Marcus Katz has just announced that K. Frank Jensen has made his key collection of tarot material available to the Tarosophy Trust. This will protect the collection in the longer term and also use this as a source for compiling a complete description of modern tarot.
K. Frank Jensen was one of the most assiduous collectors of tarot material during the 1980s and 1990s. His collection includes many rare and unique items from this period.
Marcus Katz mentioned this to me recently and outlined his plans to fully document this collection and make the information publicly available as a resource for the study of tarot imagery. I recognised the value of such an undertaking and have agreed to work with Marcus to make such a descriptive database as comprehensive as possible. My own collection has many gaps from the 1980s and 1990s but is very strong on 21st century material. I expect that by pooling this information it will be possible to create and almost complete documentation of modern tarot.
It will take some years. An enormous amount of hours are consumed in making exact descriptions. It will need some investment and a mass of voluntary effort to bring this to completion.
This sounds truly amazing! What a fabulous outcome for Mr. Jensen's collection. I only wish I could help with the documentation process, but I realize being in New Zealand makes that well nigh impossible. Nevertheless, if there is anything I can do via the internet please let me know.
Kudos and best wishes for this monumental task!
Sumada
This is great news. I have a small team of researchers over here working on modern and "ancient" (1440 onward) tarot history, indexing, cataloging, and preservation as well. I have people in Australia if you ever need assistance.
The arrangement with the Tarosophy Trust did not work out and instead K. Frank Jensen Frank has now moved his collection to the care of Roskilde University Library.
Having tried to find some way of preserving my own collection and failed to generate any interest among institutions, I have decided I have no alternative but to sell off my collection gradually over the coming years.
Have you considered a) the Issy museum in Paris or b) the Museo in Riola ? I know you wanted them to stay in the UK, but rather than selling them piecemeal...
