As the Northern Hemisphere enters the darkness of winter, Steiner Online Library is shedding new light on anthroposophy. We are adding the entirety of Rudolf Steiner's collected works to our website and making it searchable through our custom search engine. In doing so, we have enabled people world-wide to search and synthesize this voluminous record of esoteric wisdom.
With an ambitious goal of raising $25,000, this year's Rudolf Steiner Archive fundraising campaign will help us to continue this work to make Dr. Steiner's teachings more accessible online at no cost to the general public. If you value the ability to search, read, and link to this material online, please consider donating. Through generous financial contributions, we have made significant improvements to our service this past year.
Accomplishments & Goals
Increased Reach. Through our efforts, we have increased the reach of this site this past year by 50%, bringing our average number of unique visitors up from 165,000 per month to over 250,000.
Nearly Complete Collection. This year, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's death, we made nearly all of his documented teachings searchable online in English. We have expanded our holdings by nearly 270%. This is a growth from fewer than 6,000 documents this time last year, to over 16,000. We now offer nearly the entirety of Rudolf Steiner's work in both English and German.
First-Ever English Translations. This tremendous increase in available material includes many works that have never before been available in English. The work will be ongoing, but we think it is important to make the collected works searchable now.
Addition of Original German Text. Side-by-side comparison of English translations with the original German is now available. Simply click [Show German]. With the German text available, we will soon be able to offer direct translation from German into almost any language.Custom Search Engine. We will also soon be able to offer comprehensive searches in both English and German. We continue to improve our hand-crafted anthroposophical search engine to offer greatly expanded search capability. For example, by adding synonyms and alternate spellings, we improve its accuracy (e.g., a search for 'Gondishapur' will also find 'Jundí Sábúr').
Chalkboard Drawings. We are in the process of adding Rudolf Steiner's chalkboard drawings to the appropriate lectures. This requires the painstaking process of scanning and manually cropping the images and applying them to the appropriate lectures. No longer will the color versions only be available separately. No longer will one struggle to decipher the black and white hash-marked images with notations of the chalk color used.
Book Donations and Resource Library. We continue to acquire donated anthroposophical books, some of which are added to our growing resource library. We use these materials to answer questions submitted by researchers world-wide and sell duplicates online in our resale bookstore to help fund our work.1 By accepting these donated books, we ensure these precious materials don't end up in a landfill. Notably, we acquired a large collection of German language books that other anthroposophical libraries and organizations could not accept. To maintain these valuable resources, we have purchased additional bookshelves and leased a climate-controlled storage unit.
Original Content. In addition to all of this work, we have continued with regular social media posts and activity, answering people's questions, and providing resources to the community. Key new content created by us this year includes:
- Biographical Timeline. Further honoring the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's death, we have made an extensive timeline of Rudolf Steiner's life story with links to thousands of documents from his books, lectures, articles, and correspondence. Nowhere else is Dr. Steiner's legacy so completely chronicled with linked references to tell the story of his life and travels.2
- Practice Resources. We expanded our Practice page with links to Rudolf Steiner’s fundamental teachings, exercises, and meditations.3 We additionally completed our own novel translation of the Calendar of the Soul.4 To facilitate seasonal practices, we expanded our Festivals offerings, including a new curated collection of readings for All Souls' Day and remembrance of the dead. We additionally expanded our Topics page to include readings for a wide range of interests.5
- New Articles. We published our own articles summarizing and referencing the works of Rudolf Steiner with links to the full texts to inspire further research. By sharing these posts via social media and email campaigns, we engaged a wider audience.6
This has been truly a breakthrough year for the Rudolf Steiner Archive as we establish ourselves as a premier resource for the work of Rudolf Steiner. Please give generously to help us exceed our $25,000 goal so we may continue to offer this service at no cost to the general public. Subscribe for monthly donations if that works better for you.7 Together with your financial support, we can help bring Anthroposophy to life.
Resources
- Visit our bookstore as our inventory changes frequently. Find out how you can help by donating books now or adding your library to your will. Read more.
- Explore our new Biographical Timeline of Rudolf Steiner's life and legacy with links to key documents.
- Review our Practice Resource page to find links to Rudolf Steiner’s fundamental teachings, exercises, and meditations.
- Our translation of the Calendar of the Soul is now included in our Calendar of the Soul Tool, which offers verses in multiple translations, the original German text, and verses for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Also, visit GA40 for a detailed discussion of the SOL Soul Calendar Translation.
- We offer curated collections of readings for various topics: Architecture, The Arts, Biodynamics, The Calendar of the Soul, Education, Eurythmy, Festivals, Karma and Reincarnation, Medicine, Philosophy, Practice, Religion, Science, and Social Issues. See the Topics Section. We also expanded our Festivals Section, which now includes selections for All Souls' Day and remembrance of the dead..
- Read our 2025 Posts to learn more about the 100th Anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's death, Holy Week & Easter, the Calendar of the Soul, Ascension and Pentecost, the Mystery of Saint John, responsible use of content from this website, the Transfiguration, the Donation of Books, Michaelmas and the Festivals of the Seasons.
- Monthly giving can be accomplished by signing up here [Subscribe] or by simply adding Steiner Online Library as a payee in you banking bill-pay system. You may also consider adding our nonprofit, Steiner Online Library, to your will or donating books to our growing resource library and bookstore. See Other Ways to Give →
"May you succeed, in ever greater and greater measure, in making the gifts of Anthroposophy the very substance of your soul, receiving them verily not into your thoughts alone, but into your heart and soul. The more Anthroposophy becomes the heart-substance of those who desire to understand it truly, the more will it be possible to introduce Anthroposophy into cultural spiritual life in the wide sense. This is a deep and urgent need, for with antiquated traditions mankind will be incapable of progress. Try to tread the path of Anthroposophy which leads from the head to the heart, for in your hearts Anthroposophy will be secure." —Rudolf Steiner, 6 April 1923 |