The Serapeion Project
Occult ’Zine, Journal and Ephemera Preservation
The Hermetic Library seeks to preserve, catalogue and make accessible archives of occult ’zines, journals and other ephemera as cultural artifacts of the living Western Esoteric Tradition.
Are you the publisher of or contributor to an occult ’zine or journal?
Do you have a collection of issues from an occult ’zine or archive of ephemera?
The Hermetic Library would very much like to help preserve, catalogue and make accessible the important cultural artifacts of the living Western Esoteric Tradition that are represented by occult ’zines, journals and ephemera. The library can help catalog and preserve both physical and digital, both scholarly and creative materials from the last century of enthusiastic and exuberant esotericism in order to make sure that these are not lost, hidden or forgotten.
Examples of the kind of preservation work that has already been done can be seen specifically in the online archives of The International, Caduceus but also generally across the whole of the collection. So much more can be done. Will you help us be of service?
- Physical Preservation
- Digital Preservation
- Transcription
- Cataloging
- Online Presentation
- and more!
Send email to the Hermetic Library to discuss temporary or permanent donations of your materials for preservation or to help us get in touch with creators, contributors and collectors via librarian@hermetic.com
Collaborative ’Zine, Journal & Ephemera Indexing
The Serapeion Project index is a way for the wider community of students and researchers to find what exists already being preserved, and to help coordinate the preservation of materials not yet online.
Do you know of an occult 'zine or ephemera collection, online or not? Help add it to the index!
Readings elsewhere
Preservation of esoteric materials
- Occult ’zines as cultural artifacts by Psyche
Preservation in general
- Preservation Week, American Library Association
- Taking Care, Smithsonian Museum Consveration Institute.
Why “Serapeion”?
After the burning of the main Library of Alexandria, the Serapeion, the temple of Serapis, became the primary location of scrolls and served as a place of learning. It was in the Serapeion that Hypatia taught. It is to the notion of preservation of materials in spite of difficulty, to the spirit of learning from these preserved materials that the project name is a reference.
