Guide to the Paul Kagan Papers, 1911-1971
Processed by California Historical Society staff; supplementary encoding and
revision supplied by Xiuzhi Zhou.
California Historical Society
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678 Mission Street
San Francisco, California 94105-4014
Phone: (415) 357-1848, ext. 220
Fax: (415) 357-1850
Email: reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
© 2001
California Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Paul Kagan Papers, 1911-1971
Collection number: MS 3121
California Historical Society
North Baker Research Library
San Francisco,
California
Contact Information:
- California Historical Society
- North Baker Research Library
- 678 Mission Street
- San Francisco, California 94105-4014
- Phone: (415) 357-1848, ext. 220
- Fax: (415) 357-1850
- Email: reference@calhist.org
- URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
- Processed by:
- California Historical Society staff
© 2001 California Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Paul Kagan Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1911-1971
Collection number: MS 3121
Creator:
Kagan, Paul, 1943
Extent: 2 ft.
Repository:
California Historical Society, North Baker Library
San Francisco, California 94105-4014
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The North Baker Research Library. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the
Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The North Baker
Research Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or
imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Paul Kagan Papers. MS 3121, California Historical Society,
North Baker Research Library.
History
The Paul Kagan Papers consist largely of documents produced by several California Utopian
communities of the early twentieth century. The individuals in these communities strove for
a meaningful, humanistic approach to life, which centered on the integral relationship
between the individual and the community. Extensively represented are the Llano del Rio
community and the Theosophical Society at Krotona, with additional theosophical material
from the Halcyon People's Temple, Point Loma Publications, Theosophical University
Press(Altadena), Pisgah, and the East-West Cultural Center. Miscellaneous items from an
unidentified organization called Fountaingrove are also included.
The Llano del Rio colony was a worker's corporation founded in 1914 by Job Harriman, a
Marxist lawyer, as a communal alternative to what he viewed as the selfish competition and
materialism of capitalist America. The community began as an agricultural commune in the
southern California desert, but expanded to include other industries in its drive for
self-sufficiency. One of the enterprises run by the members was a printing press, whose
publications were used both as in-house newsletters and outreach proselytizers. As a result
of financial and political difficulties, the colony relocated in Leesville, LA. in 1917
where it thrived for some years.
Madame H.P.Blavatsky founded the theosophical Society in 1875, with its headquarters in
Adyar, India. Under her guidance, the society's members strove to form a nucleus dedicated
to Universal Brotherhood; the study of religion, philosophy and science; and, the
exploration of unexplained phenomena. The Theosophists use of psychic phenomena, occultism,
and spiritualism in their search for Universal Truth made them constant subjects of
controversy and suspicion for the outside world.
The Krotona Institute was one of the American offshoots of the Theosophical Society, a
Western Adyar dedicated to theosophical principles. The Institute served as a resident
centre for education and training. Members of the Society secured the building site in the
Hollywood hills in 1912, and were able to open the school the same year. The centre grew in
size and popularity and remained a hiatus for American Theosophists.
Another branch of the main Theosophical Society was the Temple of the People at Halcyon,
CA. William Dower founded the organization in 1898 as a result of a leadership dispute in
the official American section of the Theosophical Society. The Temple members, too,
considered themselves a nucleus for the Universal Community, and as guides to the hidden
knowledge of human origin and its destiny. The town of Halcyon functioned as a religious
commune where residents received spiritual support while they worked in the surrounding
areas.
The Theosophical University Press and Point Loma Publications are reflections of the same
theosophical spirit in both tone and content. Apparently the publications from these presses
were not connected to specific communities, but support theosophic sympathizers who lived in
the normal world.
Insufficient material prevents a history of the other three groups: Pisgah, East-West
Cultural Center and Fountaingrove.
Paul Kagan, the collection's donator, used the materials for his book,
New World Utopias, before donating them to the Historical
Society.
Scope and Content
The Paul Kagan collection consists almost entirely of publications, printed materials and
newsletters published by each organization. Community members designed some of these for a
general, interested audience and others only for their own edification. The various
publications cover issues and concerns relating to the communities and their central themes.
Inclusively, they span a time period from 1911-1971, with the bulk of the material published
in the late teens and early twenties.
The Llano del Rio colonists' main publication was the
Western
Comrade,
later changed to the
Internationalist, a
socialist monthly magazine intended for the general public. They also published a
specialized magazine, the
Reconstructionist, dedicated to
the rebuilding of the south, which directed special attention to the denuded timber lands.
To handle the more personal concerns of the colony, the members produced the
Llano Colonist, Colony News, American Cooperator, Colony Cooperator
and
Cooperation in Action. The publishing staff
distributed these newsletters to both members and prospective members. The
Colonist, published by a former member of Llano, Walter Millsap,
focuses on the larger subject of all cooperative communities. Additional Llano material
includes photocopied ads seeking new members for the community; Llano community ordinances
and tribunate minutes; and, a derogatory article on Llano's founder in the
Vanderbilt Weekly.
