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Preliminary Inventory of the Barbara Shor Papers, 1953-2000 and undated (bulk [1970's]-1998)

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Descriptive Summary

Title
Barbara Shor Papers, 1953-2000and undated (bulk [1970's]-1998)
Creator
Shor, Barbara
Extent
21 Linear Feet
5159 Items
Repository
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
Language
English.
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Administrative Information

Access Restrictions
Collection is restricted.
In addition, some of the materials in this collection are not immediately accessible, because they require further processing before use.
Patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Barbara Shor Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The Barbara Shor Papers was received by the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library as a gift in 2001.
Processing Information
Processed by Jessica Lancia; Danielle McGregor
Completed February 1, 2002
Encoded by Ruth E. Bryan
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
This collection is unprocessed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
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Biographical Note

Writer, dream workshop leader, and director of Dreamgates Communities in New York, N.Y. Shor died in 2001.

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Collection Overview

Oracles and books on divination (01-045)(28 items, 1.8 linear feet; dated ca. 1970s-1990s and undated), including 17 decks of tarot and other cards, many enclosed in fabric or leather. Shore designed two of the decks, "The Earth Alliance Deck" and "The Earthrise Deck." Also includes sets of runes and I Ching coins, a pendulum, an edition of the I CHING, a rune book edited by Ralph Blum, and other printed material regarding the I CHING and tarot cards.
The addition (01-248) (5131 items, 19.2 linear feet; dated 1953-2000, bulk 1970s-ca. 1998) documents Shor's work on dreams. Includes 41 volumes of meditation and dream journals by Shore (1974-1999); other journals and dream documentation and interpretation by Shor and others; correspondence; and dream-related periodicals, including Dream Network Bulletin. There are also drafts of Shor's poems, short stories, essays, and dream handbooks (ca. 1953-2000), including Unexpected Gifts,Open Channel,Dreaming with Angels,Shared Dreaming,Dream Tool Kit: How to Remember and Encode Your Own Dreams,Small Gifts, and The Swan; records from the Dreamgate Shared Dreaming Project; notes on or from other dream-related workshops; 11 black-and-white and 3 color photographs; and 197 computer disks containing circa 9800 electronic documents.
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Subject Headings

These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
List of Series in Collection
Accessions 2001-0045 and 2001-0248
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Preliminary Description of Collection

Accessions 2001-0045 and 2001-0248

Users must obtain the donor's permission before quoting from any part of the materials in boxes 4-32. In addition, boxes 4-16 may contain sensitive information, including personal details of the lives and dreams of Shor's family members, clients, friends, and participants in dream projects. This sensitive material restriction is in force for 50 years after the date of the latest document in the accession, and patrons must agree to keep photocopies of these documents for their personal use only. Patrons must sign a waiver concerning these restrictions on publication, on revealing private information, and on conveying photocopies to anyone else. Contact Research Services.
Some of the materials in this accession are not immediately accessible because they require further processing before use. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection. Includes rusty fasteners throughout.
Each of Shor's 3-ring binders containing her dream journals have been removed and their contents refoldered. Shor's arrangement of her journals into consecutive volumes has been kept and has been reproduced on each folder label. Materials from the front and back pockets of each binder/volume can be found in the front of the first folder for that binder and the back of the last folder for that binder. The journals can be found in boxes 16-32.
Scope and content notes regarding Shor's oracles (divination tools) and books on divination in boxes 1-3 are taken from a letter to RBMSCL by Andrew Ramer.
Much of Shor's work is contained in electronic documents. Disks 001-197 have been removed from this accession (they were found loose in boxes), and their contents migrated to the Special Collections Server. Disk separation sheets can be found in box 32. A disk directories log exists. Contact a Reference Archivist.

Oracles (divination tools) and books on divination
Box 1
Tarot Cards
9th Dimension Tarot Cards
[Includes notes made by Shor, 1972.]
Spanish Tarot Cards
La Fontaine Tarot Cards
Native American Tarot Cards
Egyptian Gypsies Tarot Cards
French Tarot Cards
The New Tarot Cards
The Stairs of Gold Tarot Cards
The Book of Runes, Ralph Blum edition
[The book includes notes by Shor. The actual runes can be found in the larger of the two leather pouches in box 2.]
Box 2
5 packs of Tarot and other cards enclosed in various fabrics or scarves
[The deck used by Shor when she did readings is inside a blue silk bag with silver dragons on it. The silk came from a friend's trip to Asia. The bead may come from Crete. Andrew Ramer sewed the bag. The Earth Alliance Deck, created by Shor, is wrapped in turquoise silk. A friend produced the computer images. See box 13 for further Earth Alliance material. The Earthrise Deck, also created by Shor, is wrapped in red silk inside a leather pouch. The pouch may be of deer hide and may have been given to her by Joseph Real. She created the Earthrise Deck because of her frustration with the limitations of the tarot and from her own experiences. She often used the Earthrise Deck in conjunction with the tarot cards in her readings. A further description of the cards in this deck compiled by Andrew Ramer can be found in the inventory drawers in RBMSCL. A blue pouch contains "The Angel Oracle," described in the book Ask Your Angels that was coauthored by Andrew Ramer and edited in part by Shor.]
Wooden box
Shor's pendulum
Two oracles created by Andrew Ramer
[One, in blue denim, is based on the Semitic alphabet and sometimes called "Hebe Runes." The other is a tribal oracle written on 3x5 cards.]
Two sets of I Ching coins
Shor's first set of runes
[Composed of 8 handmade tiles in a blue pouch. Also includes Shor's descriptions of the tiles.]
A child's oracle
Set of runes enclosed in a leather bag
[Used in conjunction with the The Book of Runes, Ralph Blum edition in box 1.
Box 3
Printed material on the I Ching and the Tarot
Packs of Dream Cards; Flower Power (Ancient Herbal Remedy) Cards; I Ching Cards; Destiny cards

