BE Archives
The Body Electric Archive: Preserving Our Legacy
For over 40 years, Body Electric’s history has been woven into countless bodies through touch and breath. Now, we are seeking to preserve this rich legacy for future generations through the creation of the Body Electric Archive. This project aims to tell the story of Body Electric in a way that honors the profound impact it’s had on you and thousands of others.
Sadly, over the years, some school brochures, course materials and other documents have been lost or poorly preserved. To help us tell the story of Body Electric, we are seeking donations of historical documents, including photos, videos, newspaper articles, blog posts and personal writings.
We aim to collect school brochures, newsletters, emails, and website visuals to document the incredible variety of classes Body Electric has offered over the years—both as a California state-approved massage school and as a pioneering institution in hands-on sex education. We are particularly interested in published materials about Body Electric experiences, including newspaper and magazine articles and sections in books. Additionally, we seek your personal accounts as expressed in blog posts, poems, journals, letters, emails, and other media, such as annotated photos, videos, audio recordings, and podcasts.
Body Electric faculty, you are the living archive of this school. We especially welcome tangible records from your years of contribution to the Body Electric story.
From these rich historical documents, we will create an online archive for our members to access and explore. Contributors will retain ownership and copyright of their personal materials (photos, vidoes, journal writings, etc). Please note: not all contributions will appear in the online archive. But…
In 2025, we plan to make the Body Electric historical documents available for researchers through a professional repository. When an agreement is reached with a professional institution, that archive will have its own legal agreements regarding the ownership and copyright of personal materials, allowing you to make informed decisions. Currently, we are exploring partnerships with the sexuality archives at Cornell University and the University of Southern California. We welcome your suggestions for the permanent home of the Body Electric historical documents.
We are starting small, with plans to begin posting some archival materials online this Fall. Our founder, Joseph Kramer, has volunteered as our first lead archivist. He is seeking others dedicated to preserving our legacy to join the archival team.
Please send digital archive materials directly to Joseph Kramer Archives@bodyelectric.org
Send physical archive materials to: Joseph Kramer, P.O. Box 3893, Oakland, CA 94609.
Send physical archive materials to: Joseph Kramer, P.O. Box 3893, Oakland, CA 94609.
Upon receiving your contributions, Joseph will send you a receipt acknowledging your submission to the archive. If you are sending personal items like photos, videos, writings, or audio files, please tell us about the item. We would like to know when the item was created, who are the people involved, and any other helpful details.