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Like any good side quest, Jack Wagner’s journey into the history of the Integratron began with curiosity.
The host of “Otherworld” podcast had spoken to someone who experienced something unexplained at the mysterious dome in the Mojave Desert. Wagner knew little about the landmark or why it had been built, but ended up being key to its ultimate journey. It was partially thanks to him that the Huntington recently acquired an extensive archive documenting the dome and the postwar UFO community that cohered around its creator, ufologist George Van Tassel.
The collection, announced by the museum Tuesday, is deep and vast, with materials dating from the 1910s through the 1990s. It includes an architectural model and original blueprints of the Integratron, as well as nearly 630 photographs, negatives and slides, more than 250 audio recordings, 8-millimeter film footage, books, publications and other records and ephemera.
From his home in Alhambra, Jack Wagner explores the spooky and the supernatural in way that fans say feels legit, ‘without all the hocus-pocus theatrical stuff.’
“I was like, I want to learn more about this place,” Wagner said. “I started reaching out to find an expert.”
That’s how Wagner found Daniel Paul, an architectural historian who researched and documented the 38-foot-tall cupola-style structure built in 1960 by Van Tassel, who ascribed it miraculous powers including antigravity, rejuvenation and time travel. Paul’s work goes back a decade, when he was hired to get the building designated a historical landmark.
Paul suggested Wagner visit Donald and Dale McKinney in the desert town of Landers, Calif. The eccentric man and his wife preserved a number of items belonging to Van Tassel in a climate-controlled room in their home.
The original model of the Integratron was among the collection, along with blueprints, photographs, books and recordings of Van Tassel channeling what he described as “beings from beyond.” With help from his producers and Paul, Wagner began digitizing the collection and searching for a permanent home. The Huntington ended up purchasing the collection from the McKinneys.
“[The Huntington] had to have this,” said Erin Chase, the Huntington’s associate curator of architecture and photography. “We weren’t looking for it, but when we went and viewed the archive and saw the beautiful model and learned more about Van Tassel and his role in pioneering ufology in the Mojave desert, we just knew it had to come here.”
Chase said the acquisition marked an expansion of the library’s collecting interests beyond its millions of rare books, manuscripts and historical items spanning from the 11th through the 21st centuries.
The Integratron collection captures the curious life of Van Tassel, an aviation mechanic and test pilot who claimed to have communicated with Solganda, a being from Venus. Van Tassel said he received telepathic instructions for building a metal-free dome that could generate electrostatic energy and eventually help rejuvenate cells and make time travel possible.
Reading Susannah Rosenblatt’s “E.T., There’s No Place Like Dome” [April 20] recalls an interview I had with George Van Tassel, “Le Grand Papa” of flying saucers, in the spring of 1970.
After the alleged encounter, Van Tassel began building the machine and hosting the Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention, where he gave other contactees a platform to speak about their experiences. He also provided entertainment, including a child playing Beethoven on piano outside the boulder, for people who flocked to the conventions.
