Tina and R. Gordon Wasson Ethnomycological Collection Archives

The collection is divided into sixteen series. Original order and labels have been maintained in Series 1-5.

Series I. Correspondence and papers: general mycological research, 1925-1987, bulk 1945-1987; arranged alphabetically. Contains correspondence, papers, clippings, articles, and photographs relating primarily to Wasson's mycological research. Includes “Slavic correspondence” with Roman Jakobson relating to Wasson’s efforts on behalf of Jakobson's scholarly and political activities. Also contains correspondence with booksellers and with organizations and societies of which Wasson was a member or a lecturer. Correspondents include Paul C. Blum, Stephan F. Borhegyi, Carlos Castaneda, Richard deMille, Robert Graves, Roger Heim, Albert Hofmann, Aldous Huxley, Roman Jakobson, Keewaydinoquay, Weston LaBarre, Donald B. Lawrence, Timothy Leary, Claude Levi-Strauss, Bernard Lowy, Georg Morgenstierne, Jonathan Ott, and Richard Evans Schultes.

Series II. Correspondence and papers: international mycological fieldwork, 1873-1986, bulk 1945-1986; arranged alphabetically by geographic region and then alphabetically by correspondent and subject.

Contains correspondence and papers relating to fieldwork by Wasson and by his associates in Central America, Europe, and Asia. Articles, annotated manuscripts, clippings, and photographs are interfiled with correspondence. Includes correspondence with Soma co-author Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty in the India files. Includes correspondence, primarily in Spanish, with Irmgard Weitlaner-Johnson in the Mexico files. Also contains Wasson's collection of Romanian and Czechoslovakian mushroom postage stamps. Materials identified as “Siberia” are primarily photocopies and translations of articles although notes and correspondence are also included. Additional correspondents include: George M. Cowan, Rokuya Imazeki, Herlinda Martinez-Cid, Chiyo Omachi, and Gutierre Tibón.

Series III. Correspondence and papers: mycological and etymological investigations, 1936, 1945-1985; arranged alphabetically.

Contains correspondence and papers relating to Wasson’s mycological and etymological investigations. Includes correspondence on the history of caviar, used in Mushrooms, Russia and History, and on soma theory. Correspondents include Sir Harold W. Bailey, John P. Hughes, and Stella Kramrisch.

Series IV. Correspondence and papers: publishing, 1946-1985; arranged alphabetically.

Contains correspondence and papers relating to the production of Wasson's publications. This includes permission to quote from sources and to reproduce artwork, as well as post-publication activities and reviews. Includes correspondence pertaining to That Gettysburg Address, written by Wasson’s father, Edmund Atwill Wasson. Also contains correspondence with the United States Information Agency relating to an exhibition on Mushrooms, Russia and History at the American National Book Exhibition in Moscow, Russia, August 1959.

Materials identified as “General Correspondence” pertain to Wasson’s Life magazine article Seeking the Magic Mushroom (published May 13, 1957), the publication of Mushrooms, Russia and History, and to a review of Mushrooms, Russia and History published in Saturday Review. Included is correspondence with Giovanni Mardersteig and Erwin Panofsky.

Series V. Correspondence and papers: general interests, 1930-1985; arranged alphabetically.

Contains correspondence relating primarily to Wasson's literary and political interests outside the field of mycology. Includes correspondence with The Book of Margery Kemp editor, Hope Emily Allen, pertaining to Wasson's efforts to publicize Allen's work in the United States. Also contains correspondence relating to Wasson's interest in W.H. Hudson and with Ambassador George F. Kennan, relating to the Ford Foundation’s East European Fund, an organization established to assist Soviet exiles. Additional correspondents include: Jorge Casares, Edwin Way Teale, and A.F. Tschiffley.

Series VI. Correspondence and papers: gifts and gift of the Wasson Library to Harvard University, 1960-circa 1997; arranged alphabetically.

Contains correspondence with Harvard University relating to financial gifts, the establishment of the Wasson Library, and items included in the Library. Also includes administrative Library files.

Series VII. Publication drafts, proofs, typescripts, plates, and original art; circa 1957-1986; arranged alphabetically by publication title.

Contains production material for Botanical Museum Leaflets, Les Champignons Hallucinogènes du Mexique (with Roger Heim), Maria Sabina and Her Mazatec Mushroom Velada, Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion, Mushrooms, Russia and History, Soma, and The Wondrous Mushroom.

Series VIII. Translations of printed and audio material, 1958-1971, undated.

Contains translations used by Wasson in his research. Materials are primarily about Maria Sabina. Also includes materials about the Polish Folk Names of Mushrooms monograph and translations of various Chinese writings about mushrooms.

Series IX. Pocket diaries and field notebooks, 1949-1983; arranged chronologically.

Consists of 33 pocket diaries and 37 field notebooks containing notes on travel, mushroom ceremonies, and mycological investigations.

Series X. Certificates, 1931-1983; arranged chronologically.

