View source for Claude Fayette Bragdon

<b>ARTICLE UNDER CONSTRUCTION</b>
<br>
<b>ARTICLE UNDER CONSTRUCTION</b>
<br><br>
[[File:Claude Bragdon.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Claude Bragdon]]
'''Claude Fayette Bragdon''' was an American architect, artist, writer, and publisher who was active in the [[Theosophical Society in America]]. He operated the [[Manas Press]] in Rochester, New York, and was the first publisher of [[P. D. Ouspensky|P. D. Ouspensky's]] work, '''''Tertium Organum'''''. 

 [[James Cousins|Dr. James Cousins]] referred to him as "Claude Bragdon of America to whom Architecture is Theosophy in stone."<ref>James H. Cousins, "The Life and Work of Jean Delville, Theosophist Painter-Poet." ''The Theosophist'' 47 no. 3 (December 1925): 396.</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Claude Bragdon was born on August 1, 1866 in Oberlin, Ohio. His father was George Chandler Bragdon (1832–1910), the editor of a succession of small-town newspapers in New York. The family moved several times to Adams, Ithaca, Utica, and Watertown as George established a new paper, only to have the business fail despite his excellence as a writer and editor. Claude's mother was Katherine Elmina Shepherd.<ref> Claude Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs: An Autobiography'' (Rochester, NY: Manas Press, 1917), 3-4.</ref>

Claude worked after school in Oswego, lettering documents for a local architect. He was never able to attend college, but explored several potential careers. He apprenticed with an architect and with a wood engraver; worked as a cartoonist; and provided drawings to ''Scribner's'' magazine. After working in an architectural partnership for a few years, he was able to take off time to travel in Europe, spending most of his time in Italy and France.<ref>Bragdon, ''Secret Springs'', 29-44.</ref>

[[File:Eugenie Macaulay Bragdon.png|right|160px|thumb|Eugenie Macauley Bragdon]]

== Personal life and marriages ==

Claude Bragdon was married twice. His first marriage was to Charlotte Coffin May Wilkinson (1872–1907) on November 3, 1902 in Syracuse, New York. She had been a brilliant student at Smith College, and was very active as an editor, social worker, and organizer for the National League of Women Workers, even though her health was fragile. Her social connections aided Bragdon's career.<ref>Claude Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs" An Autobiography'' (New York: Cosimo, 2005), 56-57.</ref> Their first son was Henry Wilkinson Bragdon (1906–1980). Charlotte died on December 16, 1907, immediately following the birth of their second son Chandler Bragdon (1907–1969). The father was left alone to raise the two young boys, with aid of a nurse and housekeeper. Both boys tooks degrees at ivy-league schools, and later at Cambridge University, having the kind of educational experience that Claude missed in his own life.

On July 13, 1912 he married Eugenie Macaulay. She was an intuitive woman, a psychic. Her husband documented her teachings in the book '''''Oracle''''' and in '''''Delphic Woman'''''.

== Community singing events ==

The first '''Festival of Song and Light''' took place on September 30, 1915 in a natural amphitheater of Highland Park, Rochester. Its roots were in a community chorus established by Harry Barnhart in 1913, and in a large party held by the Bragdons that featured colored lanterns. Bragdon described the festival:
<blockquote>
The chorus and band occupied the far end of a long valley. Ranged above them hung electric lamps concealed from the audience by circular and rectangular shields... which reflected the light backward and downward, creating a Watteauesque picture, as of some fête champêtre amid sylvan surroundings. Great lantuers of fanciful design humg high up in the loftiest trees, supplemented by a multitude of Japanese lanterns. The affair was so successful that it was repeated the following year."<ref>Claude Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs: an Autobiography'' (New York: Cosimo, 2005), 72-73.</ref>
</blockquote>
These events inspired similar festivals in Central Park of New York City, and in Syracuse and Buffalo, and in Plainfield, New Jersey. After World War I and a lapse of a few years, Barnhart and Bragdon produced an "all-Negro" in White Plains, and then a final series festivals with an African-American chorus of 1000 held in Madison Square Garden in 1931 with Harry conducting and Claude managing the lights. Bicycle races alternated with music, and several of these performances took place.<ref>Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs'', 113-114.</ref>

== Colored lights and music ==

Bragdon was fascinated by the combination of colored lights with sound. He devoted chapter of his autobiography to the history of this subject and his own thoughts. He developed an organ keyboard associating the diatonic scale with the colors of the rainbow.

