The Robert Pirsig Association

This is a holding / landing page for resources being marshalled for the setting-up of a “Robert Pirsig Association” (RPA) concerned primarily with the philosophical work of Robert M Pirsig whilst maintaining the connection to his travels and rhetorical writings.

(The intention is that the RPA is an independent entity beyond and separate from the lives and interests of individual scholars, members and institutions with appropriate non-profit / elected volunteer trustee governance arrangements. As an informal “club” – with only running costs, no further constitution is required. If we wish to finance other activities and run accountability as a non-profit / charitable association, this outline can form the basis for such a constitution.)

The following are outlined below:

Potential membership & participation
Web domains as potential RPA resources
Other mutually linked Pirsig / MoQ web-resources

Potential RPA Membership & Participation

Institutional Member

Certain cultural and educational institutions already have interests in the legacy and archives of Pirsig’s life, work and correspondence. These would be invited to be institutional members. Apart from mutual linking, terms and benefits for institutional members might include one or more such institution taking preferential role in governance of the RPA as well as member and subscriber benefits. Currently identified are:

Harvard University, Houghton Library
This prestigious institution, which also holds the William James archive, took possession of Robert Pirsig’s own archive, donated by Wendy Pirsig in late 2020. Currently listed as a single library entry until lifting of ongoing Covid restrictions in 2021 can enable more detailed indexing and potential electronic access.

Montana State University, Bozeman
The institution where Pirsig first taught (1959/61) took possession of the McWatt / Pirsig correspondence archive from Dr Anthony McWatt in 2018.

Chicago University (If interested ?)

Liverpool University (If interested ?)

Smithsonian National Museum of American History
This national institution took possession of Pirsig’s 1966 Honda 350cc Super Hawk motorcycle and related materials in 2019.

Member and/or Associate member

Individual members whose benefits include consultation and voting rights on RPA governance and activities, as well as subscriber benefits. (Certain founding members or supporters may benefit from honorary life membership – eg Wendy Pirsig and Dr Anthony McWatt.)

Subscriber

Any individual or entity that simply signs-up to be informed of RPA resources, news and activities.

Potential RPA Web Resources

A number of web-domains have registration, hosting and content management funded by individuals who offer these to be donated and consolidated as resources of the association. (A number of others below, are maintained as independent projects of individuals with mutual linking.)

Robert Pirsig Association (RPA) – potential resources:

robertpirsigassociation.org – set-up to reserve the RPA domain name with “mock-up” content only so far. The proposal is that this become the default domain for the RPA.
Ongoing funding and management in 2021 by Mick White.
robertpirsig.org – originally set-up for and on behalf of Dr Anthony McWatt but contact, control and non-archived content were lost. Reclaimed and re-registered for possible RPA use.
Ongoing funding and management in 2021 by Ian Glendinning.
pirsig.org – originally set-up for and on behalf of Dr Anthony McWatt but contact, control and non-archived content were lost. Despite this someone is still renewing the registration even though hosting has lapsed in 2021.
Ongoing funding and management unknown, Ian Glendinning seeking to secure.
pirsig.com – was bought-up and parked by persons unknown who repeatedly offer it anonymously for sale. Apart from protecting the Pirsig “brand”, the RPA has no need for this domain.
Ongoing funding and management unknown.
moq.org – originally set-up for The Lila Squad discussion group. Content dormant and not recently updated.
Ongoing funding and management in 2021 by Mick White.
themoquniversity.org – recently set-up for an educational project on behalf of Dr Anthony McWatt.
Ongoing funding and management in 2021 by Ian Glendinning.

(Ian and Mick remain committed to good-faith collaboration in consolidating the above resources into whatever form the RPA decides. Initially RPA non-profit funding would be limited to minimal at-cost funding of these ultimately permanent RPA resources. We need some agreement on style and scope of content for the RPA’s own pages – somewhere between the minimalist simplicity of this page and the graphical mock-up created here.)

IanGlen.net

Ian Glendinning's OnLine Sandbox