By Katie Posey
Unlike the majority of university religion archives that focus on traditional Christian religions, UC Santa Barbara’s Special Research Collections contains diverse written documentation of nontraditional spiritual traditions.
UCSB’s Religious Studies librarian David Gartwell at the opening reception of “Lifting the Veil.”
Now, UCSB’s Library has mounted “Lifting the Veil,” an exhibit curated by UCSB’s Religious Studies librarian David Gartwell. “Lifting the Veil” was created to showcase esoteric religious knowledge and its implications in modern practices.
Gartwell assembled the collection using UCSB’s American Religious Collection (ARC), an archive containing almost 40,000 religious works from America’s history.
“The items in the ARC allow us to lift the veil over our own vision, the remembered and the forgotten,” Gartwell said at the opening reception last week, which was attended by members of the university community and the wider public.
Through “Lifting the Veil,” Gartwell hopes to inform viewers of marginalized spiritual practices found documented in the UCSB’s archives that are often neglected as we tell the history of Western religious traditions. Often these forgotten religions failed to become widely adopted, and in turn, their history is easily forgotten, he said.
One collection included in “Lifting the Veil” is dedicated to the New Age Movement, a development that occurred in the mid-20th century that featured practices surrounding reincarnation, spiritual energy, and astrology. Today we see some of these spiritual traditions still being practiced in the form of yoga, crystal healing, palm reading, and tarot card reading. The exhibit brings to light the readings and periodicals that are fundamental to their history.
Gartwell also included a collection dedicated to Pagan witchcraft. It displays the Book of Shadows, an instruction manual for magical rituals by witches. Its publication in the 1970s made it possible for the once esoteric practice of witchcraft to be employed by modern pagans. “A watered-down version of witchcraft flooded popular media,” said Gartwell in a note included in the exhibit. At the time, television shows such as “Bewitched” made the general public more aware of the practice of witchcraft.
Gartwell’s witchcraft collection includes The Book of Shadows , a publication that was incorporated in modern Pagan rituals in the mid 20th-century.
Gartwell’s “Lifting the Veil” collection will be available for viewing at the Special Research Collections until June 30th, 2023.
Katie Posey is a fourth-year UC Santa Barbara student majoring in Communication. She is a Web and Social Media Intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.