Conjuring Arts Research Center

The Conjuring Arts Research Center is a not-for-profit organization that was established in 2003 dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of magic and its allied arts. Currently, it functions primarily as a research library with over 11,000 book and magazine titles, dating back to the 15th century.

It was created in part to encourage in-depth scholarship devoted to the subject of magic, and has evolved into a resource for performers, historians, writers, collectors and producers of television and film projects.

The board of directors include: David Singmaster, David Blaine , Steve Cuiffo, William Kalush (Executive Director) and Philip Varrichio.

Library

Located in midtown Manhattan, Conjuring Arts' library, housed in 2,600 square feet, consists of over 12,000 volumes devoted to magic and its allied arts.

The collection is noted for its emphasis on early conjuring book with more than a thousand volumes printed before the year 1900. Its 500 plus volume collection of conjuring books printed prior to 1700 written in English, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Latin, French, German, Swedish and Japanese.

The library maintains an extensive collection of manuscripts, some dating back to the 15th century. Included is a rare, unpublished manuscript by Marion Spielmann, the only known student of Charlier. There are also collections of letters including correspondence between Jean Hugard and Fred Braue as well as Ed Marlo letters.

The library has a major and minor periodical published as far back as the 18th century including The Sphinx, Genii, MUM and Linking Ring.

Conjuring Arts also possesses some of the original apparatus sold by famous magic creators including Charles Jordan and Theodore DeLand.

Online access to many of the holdings is provided by their fully text searchable AskAlexander database.

Journal

It's official journal, Gibecière, is edited by Stephen Minch and published twice per year.

References

• http://www.conjuringarts.org/about-us/overview.html
• Magic Magazine April, 2006 (cover)