American Society for Eastern Arts
August 10, 1963
Mr. Samuel L. Lewis
1088 Fulton Street
San Francisco 17, California
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you for your kind letter of July 25 offering us what I believe to be your cautious assistance in case we meet certain requirements and have recognition from others interested in the Asian field.
I trust that our credentials will be satisfactory to you. We are entering into cordial and cooperative relationships with the Society for Asian Arts, the Japan Society and other relevant people and groups in the San Francisco area, and in the New York area we have already established the most cordial relationships with the Asian Society and the Society for Asian Music.
I am interested in the hints and suggestions contained in your letter and wonder if I might call on you in the near future in order to explore with you in person whether or not some of the doors you mentioned might be opened. We do expect to be around a long time in spite of the fact that others have come and gone in this exotic but demanding field.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
September 23, 1963
Samuel L. Lewis
American Representative,
En-gaku-ji Rinzai Zen Temple
1088 Fulton Street
San Francisco 17, California
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Please forgive me for being so slow in answering your letter of August 12. I have been very busy and was forced to go out of town twice in the last month for appointments in Seattle and Los Angeles.
I am of course interested in the people you mention and the contacts you have mentioned in your letter, which might be important to the growth and development of the American Society for Eastern Arts. I wonder if it would be convenient for you to meet with me so that we might talk over further possibilities of cooperation. I have time this week, but unfortunately, next week I am leaving again for Hawaii. If you can give me a call I would very much appreciate it.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
September 30, 1964
Mr. Samuel L. Lewis
772 Clementina Street
San Francisco 3, California
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you for your check dated September 18 in the amount of ten dollars ($10.00) which enrolls you as a regular member in the American Society for Eastern Arts. We are delighted to have you with us.
On October 22 we will present Mr. Kimio Eto, koto, and Mr. Tadao Nomura, shakuhachi, in a concert of Japanese music at the San Francisco Museum of Art. We look forward to having you with us at this time, and will shortly mail you an announcement of the event.
We are planning now for an extended period with Balasaraswati and Ali Akbar Khan and company in the Spring and Summer of 1965, and will keep you informed as our plans and projects materialize.
We would be delighted to have you drop in to visit us at 1654 University Avenue in Berkeley at any time.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
January 3, 1966
Mr. Samuel L. Lewis
American Representative
En-gaku-ji Rinzai Zen Temple
58 Harriet Street
San Francisco 3, California
Dear Mr. Lewis:
The year of 1965 has been a busy and fulfilling experience for ASEA. We are looking forward to having an even more rewarding year in 1966, but we cannot hope to accomplish as much without the support of our members.
It has come to our attention that you have let payment of your membership ($10.00) become overdue. With our heavy schedule of events which have been planned for this year, we would like to continue sending our program announcements and quarterly Newsletter.
Again, thank you for your generous support of our past programs and we sincerely hope you will continue as a member of ASEA.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
February 3, 1966
Samuel L. Lewis
772 Clementina Street
San Francisco, California 94103
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you for your check in the amount of ten dollars ($10.00), received on January 19, 1966, renewing your membership in the American Society for Eastern Arts.
You will find enclosed your new membership card for the year ending October 1, 1966, entitling you to a discount rate for our performances, use of the library, admission to members-only events, and other benefits.
Through our quarterly Newsletter and program announcements we shall continue to keep you informed as our plans unfold and projects materialize.
We greatly appreciate your continued support of ASEA and sincerely hope that you will enjoy our future schedule of events and programs.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
February 21, 1966
Mr. Samuel L. Lewis
772 Clementina Street
San Francisco, California 94103
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you kindly for your membership renewal and your letter of February 8th, noting your several visits and interests.
Would you be so kind as to give us the full name and address of the Professor Davidson you mention, who has brought back a large collection from India. It’s possible that we might contact him to see what his plans might be, since, as you say, they are a little uncertain. Also, we would appreciate your introducing us in the same way to Mrs. Vocha Fiske-White; we don’t at the moment foresee a use for a Japanese collection, but it might be of some interest to us later.
I appreciate very much your allusions to the roses and thorns: you throw the roses and others will throw the thorns most assuredly,
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
October 24, 1966
Samuel L. Lewis
772 Clementina Street
San Francisco 3, California
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you very much for your check in the amount of $20.00, received October 24th, renewing your membership in the American Society for Eastern Arts.
Enclosed is your membership card for the year ending 10-24-67, entitling you to a discount rate for our performances, use of the library, admission to members-only events, and other benefits.
