Sabian Publishing Society News Notes

Number Seven June 2017

Reminder: The 2017 Annual Sabian Publishing Society Meeting is scheduled for 10 AM on
Saturday, July 29, 2017, during the Sabian Assembly Summer Conference at the Crowne
Plaza Wilmington North Hotel in Claymont, Delaware. All members are encouraged to
attend. If you cannot be there, please send a proxy slip to someone who will attend to be sure
your vote is counted. A draft agenda for the meeting is attached for your review.

The Annual SPS Meeting will include reports on the SPS’s budget and year in review, the SPS
Board of Trustees election results, and discussion and vote on the SPS’s proposal to offer for
donation a selection of MEJ’s books, documents and memorabilia to the Harry Ransom Center at
the University of Texas at Austin. Last summer’s Annual Meeting minutes will also be
distributed for review and approval

Reminder: Ballots for Election of SPS Board of Trustees must reach Jan Shannon by July 1st.

Proposal for Donation of a Selection of Marc Edmund Jones’s Books, Documents and
Memorabilia to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
As approved by a nearly unanimous vote of the membership at the 2016 Annual SPS Meeting,
Lizanne McClenon this spring met with staff members at the Harry Ransom Center to discuss this
project. She presented a “show-and-tell” of a few of MEJ’s scrapbooks, books and screenplays,
as well as the detailed list of selected items proposed to be donated. This list was circulated and
discussed at the 2016 SPS Annual Meeting and is available on request from Lizanne.

In May, Lizanne received enthusiastic approval from the director of the Ransom Center for the
proposed donation, pending the affirmative vote of the SPS membership. At the June 14, 2017
monthly meeting, the SPS Board of Trustees unanimously voted to recommend approval by the
membership at the Annual SPS Meeting on July 29th.

Those who attended Lizanne’s program on the Harry Ransom Center last summer will remember
that it is a world-class Humanities Research Center well suited to preserve and make available
MEJ’s works and memorabilia. For example, the Center currently houses the archives of Gloria
Swanson, David O. Selznick, Harry Houdini, Robert DeNiro, and Aleister Crowley, to name just
a few. They have large collections of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, and
Mark Twain, and own one of 48 surviving Gutenberg Bibles. For more information on the Harry
Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, please visit www.hrc.utexas.edu/. Again,
there will be no action taken without a formal vote of the membership. Please direct any
questions you might have to Lizanne McClenon.
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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. Why the Harry Ransom Center? This leading humanities research center and library
provides professional, state-of-the-art archival storage, protection and accessibility for
treasured books and documents. Long-time Sabian Assembly member and archivist
Lizanne McClenon is on the staff of the University of Texas at Austin, and is a member of
the Harry Ransom Center (HRC.) She has personally met with HRC staff, toured the
facility, reviewed its policies and procedures, and recommends it without reservation as an
appropriate repository for the MEJ collection of selected books and documents. A
suggestion was made by a member at the 2016 Annual SPS Meeting that other potential
repositories be investigated. Accordingly, members were encouraged to contact any SPS
BOT member with information on alternative facilities. However, no alternatives have
been offered.

2. Why Now? We currently have no suitable, professional facility available for the archival
protection and managed access of some of the Sabian Assembly’s most treasured
manuscripts, documents, books and memorabilia collected and written by Marc Edmund
Jones. It is crucial that we properly care for this intellectual property as well as to position
MEJ’s work along with other cultural leaders of the 20th century. We have an
unprecedented opportunity, with Lizanne McClenon on staff and on-site at the University
of Texas at Austin, to provide unparalleled stewardship of MEJ’s body of work, and to
introduce and make it accessible to a wider, worldwide audience, which includes scholars
and researchers.

3. What are the legal arrangements for this proposed donation? The SPS is the legal
501(c)(3) charitable arm of the Sabian Assembly, authorized to represent and enter into
legal agreements on behalf of the membership. The SPS’s purpose includes “…the
preparation and distribution of the philosophical and occult materials of Marc Edmund
Jones …and the making of them available to the public through discussion groups,
forums, lectures, and similar programs, and providing and circulating promotional
materials concerning them.” (The Sabian Publishing Society Bylaws, Article II, Purpose.)

The SPS Board of Trustees voted unanimously to recommend the donation of the selected
MEJ collection on June 14, 2017. This action will be brought to the membership for
endorsement at the SPS Annual Meeting on July 29, 2017.

Following approval by the SPS membership, a Deed of Gift will be reviewed by a trusted
Sabian attorney, then signed by an SPS officer. The SPS will retain copyrights for those
they own, as will individuals who own copyrights of books included in the collection. The
HRC will then own the collection.
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4. What about access to the collection at HRC?

There is no lag-time between the donation and access once the materials are shelved and
they are available in the reading room. Online access will take time as the materials “get
in line to be digitized. Sabian Assembly members will have access to the collection by
visiting the HRC and online once the collection is digitized. Copies of items will also be
scanned for the Sabian archives before the collection is donated.

5. Can additions be made to the collection?

Yes. The SPS will enter into a long-term relationship with the HRC and can offer to
donate additions to the collection in the future.

6. Where can I find the list of selected MEJ books, documents and memorabilia
proposed for this donation?
Please contact Lizanne McClenon at lizannemcclenon@gmail.com to request the list.

7. What was the motion approved by the membership at the July 30, 2016 SPS Annual
Meeting?

“That the Sabian Publishing Society collect, compile, index and establish a selected
collection of the lifetime literary production of Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, which will
include good copies of his published books, dramatic works, fiction, poetry, scripts,
scenarios, magazine articles, scrapbooks, and the complete second cycle Sabian Bible and
Philosophy lesson sets and Blue Letters, to be offered for permanent safe keeping and
public access at an academic institution or foundation. In addition to Dr. Jones’ own
writing, the collection will include a small, selected collection of books and articles about
him.”

Please feel free to contact any of the SPS Board members listed below for more information.
Meanwhile, we look forward to seeing some of you at the Summer Conference!

In fellowship,

Elizabeth McClung, President

Lizanne Ledbetter McClenon, Vice President
James A. Sharpe, Treasurer
Stan Carnarius, Secretary
Michael Elliott, Member at-Large