THE ARCHIVE OF THE EDELWEISS SOCIETY ENTERS THE COLLECTION IN ITS ENTIRETY
After the acquisition of the mediumistic drawings from the archives of the Edelweiss Society (Edelweissförbundet) at the beginning of this year, Elmar R. Gruber immediately started to transcribe and translate the texts accompanying the drawings. The beginning of an exciting research program delving into this unique material was made.
The extensive records of the Edelweiss Society, the séance protocols, records of visions, letters and other texts of the members of the Edelweiss Society turned out to be indispensable for an understanding of the drawings. This material had been kindly loaned to the Collection of Mediumistic Art (CoMA) by Monica von Rosen Nestler until it was to be given to the Lund University Library.
Gruber remained in close contact with Monica von Rosen Nestler in order to clarify the many questions that arose from the processing of the texts and concerned specific topics of the Edelweiss Society. In the course of this extensive exchange of ideas, Monica von Rosen Nestler became more and more convinced that the entire archive of the Edelweissförbundet would be in the best hands at the CoMA, where it is subjected to intensive and comprehensive scholarly processing with great enthusiasm. Furthermore, the integrity of the archive and its storage in one place is also of great advantage for planned future exhibitions.
Between Monica von Rosen Nestler and Elmar R. Gruber portraits of the founder of the Edelweiss Society Huldine Beamish (left) and her daughter and successor Huldine Fock
CoMA is proud to have reached an agreement with Monica von Rosen Nestler that allows the Edelweiss Society's entire archive to remain in one place. The material includes not only handwritten records of 280 visions of founder Huldine Beamish (1836-1892) from 1884-1892 and well over 13,000 manuscript pages of séance protocols in numerous notebooks, often interspersed with drawings. Among them are transcripts of séances attended by Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) and in which she was directly addressed by the "spirit friends," as the disembodied entities were referred to. Then letters, plans for a temple building, photographs, impressive paintings of the early leaders of the Edelweiss Society, plus beautiful portraits and two large designs of angels, apparently for windows of the temple, by Tyra Kleen (1875-1951) and much more.
Exceptional in its abundance and cohesiveness, these unique archival holdings, along with the large body of mediumistic drawings, are of the highest importance in the history of religion, culture, and art. The CoMA is very aware of the singular responsibility and commitment associated with such an acquisition and looks forward to its scientific processing.
