Vedanta Archives has received federal grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a statutory body affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).   They have provided two grants, the first to help us preserve our reel-ro-reel 1/4" audio tapes, the second to help us process our 1940's acetate discs and wire recordings. Thanks to the National Archives and their NHPRC grant program, we were able to hire temporary part-time staffing and purchase needed archival supplies.  To learn more about the NHPRC and their wonderful work to preserve America's broad documentary heritage, please visit their website:




AVOCADO PRODUCTIONS

Angie Dickenson Mickle and the folks at Avocado Productions have transferred some of our most important and fragile wire recordings at a reduced cost to help support our archival work.  They can also transfer many other audio formats, as well as provide recording and mixing services.  Their work is very professional with excellent quality and a fast turn-around.  We highly recommend this vendor:




COAST AUDIO RECORDING

Jerry is a sound professional who has offered lots of helpful advice to help us successfully play back and transfer odd and obsolete audio formats.  They sell all sorts of useful audio and video gear, including mono spherical needles for 1940's acetate discs!  They also have an on-site service department.  It's a relief to work with someone who sells what you need instead of what they want you to buy.  For good old-fashioned, quality service in the Los Angeles area contact, our friends at Coast:

RELATED ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS

GERALD HEARD OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Many Vedantins are familiar with the name of Gerald Heard, a highly regarded speaker at the Vedanta Society from the 1940's on.  In addition to co-editing and contributing articles to the Vedanta Society's "Voice of India" and "Vedanta and the West" magazines, he also founded Trabuco College,  which was later donated to the Vedanta Society to become our Trabuco Monastery.  To read more about his remarkable life and the breadth of his work, please visit the official Gerald Heard website.  The site also provides links to Gerald Heard archival collections around the world.




CENTRE FOR ALDOUS HUXLEY STUDIES

Aldous Huxley served the Vedanta Society as a co-editor and contributor to our magazine "Vedanta and the West" and also spoke at our centers. It is said that his book "Perennial Philosophy" was researched and penned at Trabuco College.  The Centre for Aldous Huxley Studies based in Muenster, Germany, functions as a base and vehicle for the activities of the international Aldous Huxley Society (AHS).




HUNTINGTON LIBRARY ISHERWOOD COLLECTION

Christopher Isherwood was a member of the Vedanta Society and a devotee of Ramakrishna for decades.  He worked with Swami Prabhavananda on their famous translations of "Bhagavad Gita," "How to Know God" (Patanjali's Yoga Sutras), and "Shankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination."  In addition to writing the popular biography "Ramakrishna and His Disciples" he published his memoirs of his spiritual life under the title "My Guru and His Disciple."  He served as co-editor and writer for our magazine "Vedanta and the West," and helped build Trabuco monastery.  In 1999 Christopher Isherwood's entire personal archive of materials was donated to the Huntington Library by his long-time partner Don Bachardy.  To read more about their collection and related events, please see:



An online version of the Huntington's 2004 exhibition "Christopher Isherwood: A Writer and His World" is found here: