1. They preserved his films. Currently several archives are working to digitizing all 8, 16, and 35 millimeter movie footage of Baba, taken from 1932 to 1968. These include the Sufi archives in Walnut Creek, Ca., Beloved Archives in Trenton, NJ, Meher Center archives in Myrtle Beach, SC, and the Avatar Meher Baba Trust Archives in Meherazad, India. Such preservation has included careful restoration efforts. The only color sound film of Baba (shot in 1967) was digitized and preserved by EYE Film Institute Netherlands in 2010.
2. Baba's photos and original negatives have not only been carefully preserved by several groups and individuals, but are nearly all digitized. The largest of these archives is MSI Collection India with thousands of original scans. Preserved photos of Baba date from 1899 to December 1968.
3. Photos of Baba's mandali (close disciples) are preserved, most notably the Win Coates collection, preserved by Meher Baba Archives.
4. Through the support of Baba's lovers, Baba's major books have not only been preserved, but kept in print continuously through the non-profit efforts of many groups including the Avatar Meher Baba Trust, Sheriar Foundation, and Sufism Reoriented. In addition, digitized manuscripts have been preserved by the Avatar Meher Baba Trust Online Library and the Meher Legacy website. Baba lovers around the world have also preserved thousands of original monographs and pamphlets in their home libraries. These are continuously donated to central archives for preservation.
5. Letters and journals related to Baba are conserved by the Avatar Meher Baba Trust, Meher Archive Collective, the Meher Spiritual Center, Avatar's Abode, and many other centers, as well as individuals. Much of this has never been scanned, but the work is ongoing.
6. Many of the significant places Baba visited have been preserved and tended as potential places of pilgrimage in the future, most importantly the Meher Baba Center in Myrtle Beach, and Meherabad and Meherazad in India.
7. Numerous artifacts associated with Baba's life, including personal belongings, are preserved in climate controlled conditions in the Archives of the Avatar Meher Baba Trust in India. Others are around the world in small collections, including the Meher Center Archive in Myrtle Beach.
8. The history of the lives of Meher Baba's masters have been preserved, along with photos.
9. Numerous memoirs of life with Meher Baba his close disciples have been kept in print by Sheriar Foundation in Myrtle Beach.
10. Several score of books about Baba have also been published.
11. Efforts have been made to chart all pertinent facts about the travels and contacts of Meher Baba have been done and made public by many individuals, most notably Meher Baba Travels website.
12. Efforts have been made, and are ongoing, to fulfill all the development projects specified in Baba's Trust and Will in India, including pilgrim facilities, dispensary, school, monument, grave sites, and so on. Baba's tomb has been kept in immaculate condition, as well as other sites in Meherabad and Meherazad in India.
In short, the great work of the Baba lovers was preservation, as if for some future time. One day this selfless effort will be noted.
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| Memorial Tower, Meherabad, India, dedicated to all those lovers that did work for Baba's cause |
This is consistent with my belief that Baba's public appreciation is still a couple decades ahead. Baba's life has been preserved more than responded to. Certainly archiving cannot be done just for sake of archiving. Most of these archives are concealed from the public, a very strange attitude to Baba's relics and manuscripts, indicative of a change that has not yet taken place. Currently all Baba relics disappear into the 'black hole' of man-made archives, covetously guarded. In the meantime, we can only hope that these archives enjoy their hidden collections. The one exception is the Meher Baba Trust Online Library, a real gift to the world.
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