Wilhelm Reich - 11/3/2007 IT'S TIME TO KNOW

"“...nothing whatsoever must be changed in any of these documents and that they should be put away and stored for 50 years to secure their safety from destruction and falsification by anyone interested in the falsification and destruction of historical truth.”

Today, the Trust manages the “Archives of the Orgone Institute” (the official name of “The Wilhelm Reich Archives”) which are now located in the Rare Books and Special Collections at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard University, one of of the world’s premier medical libraries.

Reich’s Archives are kept in a temperature-controlled environment and comprise well over 200 archive boxes of materials. Each box measures 15” x 12” x 4”."

Why in HELL was Harvard put in charge of the Orgone Archives?

OP, is there hope that the Countway Medical Library will make the archives available online? Now that would be sweet...

[link to www.countway.harvard.edu]

seems that story goes like...

"In March of 1959—during her first visit to Orgonon—the newly-appointed Trustee, Mary Boyd Higgins, discovered that the Archives were gone. They had been removed illegally in 1958 by Aurora Karrer, the last woman in Reich’s life, who transported the materials hundreds of miles away to Maryland.

In 1960—unable to obtain any cooperation from Ms. Karrer—The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust took legal action against her, which resulted in the bulk of the Archives being turned over to the Trust. Subsequent legal actions over the years to recover still missing materials were unsuccessful. And the Trust’s efforts to retrieve additional materials from Ms. Karrer would stretch across almost five decades. In 2007, the Trust took possession of other archival materials that Ms. Karrer had stolen.

For years after the Trust had retrieved the bulk of the Archives, Mary Higgins kept these materials at her home in Forest Hills, New York. During this time, she looked into several institutions—including the Library of Congress—as possible repositories for these materials.

Meanwhile, New York publisher Roger Straus—of Farrar, Straus and Giroux—was also aware of the need for a safe and permanent repository for the Archives. Straus contacted Richard Wolfe, Chief Librarian of the “Rare Books and Special Collections” at Harvard University’s Countway Library of Medicine, one of the world’s premier medical libraries. Mr. Wolfe agreed that Reich’s legacy was significant and that his Archives would be an important addition to the library’s other collections."

I can't get any info about WR on CMLibrary

somebody?!?

What is meant by "promoted adolescent sexuality"?

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Thanks for that rundown. I suppose we're "lucky" to even have them available anywhere, so as long as Harvard doesn't destroy them that that will be good enough.

P.S. Maybe someone ought to e-mail Countway to see if they have plans to digitize and publish the archives?

Not having read that article yet, I would say take most of what you read in print about WR (other than his official published works) with a grain of salt. Most of his books were BURNED by the FDA in this country (one of the few individuals to receive such treatment). Which means he really made TPTB nervous...

Teenage sex, once in / passed the puberty stage.

He also promoted safe sex and abstanence. However since the FDA only wants you reading things that will condition you into thinking like them................

"On November 3, 1957, Wilhelm Reich died in his jail cell of a heart failure. In his last will and testament Wilhelm Reich ordered that his works be sealed for fifty years, in hopes that the world would someday be a place better to accept his wondrous machines."




So we are two days late. Who was left in charge of his estate?

Stumbled across this via lewrockwell earlier today:

[link to www.boston.com]

If Harvard gets the archive, does that mean orgone will be available as a weapon soon?

for when the links are available

yeah bump when we get some links

Nope, suppressed.

Cool, the Wilhelm Reich Museum @ Orgonon has a website! And a page devoted to the Orgone Archives!

[link to www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org]

However, it appears at this point that archives won't be released in their entirety in a public venue (e.g. converted to PDF and posted on a website, etc.):

Archives of the Orgone Institute - Access Policies & Procedures

Access Policies

1. Like many scholarly archives, the Archives of the Orgone Institute are not open to the general public. Access policies and procedures for any archive reflect the preferences of the donor of the collection and the facility in which the collection is deposited.

Consequently, some archives are open to the public at large and many are not, and specific access policies and procedures vary from one collection to the next. Serious scholars and researchers with any archival experience are well aware of this.

The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust has opted for more restrictive access to these materials for three major reasons:

* To ensure, to the best of our ability, high standards of intellectual honesty and professional integrity among those accessing Reich’s Archives.

