National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 57| June 2002


Historian’s Theosophy Collection Acquired

Portrait of Madame Blavatsky
Portrait of Madame Blavatsky

The National Library has just taken delivery of a very large collection of books, serials and archival material donated by the family of Dr John Cooper, a notable Australian historian of the Theosophical Movement. Theosophy can be broadly defined as a body of religious doctrine concerned with the mysteries of divine wisdom, and more specifically is linked to the modern esoteric religious association founded in New York in 1875 by Madame H.P. Blavatsky (1831–91). The Theosophical Movement grew out of Spiritualism and drew heavily on Eastern religion and philosophy. In 1879 Madame Blavatsky visited India and established the headquarters of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, near Madras, where it is still located. Branches were subsequently established throughout most of the world, including Australia in 1894.

John Cooper obtained his Master of Arts in Religious Studies from the University of Sydney in 1986 for a thesis entitled The Theosophical Crisis in Australia: The Story of the Breakup of the Theosophical Society in Sydney from 1913 until 1923. A substantial amount of his collection relates to the history of the Society in Sydney, where it had a substantial impact. Theosophy appears in Kylie Tennant’s Ride on Stranger (1943) and Sumner Locke Elliot’s Careful He Might Hear You (1963). The construction in the mid-1920s of the Star Amphitheatre on Balmoral Beach in Sydney for the Coming of the World Teacher, the early history of the then high-brow radio station 2GB, and the intellectual history of figures such as Alfred Deakin, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin (although they were more interested in Theosophy’s offshoot, Anthroposophy) are all relevant to the history of Theosophy in Australia during this period.

Dr Greg Tillett assists with packing Dr Cooper’s collection
Dr Greg Tillett assists with packing Dr Cooper’s collection

At the time of his death in 1998, Dr Cooper was working on a multi-volume scholarly edition of the correspondence of H.P. Blavatsky. He was posthumously awarded a PhD from the University of Sydney for a preliminary three-volume analytic study of this correspondence. During his research he built up an extensive collection of copies of all of Blavatsky’s letters, and complete sets of many Theosophical publications (including The Theosophist from its first issue in 1879), a huge number of Theosophical pamphlets, as well as a wide range of books (an estimated 5000) to support the courses he taught in the School of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney on Hinduism, Buddhism and the Gnostic tradition. Described as an enthusiastic (almost obsessive) collector of books and documents, Dr Cooper had a broad range of contacts and travelled widely, frequently lecturing on Theosophical subjects, and returning from his travels with parcels or even boxes of books and unique archival material. The Library is privileged to be able to make these extensive resources available to scholars, and is exploring the availability of funding to expedite the processing of this collection. To preserve the integrity of the collection, the Library intends to keep the books together.

Before devoting himself full-time to religious studies, Dr Cooper worked professionally in the field of arts administration. He served as state administrator and director of the Arts Council of New South Wales, as federal administrator of the Arts Council of Australia, and as a senior executive with the Australia Council. A small component of his manuscript collection relates to these activities.

In May 2002, two Library staff members visited John and Shirley Cooper’s beautiful property near Bega to pack the collection. Dr Cooper’s collection was housed in a separate building close to the house. Mrs Cooper, a well-known weaver, also worked in this building. Dr Gregory Tillett, a friend and colleague of Dr Cooper’s, familiar with the collection, pitched in and helped and ensured everything went smoothly. A grand total of 202 boxes were packed for dispatch to the Library. By coincidence, the three days spent packing the collection centred on 8 May, the day of Madame Blavatsky’s death, still celebrated by Theosophists as White Lotus Day.
—Philip Jackson

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