Theosophical Society Library Burns
Influential role in shaping the alternative new religious and cultural landscape
The Library of the Theosophical Society in Altadena near Pasadena has been completely destroyed. 1
The Pasadena location was “the world’s largest archive of Theosophical materials, including a library with 40.000 titles, the entire archive of the history of the TS, including ca. 10.000 unpublished letters, pertaining to HPB, the Mahatmas, W.Q. Judge, G.R.S. Mead, Katherine Tingley, and G. de Purucker, membership records since 1875.2
It has been compared to the Library of Alexandria in Egypt; the world-renowned Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Madame Helena Blavatsky3 and Henry Steele Olcott, was an international and historical landmark in Altadena, California near Pasadena, treasured by millions and “was dedicated to the uplifting of humanity through a better understanding of the oneness of life.”4
For more see “Truth in the Infopolis: Two Presidential Actions and the Burning of the Theosophical Library (Eaton Fire).
Imagining the East : The Early Theosophical Society.
The Theosophical Society (est. 1875 in New York by H.P. Blavatsky, H.S. Olcott and others) is increasingly becoming recognized for its influential role in shaping the alternative new religious and cultural landscape of the late nineteenth and the twentieth century, especially as an early promoter of interest in Indian and Tibetan religions and philosophies.
Despite this increasing awareness, many of the central questions relating to the early Theosophical Society and the East remain largely unexplored. This book is the first scholarly anthology dedicated to this topic. It offers many new details about the study of Theosophy in the history of modern religions and Western esotericism.
The essays in Imagining the East explore how Theosophists during the formative period understood the East and those of its people with whom they came into contact. The authors examine the relationship of the theosophical approach with orientalism and aspects of the history of ideas, politics, and culture at large and discuss how these esoteric or theosophical representations mirrored conditions and values current in nineteenth-century mainstream intellectual culture. The essays also look at how the early Theosophical Society's imagining of the East differed from mainstream 'orientalism' and how the Theosophical Society's mission in India was distinct from that of British colonialism and Christian missionaries."5
Exploring The Theosophical Society and American Metaphysical Religion
Theosophical Library Center. PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO ITS DESTRUCTION BY THE RECENT ALTADENA-EATON FIRE, THE LIBRARY CENTER IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED.
LA Fires claim Theosophical Society building and archives. The Wild Hunt: Pagan News and Perspectives. January 9, 2025.
Caldwell, Daniel H. 1991. The Esoteric World of Madame Blavatsky : Insights into the Life of a Modern Sphinx. 1st Quest ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Pub. House.
Theosophical Society Historical Landmark in Altadena Destroyed by Eaton Fire: World’s Largest Archive of Theosophy Burns Down . The Travel. January 13, 2025.
Reenberg Sand, Erik, and Tim Rudbøg, eds. 2020. Imagining the East : The Early Theosophical Society. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Kathleen, thank you for sharing this.
I meant to write about the fire at the Theosophical Society as well, having grown up near the Theosophical Society in Adyar (Madras, now Chennai, South India), which I always believed to be the headquarters. I have fond memories of the stunning banyan tree there 😊 (https://www.ts-adyar.org/) and the influential figures associated with the Society, such as Annie Besant, George Arundale, and J. Krishnamurti. (Besides HPB i.e. Blavatsky and HSO, Colonel Olcutt of course!).
I hesitated because I'm aware of various discrepancies and conflicts such as a feud between Besant and Judge. For example, the Adyar Society’s Directory of Directories lists the Ojai, California retreat site but notably omits the Pasadena library and lists the national section at Wheaton, Il.
Imagining the East (2020) tries to correct some of the dynamics - the feuds between Besant and Judge; Mohini (part of the Bengal renaissance) resigning from TS Adyar, complaining to Judge, forcing HPB to write a critical letter to Judge, etc. etc. The fire is undoubtedly a loss, leading me to reflect, at least in this case, on how certain narratives tend to privilege specific losses over others.
Your Substack subtitle is right on! Thanks, again!
Shows the necessity of digitizing a collection. Significant loss of some irreplaceable material.