* To better maintain the physical integrity of the archival materials.

* To safeguard the factual truth, authorship, and future uses of what is a significant collection of unpublished scientific work.

2. The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust in Rangeley, Maine has the sole authority for providing access to the Archives. Anyone making inquiries to the Countway Library regarding access will be directed to contact the Trust.

3. Scholars and researchers who wish to access the Archives will apply to the Trust’s 3-person Archive Committee by following the Access Procedures listed below.

4. Applicants should not consider The Archives of the Orgone Institute as a first “point of contact” with Reich’s life and legacy. This is inappropriate for any scholarly archive. Access to the Archives will be limited to scholars and researchers whose previous and current projects and work display significant knowledge of currently available published materials by Reich.

5. Today, over 7000 pages of Reich’s writings and publications are publicly available, including 21 books published by Farrar Straus & Giroux, and the Trust’s reprints of Reich’s research journals, bulletins, and other literature. These primary sources are sold at The Wilhelm Reich Museum Bookstore.

Applicants should review the catalog of Reich’s available literature to determine whether the information they’re seeking in the Archives is already accessible in these other primary sources.

6. Applicants will be expected to have demonstrated intellectual honesty and integrity in their scholarship and research regarding Reich. Which does not preclude honest disagreements or differences of opinion. While no one would argue with anyone’s fundamental right to debate, discuss, or offer contrary opinions about Reich’s life and legacy, ensuring the correctness of basic facts about Reich requires more objective, stringent criteria.

Disseminating misstatements and distortions of verifiable, publicly available facts on any subject demeans the intrinsic purpose of true scholarship. For example, today—50 years after Reich’s death—people are still claiming that he was promoting the orgone accumulator as a cure for cancer or as a sexual device for achieving orgastic potency, despite Reich’s published statements to the contrary. Those who continue to disseminate these and other falsehoods are either intellectually dishonest or intellectually lazy, two qualities that have always undermined truth and genuine knowledge.

7. Applicants should keep in mind that civility and good manners count. Over the years, many people have considered personal and public attacks against the Trust as acceptable behavior, and threats to the well-being of the Trust and the Archives as appropriate subjects of discussion.

Such conduct is neither acceptable nor appropriate.

Differences of opinion are an inevitable part of human nature and honest discourse. But expressing one’s disagreements in the form of malicious gossip, invective, and personal slander is a conscious choice and violates the precepts of useful scholarship and dialogue.

8. The Archive Committee will review all applications and respond accordingly.

9. The Trust will contact the Countway Library staff who will arrange visits for those who will be studying archival materials. The Library staff will coordinate visits to accommodate the schedules of scholars and researchers, as well as the limited number of people allowable in Holmes Hall at one time.

10. Holmes Hall is the Reading Room at the Countway’s Center for the History of Medicine where people study materials from all of the Center’s collections. The room has limited seating and workstations. Materials from the Archives of the Orgone Institute will be brought out to this room for scholars and researchers to study.

11. All materials in the Archives will not necessarily be accessible at all times. There are several reasons for this:

* Ongoing archival work by the Trust and the Countway Library, requiring the periodic reorganization of materials.

* Specific projects by the Trust, requiring the use of specific archival materials.

* The Trust’s need to identify, discuss, and resolve key issues regarding Reich’s unpublished scientific work.

* The Countway Library of Medicine's guidelines and restrictions regarding patient files and medical records, which are in compliance with federal laws governing privacy and protection of health information.

* Technological limitations (for example, the Countway does not currently have capabilities for listening to audiotapes or watching films and videos).

12. Copyright title and publishing rights to all materials in the Archives of the Orgone Institute are held by The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust. Permission to publish must come through the Trust.

Access Procedures

Applications for access to the Archives of the Orgone Institute may be submitted to The Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust either electronically ([email protected]) or via regular mail:

WILHELM REICH INFANT TRUST
ATTENTION: ARCHIVE COMMITTEE
P.O. BOX 687
RANGELEY, ME 04970

For those using regular mail, please submit three (3) copies of your application. Applications should include the following information:

1. CURRICULA VITA, including:

* Education

* Professional / Employment history

* Professional affiliations

* A list of all Reich-related published work (both print and online) that you have contributed to in any way. Include copies of any print publications if they are not available online.