Yes, you are certainly welcome to attend the reception following the November 4th recital. It is not necessary to purchase a ticket, since the concert is free to members.
We appreciate your continued support of ASEA, and sincerely hope that you will be able to attend more of our future events and programs.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
November 10, 1966
Mr. Samuel Lewis
772 Clementina Street
San Francisco 3, California
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you very kindly for your long letter of November 5th. We appreciate such expressions and your warm tribute to our work. Good luck and long life to you. We wish you well in your many endeavors.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
April 7, 1967
Mr. Samuel L. Lewis
772 Clementina Street
San Francisco, California
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Many thanks for your most recent letter of March 30th advising us further of your good fortune and plans. I would be delighted to see you again before you set off on your new journey and discuss your plans and prospects in person. I should tell you, however, that we have moved in the meantime and are now physically located at 1940 Bonita St. in Berkeley, which is just four blocks up the line from our previous location. We have the same telephone number and post office box.
I hope to see you then, and if by chance we miss connections, Bon Voyage.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
May 31, 1967
Mr. Samuel L. Lewis
772 Clementina Street
San Francisco, California
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you very kindly for stopping in and leaving us your gift in the amount of $50.00 to add to our scholarship fund with the specific request that it be directed toward the student application of David Gauder. As I indicated to you, we are most happy to accept this gift in his behalf subject, of course, to the stipulation which applies to every student, that he is accepted subject to the approval of the artist. We are very happy to welcome Mr. Gauder as a student in this regard. Thank you very much again for your gift to the Society in his behalf, which is, I may add, tax deductible.
We will look forward to meeting you again and wish you well on your journeys and in your ventures.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
August 16, 1967
Mr. Samuel Lewis
410 Precita Avenue
San Francisco, California 94110
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you for your letter of August 3rd. I am sorry to hear that you had more difficulty, including illness and lack of help for getting your projects arranged. I have passed on your concern for help to David Gauder, whom you have helped in his program here at the school. I am not sure, of course, that he was aware of your need, but I do know this—that our program has been so intensified and so time consuming that it’s possible he has not been able to pry himself loose in order to do those things which he otherwise might like to do. I am not trying to make excuses for him, since of course his relationship to you is purely one between you and him, but I do know that any student at this school who takes the work at all seriously has been extraordinarily busy during the past two months.
Again, we appreciate your contribution to the school and any further contributions you may make to the cause of teaching Eastern music to Western students will be deeply appreciated and I am sure, as you are aware, is of tremendous importance in the overall picture of understanding and culture exchange.
Sincerely yours,
Robert R. Schultz
Executive Director
American Society for Eastern Arts
July 30, 1968
Mr. Samuel Lewis
410 Precita Avenue
San Francisco, California 94110
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you very much for your contribution in the amount of $20 in memory of Ruth St. Denis. It is a very kind gesture and one which we’re certain she would have appreciated.
Enclosed herewith is your ASEA membership card for the year, starting August 1, 1968. We hope you will be able to take advantage of the many benefits to which your membership entitles you.
Through our Newsletters, which are published five times a year, and through our program announcements we will keep you informed as our plans and projects materialize.
Sincerely yours,
Wallace Thompson
Executive Director
Sept. 30, 1969
410 Precita Ave.
American Society for Eastern Arts
405 Sansome St.
San Francisco 94111
My dear friends:
I am both interested and enthusiastic about your programs and efforts. My whole life has been more or less centered on the attunement of East and West through music and the arts. I am now teaching to growing numbers of the young Dervish and Mantric dances. And my disciples are working out chorales drawn alike from the religious of Islam, India, and the West, making great headway.
Partly connected with this and partly otherwise, I am being scheduled to participate in a Parliament of the world’s religious scheduled to meet at Istanbul at the end of March next year. This will be under the auspices of The Temple of Understanding whose headquarters is in Washington, D.C. I am therefore asking for a moratorium as to contributions until my return. At this writing there does not seem to be any particular problem about the availability of funds, but for our protection. I am being conservative, the word “our” is used because I shall have with us disciples who will be able to perform and also assist others in performing Dervish and Mantric dances—even chants drawn from the sacred phrases of various religious.
You may continue to send your programs here and they will be read to my disciples and friends. The number of these is increasing constantly. Along with that a very large number of young people of this region have become interested in real Asian cultures. They have no concern with personality dialectics offered in the previous generation as Asian culture. Most of them are interested especially in music and dance, and in time this may bring both audiences and membership to your organization.
