Letter of support from ITAA President Suriyaprakash
I visited the Eric Berne Archives in the library of the UCSF in 2014 when I was in San Francisco for the World TA Conference, thanks to the arrangements made by Carol Solomon. I was thrilled to see first- hand the enormity of what the Eric Berne Archive Project had undertaken. It was a personally gratifying experience to hold the papers that Berne made notes on, typed manuscripts with and even sketched the cover design for one of his books. I felt my Child’s joy when I could hold Berne’s spectacles in my hand – needless to say I was almost tempted to wear them! Access to Berne’s archives could be a great resource for anybody who is keenly interested in Berne and his works. It could be a pilgrimage to many of Berne’s admirers – those who were touched by his writings. But all do not have the luxury of this first-hand experience.
The next best possibility is to access them online, leveraging on the technology at our disposal these days. And that is what the Berne Archives Project has ventured into. Right from its inception, the ITAA has been very encouraging and supportive of its efforts and it’s very heartening to find that their efforts are bearing fruit now with over 400 artefacts from the archives already catalogued and available online at the archives project website. Many more are in the pipeline and very soon the whole of TA Bulletin will also be digitised and will be accessible by the press of a button.
I greatly appreciate the project team members, Carol, Marco, Ann and Gloria for their tireless efforts in sourcing funds and coordinating with the UCSF in making this dream a reality. As president of the ITAA, I’m immensely pleased to find this project getting closer to its mission being accomplished and pledge to continue our fullest support to its success.
C. Suriyaprakash
President, ITAA