The below article is from Trimtab Summer 1999:
The Buckminster Fuller Institute is very happy to announce that the Buckminster Fuller Archive will be moving at the end of this summer to Stanford University. The agreement with Stanford was concluded on July 16th 1999 and according to Roberto Trujillo, Head of the Department of Special Collections at Stanford, where the Fuller Archive will be located, the collection will become available to scholars within a relatively brief period of time.
Allegra Fuller Snyder, Chairwoman of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, commented, "I am so gratified that the Fuller Archive will make its permanent home at Stanford-whose vision and goals are so closely aligned with my father's thinking. He always felt California represented the cresting wave of human evolutionary patterns, and Stanford is right at that interface of cutting edge thinking and technology. I am particularly excited that with the move to Stanford we will be broadening accessibility to the scholarly community; and especially to the students and new thinkers, who I feel are so significantly gathered at Stanford."
The move of the Archive is strategically aligned with the BFI mission. Over the past 2 years BFI has fully restructured its programmatic objectives so that it no longer depends on maintaining physical possession of the Archive. Having helped facilitate its relocation, BFI can now concentrate its resources toward being a catalyst for awareness and action directed towards the realization of humanity's option for success. As one of our priorities, we look forward to stepping up the pace of placing key portions of Fuller's legacy on-line.
"As we move into the new millennium, there has never been a time where the need for this work is so great and the necessary tools for being effective at it so readily available," says Joshua Arnow, BFI President. "After serving as the custodian for this remarkable collection for 15 years, BFI is thrilled to pass the baton to an institution with such an outstanding array of resources. Because Stanford matches their resources with an abundance of entrepreneurial spirit, I am confident they will play a significant role in developing the enormous potential of the archive. This vitally important potential is underpinned by Fuller's realization that humanity now has the historically unprecedented option to produce a high standard of living for all people on an ecologically sustainable basis. I believe Stanford truly appreciates the value and significance represented in the legacy of the Fuller Archive."
One of the primary reasons that Stanford was selected is their refreshingly proactive approach toward transforming collections into living and accessible resources for education and research. With this kind of initiative we anticipate that access to the archive will be improved considerably.
The Stanford University Library web site
Michael Keller, University Librarian and Director of Academic Information Resources at Stanford, who was personally involved in the collection evaluation prior to the decision for locating it at Stanford, stated that he regards this archive as "one of the most important acquisitions" during his career, which spans over three decades. Keller said that it is particularly important because it is useful for research and teaching across multiple disciplines.
Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information Resources now merged into SUL/AIR is committed not only to the creation and preservation of digital information but participates in the production and development of advanced information technologies.
Assunta Pisani, Associate University Librarian for Collections and Services at Stanford, stated that "the collection is a significant resource for the vast range of ideas, subjects, and people with whom Fuller was concerned, and the Stanford University Libraries are its ideal new home for further study and exploration." She noted that the collection will be of tremendous research value to faculty and students in a large number of disciplines, ranging across the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences.
As part of its mission to influence the future of scholarly communication SUL/AIR established an electronic publishing arm called High Wire Press. Since its founding in 1995, High Wire Press has become the industry leader in the development of web editions of scholarly journals. It now produces over 100 of the world's leading science, technology, and medical journals for world around distribution on the Internet.
Finding of a new home for the Archive marks what BFI hopes will be the beginning of a long term mutually beneficial relationship with the Stanford University Library, the Archive's new owner. We look forward to working with Stanford and the Fuller family to accelerate making relevant archival material available through our web site and other channels.
See also:
Stanford University page for the Fuller Archive