Writings, workshop and seminar material, correspondence, subject files, and ephemera
Box 3
Printed material regarding dreams and poetry, including Shor's Sea Change,1975
Box 4
Drafts of poetry, ca. 1976-ca. 1996
Draft of Unexpected Gifts,1993
Box 4-5
Drafts of essays, 1978-1996
Box 5
Dream Lexicon
Draft of Open Channel,1988
Drafts of poems and stories
Box 5-6
Draft of Dreaming with Angels,1994
Box 6
Draft of Shared Dreaming,1994
Workshops and seminars
Box 7
Poseidia Dreams, 1984-1987
Technical Services staff need to process material in envelopes before use.
Shared Dreaming
Technical Services staff need to process material in envelopes before use.
Box 8
Dream Extras, 1987-1992
Dream magazines, 1982-1992
Dream Dialog, 1983-1985
Correspondence and dreams, 1984
Dreams, 1987-1999
Workshop notes
Box 9
Correspondence
Dreams and dream lexicon, organized by Shor according to topic
Notes and other materials on various dream events, including the New York Shared Dreaming Project
Box 10
Dreamgate Shared Dreaming Project, 1989
Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes before use.
Dreams and dream lexicon, organized by Shor according to topic
Box 11
Dream Tool Kit: How to Remember and Encode Your Own Dreams, 1994
Dreams and dream lexicon, organized by Shor according to topic
Correspondence
Box 11-12
Shared Dreaming Project, 1988-1989
Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes before use.
Contains graphic materials.
Box 12
Dream Network Bulletin and other dream publications, 1988-1998
Drafts of poetry
Correspondence from clients and daughter
Dreams
Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes before use.
Drafts of articles
Box 13
Drafts of stories and poems, including from Small Gifts and The Swan
The Harmonic Convergence Book of Dreams, ed. Charles Upton, 1988
Earth Alliance
[See box 2 for The Earth Alliance deck of cards.]
Box 14
Notes from conferences attended
Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes before use.
Material on copyright
Rhoda Nathans black and white photographs, including one of Merce Cunningham, and publications by Michael Andron
Attention: Contains graphic materials.
Draft of Open Channel,1988
Drafts of High School newspaper columns, 1953
Early poetry, "The box of unstrung words..."
Draft of Dream Tool Kit and other articles
Box 15
Notebook on t'ai chi ch'uan, pressure points, and yoga
Box 15-16
Drafts of poetry, stories, and essays, including God's Cookbook,1995; The Reluctant Medium;Mucky Boots;The Black-Headed People: A Story of Ancient Summer;Earth Rise; two Grover stories; Among the Trees,1996;
Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes before use.

Journals
Box 16
2 [journals,] some of dreams, 1991 and undated
Box 17
Table of Contents, 1987-1994   (4 folders)
Journal NYC, 1974-1976   (3 folders)
Journals, Sky Notch #1-3 and Transition to New York, #4, 1976   (4 folders)
Box 18
Journals, #6-7, New York, 1976-1977   (2 folders)
Journal, Aspen, #8, 1977   (1 folders)
Journal #9, vol. 1, 1977-1978   (1 folders)
Journal, New York, #10 and adjunct journal #10 vol. 3, 1978   (2 folders)
Box 18-19
Dream Journal #11A and Meditation Journal #1, vol. 11B, 1978-1979   (4 folders)
Box 19
Dream Journals #2-3, vols. 12-13A, 1979-1981   (5 folders)
Box 20
Meditation Journal #2, vol. 13B, 1980   (2 folders)
Dream Class Notes, vol. 13C, 1980-1981   (3 folders)
Dream Journal, vol. 14, 1981   (3 folders)
Box 21
Dream Journals, vols. 15A, 15B, 16, 1981-1983   (7 folders)
Dream Class Notes, vol. 15C, 1982   (1 folder)
Box 22
Dream Journals, vols. 16-18, 1983-1984   (8 folders)
Box 23
Dream Journals, vols. 19-21, 1984-1986   (7 folders)
Box 24
Dream Journals, vols. 21-24, 1986-1987   (7 folders)
Box 25
Dream Journals, vols. 24-26, 1987-1988   (8 folders)
Box 26
Dream Journals, vols. 27-28, 1988-1989   (8 folders)
Box 27
Dream Journals, vols. 28-31, 1990-1991   (7 folders)
Box 28
Dream Journals, vols. 31-32, 1991-1993   (7 folders)
Box 29
Dream Journals, vols. 33-35, 1993-1995   (8 folders)
Box 30
Dream Journals, vols. 36-38, 1995-1996   (6 folders)
Box 31
Dream Journal, vol. 38, 1996   (2 folders)
Dream Journal Table of Contents, vols. 39-40, 1997-1998   (4 folders)
Box 32
Dream Journal Table of Contents, vols. 40-41, 1997-1999
[Dream Journals, unnumbered,] 1998-1999   (2 bound volumes)
Disk separation sheets