WHY A FIESTA?
A fiesta is an event marked by festivities or celebration. This Scanning Fiesta! is a celebration of a major milestone in cataloging Meher Mount’s history and getting photos out of storage and into a form that can be shared.
THE ‘BABAROOM’ in the guest house at Meher Mount. Joan Dimpfl Harland sent these photos taken by her father Lud Dimpfl in November 1956, just months after Meher Baba’s 1956 visit. The fireplace to the left of the photo, now known as Baba’s Fireplace, is the only remaining piece of this special room where Meher Baba gave darshan to His followers. All the buildings were destroyed in the October 1985 New Life Fire. The wing-back chair to the right in front of the window was where Meher Baba sat, and it, too, burned in the 1985 fire. The area that once contained this room is now called the Darshan Courtyard. The children are Joan Dimpfl Harland, Claudia Dimpfl O’Hanrahan, and Diane Dimpfl Cobb (also known as BBB or 3B as nicknamed by Meher Baba).
PRESERVING MEHER MOUNT’S HISTORY IN PHOTOS
A team of volunteers is working on a cloud-based storage process to archive Meher Mount’s photos as a historical and current record that can be shared.
So far, more than a thousand digital photos have been uploaded to the image-hosting service, SmugMug. There are still 500 photo prints that need to be digitized and added to the photo catalog.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Meher Mount is calling on volunteers to help scan these prints. Participants in this endeavor are asked to bring their own scanners and laptops. If you don’t have a scanner and want to participate, contact Meher Mount to discuss options.
Because wireless connectivity is very limited at Meher Mount, all scanners need to be hardwired to the laptops and be able to scan color prints at 300 dpi minimum. The batches of digital photos will be transferred to flash drives to be uploaded to the photo catalog by the photo archival team.
Please join the team for a day of camaraderie in Meher Baba’s name and in the process learn more, or refresh your memories, of Meher Mount’s history.
SCANNING FIESTA! SCHEDULE — Saturday, September 21, 2019
The schedule for the Scanning Fiesta! on Saturday, September 21, 2019:
8:00 a.m.: Continental Breakfast & Setup
8:30 a.m.: Welcome, Instructions & SmugMug Overview
9:00 a.m.: Scanning
Noon: Lunch (please bring your own)
1:00 p.m.: Scanning
4:00 p.m.: Tea & Take Down
DO YOU HAVE PHOTOS OF MEHER MOUNT?
Meher Mount has very few historical (i.e., before 2005) photos and is particularly looking for photos related to:
Meher Mount before and after the 1985 fire
Agnes Baron
Rebuilding after the 1985 fire
Events, gatherings and visitors - anytime
You can share these photos with Meher Mount in one of several ways:
Sending high-resolution digital copies to Meher Mount. Contact project manager Juan Mendez for instructions on how to upload and/or send these photos digitally.
Bringing these photos to the Scanning Fiesta! to be scanned.
Sending the actual photos to: Meher Mount, 9902 Sulphur Mountain Road, Ojai, CA 93023. After the scanning, Meher Mount can return the photos to you and/or send you a digital image.
QUESTIONS?
To answer any questions you have about scanning or submitting photos, contact project manager Juan Mendez.
AGNES BARON with her dog, Kali, who was also at Meher Mount when Meher Baba visited in 1956. Agnes said that Meher Baba indicated Kali would be a human in his next lifetime. (Photo: Lud Dimpfl, November 1956, courtesy of his daughter Joan Dimpfl Harland)