I think you will understand this, and I hope to see you at least once before I leave this country.
Recently my god-daughter had a very successful display of Pakistan costumary here, showing another aspect of our work. She is now at Cornell Univ.
Assuring you of my continued interest in your work,
Faithfully,
Samuel L. Lewis
American Society for Eastern Arts
15 December, 1969
Mr. Samuel L. Lewis
410 Precita Avenue
San Francisco, California 94110
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you very much for your payment in the amount of $15.00, renewing you as a regular member of the American Society for Eastern Arts.
Enclosed is your membership card, which is valid for one year, expiring on the date shown. Your card entitles you to discount rates for ASEA-sponsored concerts and performances, discounts on books and records offered to ASEA members, use of the ASEA library, admission to members-only events, and other benefits.
Through our Newsletters, which are published six times a year, and through our program announcements we will keep you informed as our plans and projects materialize.
Sincerely,
410 Precita Ave.
San Francisco, Calif.
December 20, 1969
Wallace Thompson,
Executive Director,
American Society for Eastern Arts
405 Sansome St.
San Francisco 94111
My dear Mr. Thompson:
I wish to thank you for your letter of 15th December. Some sixteen (16) of the disciples of the Sufi Order here attended the recital of the Indonesian dancers. We are dedicated to bringing East and West together through music and from every point of view it was most enjoyable, to say the least.
Indonesia is, of all lands in the world, closest to following the program we are concerned with. As Sufis we carry on the spiritual mission of Mohammed, but it is an all-inclusive program recognizing all religions. And you may be surprised to learn that in addition to the Zikr and Kalama of Islam we also recite the Ram Nam of India, so from a vary view we more than enjoyed the dramatization of the Ramayana.
(Incidentally I have read and studied this work in its entirety and my interpretations were accepted by the saints of India after being rejected, of course, by the “experts” of an earlier generation.)
We also had the pleasure of seeing Tandy, one of our spiritual sisters, acting as a manager for this troupe.
The Sufi Message was introduced into the West in 1910 jointly by Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan and the late Miss Ruth St. Denis, both of whom I have had the blessings of having studied under. There is how a biography of Miss Ruth on the market and if you have not it in your library, I shall be glad to donate it.
My own work of spiritual teachings through dancing and singing is now prospering slowly but definitely. We hope to have “Dances of Universal Peace” based on the themes of all faiths. It is now dedicated to The Temple of Understanding in Washington, being snubbed by a number of so-called “universal” or “world” movements. The real world movements must be heart-inclusive.
We feel that the American Society for Easter Arts is working absolutely and thoroughly in this direction and pray that God bless you and help you to prosper. As was told Hazrat Inayat Khan by his own sacred teacher: By the Power of Thy Music Unite East and West.
Love and blessings,
Samuel L. Lewis
(Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti)
July 6, 1970
American Society for Eastern Arts
405 Sansome St.
San Francisco 94111
My dear Miss Louie:
I have just returned to San Francisco after a five weeks absence. This period has also been marked by deaths and accompanying legal and financial complications. However, I am today in a much better financial position than ever before, praise to God.
It may be necessary to delay payment as much as two weeks, not more, but at that time I hope also to add a contribution to help in your excellent work.
My enforced extended absence produced two items which will certainly be of mutual interest, and which I hope to discuss with Mr. Scripps or some other member of your board:
My immediate colleagues are now taking pictures on the theme of “Dances of Universal Peace.” The themes and productions are the results of several extensive conferences with the late Ruth St. Denis and are now gaining wide attention among the youths in several scattered portions of the United States.
These themes will reach a climax, we hope before the end of the year, when the technicians will go to Ajmer in India to film and record Sufi ceremonies and music which do not seem to be on record. We shall also keep our good friend Dr. Robert Garfias of the University of Washington acquainted with the programs, and of course your good selves.
While down in New Mexico I encountered a troupe of actors having what I should call a spiritual workshop. At the present time their efforts are centered on restoring Greek dramas, Moliere, and their own creative undertakings. But their long range plans include the production of “passion plays” drawn feat the Mahabharata and Ramayana. They told me they expect to send an agent or team to this city in the Spring of 1971. I as presuming this will be of interest to you and will gladly act as is liaison person if you so wish.
You will understand my whole life has been dedicated to bringing East and West closer together through the arts, and I hope this slight delay will not inconvenience you.
Faithfully,
Samuel L. Lewis