* A list of other published work (print or online) that you feel best represents your research and scholarship experience. Include samples of this work if they are not available online.

* A list of the URLs of any websites containing any Reich-related material that you have contributed to in any way.

2. YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT

* A detailed description (2 –4 pages) of your project and its aims, including footnotes of primary materials you are currently using or have consulted in the past.

Please make it clear in your footnotes—by citing relevant page numbers and not merely the titles of entire works—that you are fully conversant with currently-available published primary sources. The more specific you can be, the better.

* Describe how you think (or hope) your research and your project contributes to further understanding of Reich’s life and legacy.

3. ARCHIVAL MATERIALS OF INTEREST

* From the online INDEX OF THE ARCHIVES OF THE ORGONE INSTITUTE identify specific materials you wish to study by citing each of the following:

Category
Box Number
File Name

If later you wish to work with other materials than first requested, this will require a separate application with a rationale for why those materials are pertinent.

* Describe the significance of these archival materials to your research and project.

4. SCHEDULE

* Tell us your preferred schedule for visiting the Countway Library.

* Keeping in mind that the Countway’s hours are Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., how many days do you anticipate you will need for studying relevant material in the Archives?

As a young adult, completely disillusioned with fundamentalist Christianity and burned out by Pentacostalism, I sought out and read every published work by Reich, cover to cover. I can honestly say that diligent study and application of orgonomic principles saved my life! It wasn't easy though. We all have a lot of accumulated baggage to let go of.

Hopefully the opening of the Orgone Archives will stimulate some long overdue academic discussion on the psychosexual nature of political ideology. For example, here's an excerpt of an article from Elsworth Baker M.D. (a direct "disciple" of Reich), on the American College of Orgonomy website. I think this describes the Western world's current political situation to a tee:

[link to orgonomy.org]

It is this core of total devitalization in the [modern] liberal which is responsible for his attitude of "peace at any price." Functionally, to be at peace is to be bioenergetically unblocked, to flow and stream, consonant with a deep, inner feeling of well-being. That is, there is no such thing as peace without true inner freedom. Those whose devotion to peace is real know full well that there is a time for tranquility and a time for fighting.... The pacifistic liberal of today is seeking rather to arrange his environment so that there is the least disturbance to his crippled energy system. His assumption that the communistic plague can be appeased, educated by example, or blackmailed by world opinion is, from the functional energetic viewpoint, an untenable illusion. It is an acute political myopia; he cannot look clearly at the political situation because it is a product of his own structure, which he cannot afford to view objectively. The pacifist is using his intellect to rationalize his real motive, which is fear of genuine movement. He can propose only one solution. Talk. But no matter how prolific or eloquent he is with words…behind the liberal exhortation is a crippled energy system which cannot tolerate movement or healthy aggression.

The modern liberal is contemptuous of capitalism. The expressed reason is that capitalism is cruel and heartless: the real reason is that capitalism is cruel to him, because it is a system in which individuals must compete on their own, which he cannot tolerate... [Thus the modern liberal advocates that the government interfere in the constructive work of others]. The expressed motive is to help those unable to succeed; the real motive is to eliminate success, so that he will not have to feel anxious and inferior. Otherwise said, his wish is to castrate the successful (father) and to eliminate the means by which people become successful (what might be called castration of the nation, i.e. the fatherland). The stated motive is never the real one, which is why I call his rebellion subversive. The [modern] liberal's opposition to all differences in social structure, is, likewise, an expression of his need to pull down the mighty (father)....

Anything anywhere on this?

I can't find anything. : /

I've just sent an e-mail to ask Countway Librarian.

If you would like...

 [link to www.countway.harvard.edu] 

" Orgone Institute (Rangeley, Me.).
Archives, 1897, 1919-1956.
98 cubic ft. in 284 boxes and oversize items.
HOLLIS: 000603496

Location : Countway Medicine Rare Books H MS c287
Restrictions : Access requires advance notice. There are restrictions on access to portions of this collection. Consult the Reference Librarian for further information.

Availability
If you see a "Request" link next to the "Item status" information then the item is either in storage at the Harvard Depository or checked out to another person. To request the item, click on the "Request" link. You will be asked for a Harvard ID number and PIN. The item will be delivered to the library as soon as it is available."

 [link to lms01.harvard.edu]