The Assagioli Archives are a rich collection of Roberto Assagioli’s work, sharing his legacy through hand-written notes, manuscripts, letters and more.
A History of the Archives
Throughout his life Assagioli would regularly write his various ideas onto pieces of paper that would be put away into draws and filings cabinets, accessible by his students, who at the time would organise them into categories. Much of his work, including papers, documents and letters, was organised in the same fashion across several rooms at his home in Florence.
Following his passing in 1974 at 86 years of age, many of his materials were moved to the attic or a damp basement and inaccessible. However, a direct student and collaborator of Assagioli, Piero Ferrucci, took on the task of cataloguing approximately 19,000 of these manuscripts. These can still be accessed today.
In 2006, following the renovation and restoration of Assagioli’s home, the remaining materials were retrieved and brought to life by a group of volunteers: Gruppo Alle Fonti (‘At the Wellsprings’). This group was made up of collaborators from Italian and international psychosynthesis, who came together to organise, sort, and catalogue the remaining materials. This catalogue became the Assagioli Archives we know today. The physical Archives exist in Casa Assagioli in Florence, while the online Assagioli Archives launched in 2015.
The Online Assagioli Archives Today
The online Archives is a free library of Assagioli’s collection of work, arranged by topic into boxes and folders in a hierarchical order. Each record contains a scanned original document and a transcript of Assagioli’s exact words to help the reading of Assagioli’s handwriting.
The Gruppo Alle Fonti created the online archive in the spirit of service, to spread Assagioli’s work as widely as possible and provide access for consultation and research. The volunteer group continues to contribute to the Archives today, cataloguing and scanning the documents kept at Casa Assagioli. New records are uploaded periodically to the website.
A paragraph written by the group, taken from the Assagioli Archives website:
In fact, the Archive value is not only quantitative the abundance of small notes, papers and writings concerning different issues on which they elaborate or sometimes just touch on. More than anything, the Archive is a portal to a new kind of relationship with Roberto Assagioli. By reading and pondering on his endless notes, sometimes even through the visual impact of his manuscripts, we get to penetrate the depth and wisdom of his mind and soul.
By reading his works we appreciate his humanity and his professionalism as well, his constant research, the respect he had for the work of his collaborators and peers, and his loving understanding of the human spirit. By observing his annotated papers, we become aware of the width of his spirit, the eclectic sources that shaped his contribution to the world, and the unfoldment of his planetary consciousness a vision of the never-ending evolution of humanity and life.
Access to the archive is, therefore, not only an educative and cognitive opportunity, but a deep and intimate experience leading to an expansion of consciousness.
We encourage everyone to visit the Archivio Assagioli website to view the timeline of Assagioli’s life and work. To view all of the scanned documents, a free membership is required.
Accessing the Archive
Catherine Ann Lombard M.A, psychosynthesis psychologist, practitioner and collaborator of the Gruppo Alle Fonti, will be hosting a free 1-hour online demonstration of the Assagioli Archives for the Trust community on Friday 16th September. Book your place here.
You can also read Catherine Ann Lombard’s blog on how to use the Archives.
World Psychosynthesis Day 2022
To celebrate Word Psychosynthesis Day on 20th September, we will share our communities’ favourite pieces from the Assagioli Archives throughout the month online.
If you’d like to contribute and choose a selected piece from the archives that moved you, feel free to share with us on our social media channels by tagging us and using the #WorldPsychosynthesisDay:
Instagram (handle: @psychosynthesis_trust)
Twitter (handle: @ThePTrust)
Facebook (handle: @ThePTrust)
LinkedIn.
Or, if you’d prefer to remain anonymous, please email your chosen quote to media@ptrust.org.uk and we can share on the Trust’s channels on your behalf.
Image credit to Archivio Assagioli