Conjuring Arts on NPR!
Our director, Bill Kalush, was recently interviewed by NPR’s Scott Simon with regard to the Conjuring Arts Research Center and the relevance of magic today. It is a good opportunity to learn more about the library’s collection and where we are going with many of our projects. Enjoy! Download the podcast here, or listen to it [...]
Our Tenth Gibecière!
Gibecière Vol. 5, No. 2 The Summer 2010 Issue of Gibecière is en route to the presses! For our spectacular tenth issue, we hear from a familiar voice, welcome a celebrated new contributor, and unearth a centuries-old manuscript that turns the entire timeline of magic history on its ear. First, Barry Wiley chronicles the remarkable [...]
Ask Alexander 2.0 Beta!
Those of you who have logged in to Alexander recently may have noticed the new look and some new features. We are calling it Ask Alexander 2.0, and, although we are still working on many neat ideas, it is coming along nicely. The first thing you will notice is the new design which was elegantly [...]
Magic-Con 2010!
We are back from Magic-Con and are still trying to wrap our heads around how awesome it was. Dan Buck, Dave Buck, and Syd Segal really did a great job assembling an amazing line up of performers and organizing events that would get the most out of their presence. Two members of our Board of [...]
Shipping Now! Gibecière Winter 2010
Magic lovers rejoice! Due to the great efforts of our editor Stephen Minch the new issue of Gibecière (Winter 2010) is now off the press and making its way to subscribers from our offices in New York. This issue of the journal is robust and includes a fascinating article by Martin Gardner on the history [...]
William Zavis Letters by Ricky Smith
The research center holds a vast trove of correspondence between a great number and variety of magicians. One section of the collection comes from William Zavis and is especially valuable for research purposes because he generally kept copies of his outgoing correspondence along with the letters he received. Further, Mr. Zavis worked as a US [...]
Magic: The Science of Wonder
A new magic event looms on the horizon! Magic: The Science of Wonder is a new museum exhibit which is going to be shown in Texas at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Featuring many notable performers, including John Carney and Richard Hatch, as well as a plethora of artifacts, video, props, and other potentially [...]
Alexander: Good or Evil?
The following article, written by Mike Caveney, first appeared in the Conjuring Arts Bulletin: Vol.1, No.1 I recently had a spirited conversation with a group of magic collectors over the pros and cons of our very own database: Alexander – The Computer That Knows. Some suggested that any publisher who allowed his books to be scanned and uploaded onto the data base, [...]
Rewriting History: From Paper to Pixels
The following article, written by David Charvet, first appeared in the Conjuring Arts Bulletin: Vol.1, No.1 Having been studying and writing about magic history for over 30 years now, it has been remarkable to witness the changes that technology has brought to the task of research. As a teenager, in about 1975 B.C. (Before Computers) [...]
Willard: A Life Under Canvas
Here is the untold true story of the Willard family and the four men who toured rural America as Willard the Wizard. Besides scouring old magazines, newspapers, letters, scrapbooks and photographs, author David Charvet had the full cooperation of Eugene, Madeline and Frances Willard who grew up backstage on the Willard the Wizard show. Here [...]
