1960s. Ephemera: brochures, leaflets, flyers, press releases, photographs, etc. In the mid-1960s, Timothy Leary's experiments with LSD and other psychedelic agents became formalized as he established the Castalia Foundation to make information about the psychedelic experience, as well as psychedelic experiences themselves, available to more and more people. Purchasing a large estate in Millbrook, New York, with the financial help of several wealthy followers, he began to offer workshops and experiences. Later he founded the League for Spiritual Discovery (LSD) -- an attempt to create a religion and declare the psychedelic experience to be a sacrament. LSD was legal at the time but it was banned in California in October, 1966, less than a month after he founded the League. Other states and the U.S. followed suit over the next few years. The archive covers the several years when these efforts were underway, as follows:

• Castalia Foundation and USCO press release for "Psychedelic Exploration," a series of Monday night lectures, discussions, improvisations and mixed media experiences dealing with "the technology of consciousness expansion," at the New Theater in New York City, starting in June, 1965. Two-sided, folded in thirds.
• One-page mimeograph announcing "Psychedelic Explorations," presented by the Castalia Foundation and USCO, July 12, 1965. "The projections and sound are comprised of various modern materials using contemporary technology. Nonetheless, we believe them to be in the true traditions of transcendental art media of the past..." Age-toned; folded in fourths.
• A program for an appearance by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert at the Town Hall in New York, presented by the Castalia Foundation for Psychedelic Research and titled "How to Use Your Head: A Dialogue on LSD and Consciousness Expansion." One sheet, folded to make four pages.
• Castalia Foundation flyer advertising weekend workshops in consciousness expansion, to be held in Millbrook, New York (Leary's estate). Quarter fold flyer.
• Castalia Foundation flyer advertising experiential workshops, again in Millbrook. Horizontal page, folded once.
• Brochure and application for the Castalia Foundation's Millbrook Summer School Psychedelic Training Courses for Summer 1966, at which Leary is in charge of "Psychedelic Theory." 8 pages, side-stapled, folded in thirds.
• The Question of Cannabis, Castalia Foundation Leaflet #1 (1966). Informational leaflet. Quarter fold flyer, with three articles and bibliography; creasing to lower edges.
• The League for Spiritual Discovery charter, stating purposes, methods, and administrative and legal structure. Leary is named as "First Guide." Includes a guide roster of 17 guides (including poet Diane Di Prima and her then-husband) and an application for membership. Stapled in upper corner; edge worn.
• A League for Spiritual Discovery press release, December, no year stated, for "The Illumination of Buddha, a Psychedelic Celebration," with Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and Richard Alpert, among others. Two-sided, blue ink mimeograph, clipped down to 8 1/2' x 9 1/2".
• Four additional press releases for the weekly series: "The Illumination of the Buddha" (2 pages); "The Reincarnation of Jesus Christ" (2 separate, different announcements); and "The Vision of Hieronymous Bosch." Five pages total: one on folded legal paper, the others cut down to 8 1/2" x 10".
• Two programs for L.S.D.'s Psychedelic Celebration Series: one for "The Death of the Mind" and another for "The Reincarnation of Jesus Christ" (2 copies), the back of which prints "A Tribute to Jackie Cassen and Rudi Stern by Timothy Leary and the League." Legal sheets, folded in half.
• A Psychedelic Theatre Festival flyer announcing a benefit for the Timothy Leary Defense Fund at Open Stage, on May 22, 1966: Leary had been arrested for marijuana possession. "Bring a flower," the flyer exhorts. One horizontal sheet, folded in half, with corner creases.
• "D.M.T.: An Hallucinatory Beadgame," an ode to dimelthyltrytamine by Jackie Cassen, Ralph Metzner and Mary McKay, "For Timothy Leary." Single, illustrated sheet. With accompanying flyer advertising the Briggs Theatre production of the D.M.T. sound and light show. Folded once.
• Reactions to Psilocybin Administered in a Supportive Environment by Leary, George Litwin, and Ralph Metzner. 1963 offprint from The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease -- a pre-counterculture scientific report by Leary and other mainstays of the psychedelic movement later in the 60s. A dozen pages; stapled; near fine.
• Three black and white snapshots dated December, 1966: one shot of Leary's name on the marquee of the Village Theater, the precursor to the Fillmore East and the location for a number of Castalia Foundation events; this one was on September 16, 1966 and was titled "The Death of the Mind." Also two other nearly identical shots of Leary seated, presumably on the theater stage, with graphics projected behind him. The negatives for these are included, along with three additional negatives.
• Two 8" x 10" black & white publicity photos of Leary, one headshot and one of him seated on a stage, barefoot, with microphone in hand. Each of these items would be scarce individually; together they compose a highly uncommon archive that captures a great deal of information about a unique moment, both in Leary's own biography and in the history of the counterculture that he helped create.

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