Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt01181)

John,

I have been reading your posting at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/37923

I will try to jot down some of the things I remember
about all of this.

But when I do this, I am not speaking for anyone else
especially for the Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton
or for Dr. John Algeo.

I will speak only from what I know or think I know and I must say that
I was NOT privy to the correspondence that may have taken place
between TPH Wheaton, John Algeo, Gregory Tillett, Mrs. Cooper and the 
attorneys during the time period in question.

It is true that in subsequent years I have learned more about
what both sides said but I am still unclear as to what actually 
occurred.  In other words, I heard conflicting reports, etc.

Now at this point let me say that I have the highest respect for Dr. 
Tillett.  And the late John Cooper was a wonderful man.  I never met 
him but especially thru long phone conversations with him I came to 
respect him.  I don't know if he considered himself a Theosophist but 
I believe he was indeed a true Theosophist in the very best sense of 
the word.  etc.

And at the same time I must say that in my dealings with Dr. Algeo 
and TPH Wheaton I have always felt that they treated me with respect, 
etc. That they were helpful in some of my Blavatsky research, etc.

Having said all the above, I should also give more about my own 
interest in the HPB letters project.

Since the late 1970s and early 1980s I was very much interested in 
collecting as much of HPB's correspondence as possible.  And over the 
years I have discovered some of HPB's letters.  So of course I was 
interested in seeing all of HPB's letters get published.

At Boris de Zirkoff's death, it is my understanding that his papers 
were willed to the Theosophical Society/TPH Wheaton since they were 
the publishers of the many volumes of HPB's COLLECTED WRITINGS.

And later I was happy to know that TPH Wheaton had selected or 
appointed John Cooper to be the editor of HPB's COLLECTED LETTERS.

At some point after he was appointed to be the editor, I remember 
receiving a letter from him in which he asked if I had access to 
certain Blavatsky material.  I remember sending him what I had and 
suggesting various avenues for obtaining other material.  I also 
remember writing to him about various HPB letters, etc. etc.

And as I have reported before, I would send him material if I thought 
it would help him on his letters project.  I also started phoning him 
on a regualar basis the last year or two of his life and the major 
topic of our conversations would be on the letters, problems about 
the letters, researching the letters, etc. etc.

It was during this period of time that I started collecting microfilm 
of old Spiritualistic and other magazines and newspapers which would 
contain historical material relevant to HPB's letters.  I was going 
to send him a large box of such microfilm when John Cooper died.

A year or two later I sent the material to TPH Wheaton for the 
letters project.

It was my understanding at the time that since TPH Wheaton had 
commissioned Cooper to be the editor of the letters project that they 
would appoint a new editor to continue the letters project after he 
died.

At some point which I cannot remember off the top of my head I heard 
about the "problems" and "difficulties" involving TPH, Algeo, Tillett 
and the Cooper family. I remember even talking several times on the 
phone to Dara Eklund in California about what the problems were.  
Neither one of us knew much about what was going on at the time.  I 
do remember that Dara Eklund as the executor of Boris de Zirkoff's 
estate was very concerned about preserving and having published all 
of Mr. de Zirkoff's work on the letters including the collection or 
manuscript of the 600 HPB letters he had collected.

I believe although I am not 100% positive that Dara even wrote to 
Mrs. Cooper expressing her concern for the future of the letters 
project and for the safeguarding and publishing of Boris de Zirkoff's 
work on the letters.

At a certain point I was notified by John Algeo/TPH Wheaton that due 
to certain problems John Cooper's contribution to the Letters project 
would not be used.  Plans were then made to continue with the 
project.  Input, etc. was requested from the members of the editorial 
board and work progressed.  During the latter half of the project I 
made little or no contributions since family illnesses prevented me 
from devoting any time and effort to the project.

I am not aware of all the contributions that the other members of the 
editorial committee gave to the project.  I know that Dara Eklund and 
Nicholas Weeks contributed a great deal.

In summary, my main concern was to see that the letters of HPB 
actually got published.  So many years had already gone by since Mr. 
de Zirkoff died.  And then later Mr. Cooper died.  I know Dara and I 
expressed concern to each other that the letters might never see the 
light of day...at least not in our lifetimes....

These are my general impressions.  I will be happy to answer any 
specific questions you may have if I know the answers. 

[This is a very rough draft of my thoughts that I have just jotted 
down.]

Daniel