Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt00514)

It appears that there are rare books and articles at Alexandria West. 
I would suggest that original be preserved and only photocopies be 
kept for public access. This will enable replacement as copies when 
handled by people get lost or torn.

Another thing of importance is Adpets allowed to give Truth as it is 
after 1890. I think from 1890 to 1940 they gave much secrete 
knowledge through Adyar TS. So Theosophist and Herald of the Star and 
other articles and books in this period are important for students of 
Theosophy.
Anand Gholap

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Bart Lidofsky <bartl@s...> wrote:
> Jerry Hejka-Ekins wrote:
> > I remember this was done in the 60s, when there was a real 
resource of 
> > Lodges and speakers. In the greater Los Angeles area there was 
once a 
> > dozen or more Lodges and some very fine and knowledgeable 
speakers. The 
> > So.California Federation tried to set up a speaker's list, but I 
> > remember opposing it because I saw it (I think correctly) as a 
> > transparent attempt to have an official list of "approved" 
speakers, so 
> > that Lodges would know who to invite and who to shun. California 
Lodges, 
> > in those days, were very competitive, run by ego driven managers, 
and 
> > resisted any attempts by members to have them work together. 
Today, we 
> > have gone way beyond the problem of having to make lists of 
speakers. 
> > As the number of Lodges have dwindled over the years, there are 
few 
> > Lodges which still have neighboring Lodges from which to draw 
speakers. 
> 
> I was thinking of something more on the order of letting 
anybody who 
> wished to list themselves do so, and also let individual members 
write 
> reviews.
> 
> > I have visited the Lodge in New York which you belong. The real 
estate 
> > must be worth millions of dollars, though that old building 
should have 
> > been raised and rebuilt many years ago. That alone scares people 
away, 
> > in spite of the fact that you are sitting on some of the most 
expensive 
> > real estate in the country. 
> 
> There have been a number of opportunities missed in the past. 
My guess 
> is that the real estate is worth between 1 and 2 million dollars; 
part 
> of the problem is that it is not on a great block (there's a 
halfway 
> house on the block, a number of closed businesses, and a couple of 
> nearly abandoned buildings). There has been rebuilding, and, for 
the 
> last several years, the Board of Directors worked on a principle of 
> making sure that everything was done legally and properly.
> 
> > Alexandria West has had to think about these things. We need a 
minimum 
> > of 4,000 square feet of floor space to do what we need to do--
10,000 
> > would be more realistic. Even in our Small California community, 
that 
> > would be a million dollar investment for starts. Such an 
investment 
> > requires a very solid foundation of meaningful activity to 
sustain 
> > itself and to be able to change with the times. By meaningful 
activity, 
> > I mean services which goes far beyond the traditional fare of 
weekly 
> > lectures and book sales. 
> 
> And the Kern Foundation will NOT donate money towards physical 
> buildings. By the way, for those not familiar with Alexandria West, 
here 
> is a link (Jerry, are there any others?):
> 
> http://blavatskyarchives.com/alexandriawest.htm
> 
> Bart