IFF Archive of the Feldenkrais Method®
To find historical recordings, photos and articles on Dr Feldenkrais and his work, including the Amherst Evening FI videos, click on the Archive Collections link on the right side of the page.
To find the modern photos and videos, click on Contemporary Images on the right side of the page.
Watch this short video for an overview of the IFF Archive.
Download this video (login required)
The International Feldenkrais® Federation (IFF) Archive procures and preserves works from, and documentation of the method created by, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc. and makes them available for the benefit of the worldwide Feldenkrais community.
In 2002, Michel Silice-Feldenkrais, representing the Feldenkrais family, made available to the IFF over 800 individual audio-visual and print items which had been stored in the Feldenkrais Institute in Tel Aviv for many years. There are also 1,700 photographs of Moshe doing Judo. Along with a prior gift from Bob Knighton of 1,500 photos from the San Francisco Training program, these materials formed the foundation of the IFF Archive of the Feldenkrais Method. A large portion of the Archive are unpublished audio and videotapes of lectures, workshops, classes and FIs. The full story of how the materials were acquired can be read in “On the Founding of the IFF Archive of the Feldenkrais Method”, a fuller version of an interview with Cliff Smyth originally published in the North American Guild newsletter.
The benefits of access to these source materials are personal and profound. Read here about the value of studying Moshe’s teaching.
What’s Happening Now
These materials are maintained in safe, climate-controlled storage.
The IFF Archive Working Group has:
- Recorded all items in a database and assessed them for condition.
- Digitized many of the older, more at risk tapes.
- Digitally preserved over 40 newspaper articles about Moshe’s life in many languages.
- Digitally preserved over 80 hours of audio from workshops in English, German and French.
- Placed the 50 year old manuscript of the Potent Self with a professional paper conservator to halt its deterioration and prepare for digital preservation.
- Digitized the 1,500 photos donated by Bob Knighton and are organizing them to be available to Feldenkrais practitioners via the image galleries soon.
- Provided access to researchers for a number of projects including the biography authored by Mark Reese.
- Acquired materials through gifts from the New York Public Library (6 hour workshop video), Stanley Brown (35 hours of audio), and Jerry Karzan (150 photos).
For the Future
- Policies to provide community access to the archive are under development. Sample archival audio recordings and images are available in the Archive Collections section of this website.
- Audio recordings of workshops suitable for publication are being improved for release by the Distribution Center in a low-cost ‘From the Archive’ series.
- Lectures given by Dr. Feldenkrais in the 1960s at Hebrew University are being assessed for translation and publication.
- Audio recordings of Feldenkrais teaching in German, French and Hebrew are being assessed for possible publication.
- Photos need to be scanned and catalogued.
- Fundraising is ongoing and needs to increase to meet the cost of preserving and maintaining the entire collection.
Contribute
The work of organizing and preserving these materials requires your generous contribution so that the rich legacy of Moshe Feldenkrais can be more easily accessed. Monetary donations are always welcome, and are a way for you to contribute to the material legacy of the Feldenkrais Method and Dr. Feldenkrais. Donations help cover the costs of digitization and preservation.
Past and present members of the Archive Working Group and the IFF Materials Committee include:
Becci Parsons
Cliff Smyth
Christoph Görtz
Claus-Jürgen Kocka
Denise Alvarez-Braunschweig
Diana Sternbach
Dirk Steinkamp
George Krutz
Ilan Jacobson
Jaclyn Boone
Jenni Evans
Kai Schaper
Katrin Springherr
Keith B. Johnson
Lynette Reid
Marcela Bretschneider
Marcia Scott
Marilynn Anderson
Moti Nativ
Paul Senechko
Richard Ehrman
Rob Black
Susan Pinto
Tsippy Ganan
Wolfgang Säckl