FM-2030’s Papers Archived at New York Public Library

The F.M. Esfandiary / FM-2030 papers, spanning 1943-2000, include correspondence, writings, notebooks, book reviews, press releases, clippings, appointment calendars, photographs, and sound recordings documenting the professional career and personal life of the Iranian-American author, lecturer and social visionary F. M. Estandiary, later known as FM-2030. Correspondence includes incoming personal correspondence, 1943-1999, n.d., reflecting his family life, schooling, friendships, and social networks; and professional correspondence, 1956-1969, reflecting his early writing career in fiction and cultural commentary. Later professional correspondence and reader mail is found throughout the collection. Writings consist of drafts, research notes, manuscripts, typescripts, correspondence, reviews, clippings, and other materials relating to his published and unpublished works on a variety of topics, among them contemporary Middle Eastern culture, globalization, future trends in technology and their potential impact on society, and the physical transgression of death. Teaching and seminar files include lecture notes, course descriptions, student and participant evaluations, publicity materials, and correspondence documenting his career as a lecturer for the New School for Social Research and the UCLA Extension School, his speaking engagements, and his professional seminars on long-term planning and futuristics. Personal miscellany includes address books, appointment calendars, clippings, notebooks and personal documentation. Research files include notebooks and clippings supporting his later writings. Photographs reflect his personal life from 1947-1999, including participation in the 1948 Olympic Games in London, and student years at the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles. Sound recordings document some of Esfandiary’s seminars and promotional radio interviews for his book Are You a Transhuman?