Paul Kagan photographs of utopian communities and personal papers
Collection
Call Number: WA MSS S-2640
Scope and Contents
Chiefly photographs created and copied by Kagan while conducting research for his book, New World Utopias: A Photographic History of the Search for Community (New York: Penguin Books, 1975). The photographs document nineteenth and twentieth century utopian communities, most located in California, with others in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. The collection includes material he collected about utopian communities, including audiotapes of interviews and related events, as well as drawings and photographs. The collection also includes examples of photography and graphic design that Kagan created for traditional and alternative newspapers, as well as examples of some of his book reviews and other writings. A small group of material documents social action at the University of California, Berkeley, and in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s.
Utopian communities and other groups represented in the collection include an Amish community, Ananda Ashrama, Caspar Compound, Divine Light Mission, Esoteric Fraternity, The Farm, Fundación Indra Devi, Fountaingrove, Fountain of the World, Halcyon, Holy City, Icaria Speranza, Kaweah Colony, Krotona (including Happy Valley School), Lama Foundation, Lemurian Fellowship, Llano del Rio, The Lord's Land, Pisgah Faith Home, Pisgah Grande, Point Loma, Rosicrucian Fellowship, Questhaven Retreat, Self-Realization Golden World Colony, Table Mountain Ranch, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Theosophical Society (Pasadena), Unification Church, and Vedanta Temple (Santa Barbara).
Utopian communities and other groups represented in the collection include an Amish community, Ananda Ashrama, Caspar Compound, Divine Light Mission, Esoteric Fraternity, The Farm, Fundación Indra Devi, Fountaingrove, Fountain of the World, Halcyon, Holy City, Icaria Speranza, Kaweah Colony, Krotona (including Happy Valley School), Lama Foundation, Lemurian Fellowship, Llano del Rio, The Lord's Land, Pisgah Faith Home, Pisgah Grande, Point Loma, Rosicrucian Fellowship, Questhaven Retreat, Self-Realization Golden World Colony, Table Mountain Ranch, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Theosophical Society (Pasadena), Unification Church, and Vedanta Temple (Santa Barbara).
Dates
- circa 1895-circa 1989
- Majority of material found within 1968 - 1976
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Boxes 18-19: Copy photographs are for reference use only, and are not to be reproduced. For further information consult the appropriate curator.
Box 20: (audiovisual material): Restricted fragile. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 18-19: Copy photographs are for reference use only, and are not to be reproduced. For further information consult the appropriate curator.
Box 20: (audiovisual material): Restricted fragile. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Paul Kagan Photographs of Utopian Communities and Personal Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Copyright to the photographs in the collection created by Paul Kagan belong to Yale University. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Sue Kagan on the Frederick W. & Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana 2010.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: I. Photographs of Utopian Communities, 1968-1976. II. Other Material Related to Utopian Communities, circa 1895-circa 1989. III. Personal Papers, 1960-circa 1989.
Extent
4 Linear Feet ((23 boxes) + 3 broadside folders)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
Chiefly photographs created and copied by Kagan while conducting research for his book, New World Utopias: A Photographic History of the Search for Community. The photographs document nineteenth- and twentieth-century utopian communities, most located in California, with others in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. The collection includes material that Kagan collected about utopian communities, including audiotapes of interviews and related events, as well as drawings and photographs. The collection also includes examples of photography and graphic design that Kagan created for traditional and alternative newspapers, as well as examples of some of his book reviews and other writings. A small group of material documents social action at the University of California, Berkeley, and in the San Francisco Bay area during the 1960s.
Utopian communities and other groups represented in the collection include an unidentified Amish community, Ananda Ashrama, Caspar Compound, Divine Light Mission, Esoteric Fraternity, The Farm, Fundacio?n Indra Devi, Fountaingrove, Fountain of the World, Halcyon, Holy City, Icaria Speranza, Kaweah Colony, Krotona (including Happy Valley School), Lama Foundation, Lemurian Fellowship, Llano del Rio, The Lord's Land, Pisgah Faith Home, Pisgah Grande, Point Loma, Rosicrucian Fellowship, Questhaven Retreat, Self-Realization Golden World Colony, Table Mountain Ranch, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Theosophical Society (Pasadena), Unification Church, and Vedanta Temple (Santa Barbara).
Utopian communities and other groups represented in the collection include an unidentified Amish community, Ananda Ashrama, Caspar Compound, Divine Light Mission, Esoteric Fraternity, The Farm, Fundacio?n Indra Devi, Fountaingrove, Fountain of the World, Halcyon, Holy City, Icaria Speranza, Kaweah Colony, Krotona (including Happy Valley School), Lama Foundation, Lemurian Fellowship, Llano del Rio, The Lord's Land, Pisgah Faith Home, Pisgah Grande, Point Loma, Rosicrucian Fellowship, Questhaven Retreat, Self-Realization Golden World Colony, Table Mountain Ranch, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Theosophical Society (Pasadena), Unification Church, and Vedanta Temple (Santa Barbara).
Biography
Paul Kagan, photographer and author of the book New World Utopias, was born in 1943. After receiving a degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley in 1965, he worked as a television news writer, photographer, graphic artist, and magazine art director. Kagan spent five years researching New World Utopias: A Photographic History of the Search for Community (New York: Penguin Books, 1975). Initially, the National Institute of Mental Health provided funds for Kagan to photograph the remains of California 'utopias'; a few years into the project the California Historical Society gave him funds to research and collect the records and contemporary photographs of those communities. During this time Kagan organized the Utopian Studies Center at the California Historical Society Library (San Francisco). At the time of the book's publication, Kagan described himself as writer/researcher and still photographer for the Television Health Information Project at University of California Medical Center, San Francisco. Paul Kagan died in New York in 1993.
Processing Information
Much of the biographical and historical information about the photographs derives from Paul Kagan, New World Utopias: A Photographic History of the Search for Community (New York: Penguin Books, 1975).
- Amish -- Pictorial works
- California -- Pictorial works
- Christian communities -- California
- Collective settlements -- California
- Communal living
- Communal living -- California
- Communal living -- New Mexico
- Communal living -- Pennsylvania
- Communal living -- Tennessee
- Cooperative societies -- California
- Divine Light Mission
- Fountaingrove (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Fundacion Indra Devi
- Halcyon (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Happy Valley (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Happy Valley School
- Holy City (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Icaria-Speranza (Collective settlement) -- Pictorial works
- Kagan, Paul, 1943-1993
- Kaweah Colony
- Krotona Institute of Theosophy (Ojai, Calif.)
- Lama Foundation
- Lemurian Fellowship (Organization)
- Llano Colony (Secular community)
- Photographic prints
- Pisgah Grande (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Pisgah Home Movement
- Point Loma Theosophical Society
- Rosicrucian Fellowship
- San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)
- Socialism -- California
- Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
- Theosophy -- California
- Underground periodicals
- Unification Church
- University of California, Berkeley
- Utopias -- History -- 19th century
Creator
- Title
- Guide to the Paul Kagan Photographs of Utopian Communities and Personal Papers
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- by Matthew Daniel Mason
- Date
- June 2010
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.