Letters to and from Wolff
This file contains correspondence concerning the work of Dr. Frederick Kettner, who founded the Biosophical Institute in New York City.
These two letters record some matters regarding Wolff’s publication of “Concept, Percept and Reality” in The Philosophical Review. A letter from the editor (Mr. Cunningham) reveals that Wolff had revised his initial submission, which the journal’s reviewers found a “great improvement over the other.” Mr. Cunningham also notes that there may be a delay in its publication, as articles are published in the order received. Wolff states that this is satisfactory. The essay was published in the July 1939 issue. (2 pages)
The three letters in this file describe Wolff’s 1943 trip to purchase a 430-acre ranch just outside Lone Pine, Calif. At the time, it was known as the “Hoar Ranch” (after its owners), and shortly after its purchase, Sherifa renamed it the “Assembly of Man Ranch,” after the organization that Wolff and she had founded in 1928. The purchase of this property provided the group with easy access to the Ashrama and was primarily used as a base for the group’s summer activities.
This is a series of seven handwritten letters from Wolff to his wife Sherifa, dated from May 24, 1942 to July 10, 1942. In these letters, Wolff chronicles the summer’s work on the Ashrama (or as it was called then, the “Ajna Ashrama”). (27 pages)
This file contains an exchange of letters between Peter Geshell and Franklin Merrell-Wolff. Mr. Gehsell writes concerning some Assembly of Man coursework he has undertaken, and he notes that he finds reading The Secret Doctrine difficult. He then asks a series of questions, to which Wolff responds in the letter that follows. Briefly stated, Mr. Geshell’s questions are:
The original copies of these two letters have not been delivered, so it is not possible to determine how heavily these transcripts have been edited. The file here consists of two letters from Wolff to his wife; they were respectively written in May and June 1938. Wolff reports on the progress of setting up Summer Camp at the future site of the Ashrama. (3 pages)
In this letter, Wolff expresses his thanks for a garment that Mr. William Kohout sent him for his birthday (July 11). A note penned by Mr. Kohout that was presumably included with the gift (and written on the back of a blank invoice at 1:00 a.m. on September 30) follows Wolff's letter. A transcription of the Chicago student's note follows. (4 pages)
This exchange of letters concerns Mr. Geshell’s work on the Ashrama. In the first letter, which is addressed to Sherifa (Wolff’s first wife), Mr. Geshell begins with a discussion of the Milwaukee group’s contribution to the construction of the Ashrama; in the remainder of the letter he restates his commitment to help in the construction of this structure. Wolff responds, detailing some of the work that has been completed in preparation for beginning construction of the Ashrama, and he then asks Mr. Geshell’s help in the construction of this building. (6 pages)
This file contains the correspondence between Franklin F. Wolff and J. William Lloyd, to whom Wolff sent a manuscript copy of the book that was to become Pathways Through to Space. The following sketch of Lloyd’s life and achievements is based an autobiographical essay that Lloyd penned in 1940, as well as a number of other sources that illuminate the life of this fascinating individual.[1]
This is an important letter, as it was written a week after what Wolff called his first “Fundamental Realization” (and to which Wolff refers in the postscript). He begins, however, by addressing Mr. Gibson’s inquiries concerning conscience, which Wolff recognizes as sourced in one’s inner being and as the highest authority in all moral decisions.