Three certificates: Wasson’s membership in the Quarter Century Club of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York (1931); New York Botanical Garden Distinguished Service Award certificate (1958); and one citation for The Addison Emery Verrill Medal presented to R. Gordon Wasson (1983).

Series XI. Photographic material, 1950-1980, undated; arranged in three subseries by format.

Contains 35mm slides, stereo slides, photographs, negatives, and transparencies about Wasson’s travels, mycological work, and research.

Subseries A. 35mm slides, 1953-1980, undated.

Contains approximately 3,400 35mm slides. Includes images from Wasson’s travels to Mexico, Afghanistan, India and Oceania, and Japan. Contains slides of mushroom stones and terracotta figure from the Wasson Archives as well as mushroom stones from other collections. Also includes slides from Wasson presentations and research, plates and figures from the monograph Wondrous Mushroom, and miscellaneous images of Wasson and unidentified people.

Subseries B. Stereo slides, 1953-1955.

Approximately 275 color stereo slides of Mexico. The slides were originally housed in two flat cases: Case 1: Huautla, 1953; Mixeria, 1954. Case 2: Huautla de Jiménez, 1955; San Augustin Loxicha. The stereo slides were removed from the cases and rehoused in archival sleeves. Stero slides are individually numbered.

Subseries C. Photographs, 1950-1980, undated. Contains approximately 800 photographs, arranged in two sections.

The first group of photographs are primarily of Wasson’s travels in Mexico from 1953-1962 and Japan in 1966. Many of the photographs are duplicates of images in the 35mm slide sub-series. These images are arranged chronologically. When possible the matching slide number has been noted on the back of the photograph in pencil or noted in a separate spreadsheet.

The second group of photographs are primarily research photographs. Contains photographs, negatives, transparencies, and 35mm slides of artwork, manuscripts, sculpture, and artifacts featuring mushrooms. Many of the images feature paintings and sculptures in museum collections. The images were probably gathered by Wasson as research for his publications. This section is arranged alphabetically by subject.

Series XII. Reading Public Museum exhibit, 1982, undated.

Contains flyers, photographs, labels, posters, and artwork used in the exhibition "Mushroom Magic: The Mushroom Image in Art, Archaeology, Mythology and Science" at the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania from May 9-June 20, 1982.

Series XIII. Keewaydinoquay, circa 1965-1980.

Keewaydinoquay Pakawakuk Peschel (1919-1999) was an Anishinaabeg Elder of the Crane Clan. She was an ethnobotanist, teacher, medicine woman, and author. This series includes photographs of Kee and Wasson as well as objects including decorated stones created by Kee.

Series XIV. Artwork and posters, 1798-1976, undated.

This series is divided into three subseries.

Sub-series A. General artwork, 1803-1976, undated; arranged alphabetically by artist name when known, otherwise arranged alphabetically by title or subject of artwork.

Contains artwork that Wasson collected including drawings, paintings, and prints. The artwork features mushrooms or hallucinogenic plants.

Sub-series B. Japanese artwork, 1797-1924, undated; arranged alphabetically by creator when known, otherwise arranged alphabetically by title or subject of artwork.

Artwork featuring mushrooms or mushroom collecting. Predominantly prints but also includes paintings and some ephemera. There are several woodblock prints from the Edo period (1600-1868) including a Genji triptych by Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III. Also includes five Edo period reproduction prints. Contains a set of mushroom paintings by Mochizuki Shunko.

Sub-series C. Posters, undated. Model chart of Devanagari characters (4 sheets), Plantas Sagradas poster, and Teonanácatl: Hallucinogenic Mushrooms of North America poster.

Series XV. Audiovisual material, 1954-1999, undated.

Arranged in two subseries.

Sub-series A. Audio, 1957-1996.

Includes open reel tapes, cassettes, CDs, and LPs. Contains archival masters, published recordings, and some reformatted audio. Most of the audio is related to the Mexican mushroom ceremony and includes: Mushroom Ceremony of the Mazatec Indians of Mexico (1957); Mexican Mushroom ceremony recordings (1958); Maria Sabina and Her Mazatec Mushroom Velada (1974); and Mazatec Whistle Speech, George Cowan.

This series also contains general audio including: conference sessions from the Conference on Hallucinogens, Shamanism and Modern Life (1978); Soma - The Divine Mushroom which aired on the BBC; Yankee Goes Calling (1954); home recordings of Kee and Wasson; and one cassette labeled Norval Morrisseau. Sub-series B. Moving image, 1978-1999, undated.

Includes 5 minute clip and full documentary of María Sabina, mujer espíritu (1978). Also includes 3 documentaries about Wasson.

Series XVI. Artifacts.

Contains primarily non-print artifacts documenting Wasson’s interest in mushrooms depicted in folk art. Artifacts are assigned identification numbers. This series includes early classic mushroom stones, dried ling-chi (Ganoderma lucidum) and depictions of ling-chi, Chinese snuff bottles from the Ching Dynasty, carved jade and carnelian, wooden and ivory netsuke, carved bone and ivory, and additional east Asian artifacts depicting mushrooms. Housed with the netsuke is one folder of netsuke paperwork.