The official magazine of the American section of the Theosophical Society is the
American Theosophist, published at Krotona. Krotona residents
used the
Theosophical Messenger for news and items of
interest to them only. Mme. Blavatsky wrote a set of outreach-oriented pamphlets in which
she explains theosophy's basic tenets and raison d'etre. Additional materials include:
photocopies of correspondance from the Society's President, Annie Besant, to the head of
Krotona Institute, several form letters soliciting donations from members; various other
pamphlets; a school catalogue for the Institute; and two term papers written by students,
which provide interesting background information about the Institute.
The collection holds one of the People's Temple official magazine, the
Temple Artisan. Guardian William Dower wrote several pamphlets,
to instruct beginners in occultism and temple concepts. The rest of the material consists of
in-house newsletters designed to inform residents and members of activities, news and
personal items.
The Point Loma Publications newspaper documents what were current issues (1971-72) in
theosophy within an editorial format. (the
Eclectic
Theosophist)
The Theosophic University Press published
Sunrise, a
non-sectarian collection of editorial articles geared to the discovery of fundamental
principles.
The Pisgah folder contains a photocopy of the Pisgah Home Song Book, a group of religious
songs.
Three monthly programs of the East-West Cultural Center list events and activities which
were held at the center.
The Fountaingrove folder consists of three unidentified photos (originals in photo
collection) and a miscellaneous news clipping.
Added Entries
-
Agriculture, Cooperative
-
American Theosophist, 2/13-2/14, V1.14, #5,6,7,8
& V1.15,#3,7
-
Besant, Annie
-
Blavatsky, H.P.
- Collective settlements
- Cooperative Societies
-
Dower, William
-
East-West Cultural Center
- Eclectic Theosophist, 9/71-3-72. #5,8,9
- Fountaingrove
-
Halcyon Temple of the People
-
Harriman, Job
-
Internationalist, 5/18-7/18. V.6,#1,2,3
-
Krotona Institute
-
Llano Colonist, 5/26-9/47
-
Llano Del Rio Company
-
Millsap, Walter
- Pisgah
- Point Loma Publications
- Religion, California (L.A. and Santa Barbara counties)
- Socialism--American
- Socialists--California
- Socialists--Louisiana
-
Sunrise, 1/70-3/70
-
Theosophical Society, American section
-
Theosophic Messenger, 8/12-2/23
-
Theosophical University Press
-
Western Comrade, 9/15-4/18
- Utopias
Box 1, Folder 1
Western Comrade, V.3,#5,10,11,12; 9/15-5/16
Folder 2
Western Comrade, V.4,#7,9,10,11,12;
V.5,#1,2,3,4,5; 11/16-9/17
Folder 3
Llano Colonist, V.9,33; 11/16&4/17
Folder 4
Nevada Colony News, V.1; 3/17
Folder 5
Western Comrade, V.5,#8-9,10,11,12; 1/18-4/18
Folder 6
Internationalist, V.6,#1,2,3; 5/18-7/18
Folder 7
Reconstructionist, V.1,#1; 8/18
Folder 8
Colony Cooperator, V.1,#3,4,5,6,7,8; 8/18-2/19
Folder 9
Colony News, V.1#6, V.2,#10,12, V.3,#3,5,6,7;
11/19-12/21
Folder 10
American Cooperator, V.19,#2,3,4,5; 2/22-5/22
Folder 11
Cooperation in Action, V.3,#32
Folder 13
Gateway to Freedom and Farm Sites(pamphlets); n.d.
Folder 14
Llano ads in
Western Comrade(photocopied);
6/14-7/22
Folder 15
Misc. documents, Llano; 12/14&4/15
Box 2, Box flat box
Llano Colonist, 5/26-2/35
Physical Description: (10 issues)
Industrial Democral, 12/35-12/36
Physical Description: (6 issues)
Box 3, Folder 17
Correspondence and Form Letters, Krotona; 5/1/11-8/25/24
Folder 18
American Theosophist, V.14,#5,6,7,8; 2/13-4/14
Folder 19
American Theosophist, V.15,#3,7,
Folder 20
Theosophic Messenger, V.10,#9, V.13,#10,
V.1,#4, V.2,#7, V.6,#9,; 8/12-2/23
Folder 21
U.L.T. Pamphlets, #1-36; n.d.
Folder 22
Misc. Publications, Krotona
Folder 23
Misc.and Clippings, Krotona
Box 4, Folder 24
Form Letters and Misc. Publications, Halcyon
Folder 25
Eclectic Theosophist, #5,8,9; 9/71,1/72,3/72
Folder 26
Sunrise, #4,5,6,19; 1/70-3/70
Folder 28
East West Cultural Center, Programs; 10/71,2/72,3/72
