly, thank you for your generosity, this will be a great boon to scholarship.
>
> Here's my suggestion. The Society for Psychical Research was established in 1882 to research what we now call parapsychology, but which was formerly all part and parcel of 'the occult'. The Society is now a registered educational charity with a permament office in London and has a large archive and library safely cared for within Cambridge University Library. All staff and students of the Cambridge colleges have access and any serious researcher can apply to visit this collection. I believe that it would make good home for your bequest, as it is both accessible and professionally looked after. (And CUL are running an exhibition that features some objects from this collection, so they certainly do their best to promote it).
>
> You can find out more about the society at their website www.spr.ac.uk, or email me directly for more information (as well as a list administrator here, I am also editor of the Society's magazine.)
>
> All the best,
>
> Leo
>
> Quoting K R Perlow <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> I own a copy of Cornelius Agrippa's De Occulta Philosophia (1533, complete), and though this is not a particularly pressing issue, I would like to bequeath it in my will so that it can be readily available to other students of neo-Platonic magic. My first thought was Chicago's Newberry Library, where I once worked, and at the moment that's still Plan A: it's one of the few free and open-to-the-public research libraries in the world, but they don't do a very good job of publicizing themselves or their collections, and they already have one (with the dubious 4th book included). My second thought was the Bodleian, hoping perhaps to acquire a reader's card I don't have to renew every year in the bargain, but they've got at least three copies (two of the 1533 printing). Mine is in quite good shape. I'd like to find the best possible home for it after I'm no longer able to peruse and enjoy it. Any suggestions?
>>
>> Ken
|