Our Goal:

Our goal at the Lux NAtura Archive is to collect, catalog and digitize Terence's original work and life story in order to create the Terence McKenna Collection and record his story in our shared history.

when Terence left this world, he wasn’t finished. His expansive ideas and luminous wit live on in the writings and recordings he left behind - some of which have yet to be heard. We have already gathered nearly 60 boxes containing, journals, personal letters, 600 audio cassettes, videos, books, photographs and over 1000 butterfly specimens Terence collected between 1968-1972.

As a generation passes the torch and psychedelics move from the shadows into mainstream culture, science and medicine, the wisdom and stories of the counter-culture will fade into our past. Recording the history of the 20th century psychedelic underground will allow us to learn from this crucial period of resistance and exploration. Terence’s story is a history if his ideas as well as that of a community of iconoclastic characters who forged the path we are now on.

Our Plan:

PHASE 1

  • Gather: To gather all available images, recordings and texts of Terence’s original work and life story. We will bring together materials from family members, individual collectors, old friends, the internet, physical storage and the institutions Terence worked with.

  • Catalog: To inventory all materials, digitize them and create a catalog reference that summarizes the contents and highlights of the collection.

  • Archive: The catalog we create will help us to secure an ideal home in an institutional archive where it can be professionally preserved as part of our collective history and made available for research and collaboration.

PHASE 2

  • License: To create an accessible and streamlined system for licensing Terence’s words and voice to artists, scholars, musicians, filmmakers, etc. and support the stewardship of his work.

  • Publish:To release previously unpublished works and newly curated collections of both audio and written material. Some of these efforts are already underway and will be released in late 2026.

  • Collaborate: To work with artists, scholars and filmmakers to illuminate new interpretations of Terence’s work and inspire future creativity.

Contributors

The Terence McKenna Collection in the Lux Natura Archive is funded by a generous grant from Albert Hobohm and the Nostromo Foundation. We are also grateful for the ongoing donations, big and small, from Terence’s listeners, readers and community. You are making this work possible.

Materials have been contributed to the growing archive by:

  • Library of Consciousness

  • Esalen Institute

  • Omega Institute

  • Paul Herbert / Dolphin Tapes

  • Alan Watts Foundation

  • Chris Mays

  • Kevin Whitesides

  • Klaus John

  • Erik Davis

  • Dennis McKenna

  • Kathleen Harrison / Botanical Dimensions

  • Finn & Klea McKenna

  • Peter Bergmann

  • Jonathan Laliberte

  • Grahm St John

  • Leslie Rossman

  • Sara Hartley

Email info@TerenceMcKenna.com if you have digital or physical materials to share.

Why Give?

  • ✽

    Supporting the creative work of philosophers, artists and writers is one of the ways we can build a more creative culture despite living in an extractive, capitalist system.

  • ✽

    Terence’s message was prescient, but now it is urgent. With a new wave of interest in psychedelic science, it’s important to preserve the history of the counter-culture and the psychonauts that brought us this far.

  • ✽

    Archiving is slow, meticulous work which requires skilled, patient human labor. We have already digitized over 300 cassette tapes, scanned and transcribed hundreds of letters and, indexed photos, maps and lecture notes. But there is so much still to do!

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