<blockquote>
My very first experiment convinced me that I should preoccupy myself less with the similarities between light and sound, music and colour, than with their differences.

Music unfolds in ''time''. Time implies ;;succession''. Colour-music unfolds in ''space'', and space implies ''simultaneity''. If there be a workable correlation between music and mobile colour it should be sought, therefore, rather in the domain of harmony, which involves simultaneity, than in melody, which is succession. Moreover, the eye is more sluggish and less analytical than the ear, which means, in this connection that light-changes should succeed one another less rapidly than notes in music.

Accordingly, in my second experiment, without abandoning my colour-scale altogether, I attempted no arbitrary translation of music into colour, but rather the induction of a desired mood through the appeal of a kind of visible beauty made up of coloured light into which the element of mobility entered.<ref>Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs'', 117-118.</ref> 
</blockquote>

During the years of his marriage to Eugenie, Bragdon set up his color organ in an empty store, and then in the hayloft of a former stable. He worked late at night. "All alone in the cavernous spaces of that enormous hayloft, I would seat myself at the keyboard of my instrument and conjure out of the darkness forms and colours of such beauty that I often lost all sense of where I was."<ref>Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs'', 119.</ref>  '''Leopold Stokowski''' remarked to him that "in light there was probably an art greater even than music."<ref>Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs'', 119.</ref> Eventually the cost of his experiments grew too great, and Bragdon scrapped his color-organ. Later, Kirpatrick Brice finance a laboratory in Huntington, Long Island, where Bragdon worked with painter Van Deering Perrine and Thomas Wilfred in a group called "The Prometheans" to create a "Clavilux."<ref>Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs'', 120.</ref> 

Bragdon continued for many years to explore the relationships of colors to emotions, studying the work of clairvoyants like Theosophists [[Charles W. Leadbeater]] and [[Dora van Gelder Kunz]]. He believed that music is "mathematics made audible" and wanted to make mathematics visible through an animated cartoon technique. He drew hundreds of drawings to illustrate musical compositions, but never found a producer willing to make a film from them.<ref>Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs'', 125-127.</ref>

== Architectural career ==

''Claude Bragdon and the Beautiful Necessity '' by Eugenia Victoria Ellis and ''Crystal and Arabesque'' by Jonathan Massey provide a wealth of information and imagery from Bragdon's important architectural career, which is too broad a topic to cover here. Some of the structures for which he is best known include:

* '''Otis Arch''', a temporary structure built in 1900 to celebrate Civil War General Elwell Otis.
* '''Rochester First Universalist Church''', constructed in 1907-1908.
* '''New York Central Railroad Station''', 1914. 
* '''Bevier Memorial Building''', 1910, built for the Rochester Athenæum and Mechanics Institute.
* '''Rochester Chamber of Commerce''', 1917, a project sponsored by George Eastman, with whom Bragdon broke off relations after artistic differences.

<gallery widths="160px" perrow="5">
File:Otis Arch.JPG|<center>Otis Arch, 1900</center>
File:Rochester First Universalist Church.jpg|<center>Rochester First Universalist Church, 1907</center>
File:Rochester-NYCentral-Railroad-Union-Depot-Bragdon.jpg|<center>NY Central RR Station, 1914</center>
</gallery>

Bragdon was active in his profession as a writer and lecturer in addition to his architectural design work. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture; Scammon Lecturer at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1915; Lecturer on "Design in Space" at Princeton University in 1934; and a teacher of contemporary arts at Briarcliff Junior College.

== Theatrical design career ==

From a young age, Bragdon was drawn to the world of theater. When [[Walter Hampden]], the famous actor and producer, spent time in Rochester, he and the architect became fast friends. Bragdon designed sets for two of Hampden's Shakespearian productions. 

<blockquote>
In the summer of 1923 Walter Hampden visited me in Rochester and announced that he was considering taking a year's lease of the National Theatre in New York. He did not want to do so, however, without my assurance that I would design and supervise his productions, as I had done previously in ''Hamlet'' and Macbeth''. Though this would involve moving to New Yo9rk and the abandonmnet of my architectural practice, I accepted his offer, interpreting it as the knocking of destiny at my door, for I had not been happy in Rochester after Eugenie's death.<ref>Claude Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs: an Autobiograph'' (New York: Cosimo, 2005), 72-73.</ref>
</blockquote>

Their first productions was ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', followed by ''The Light of Asia'', ''Caponsacchi'', and ''Richilieu''.<ref>''Walter Hampden in "Cyrano de Bergerac"''. New York: Arthur Klar, 1936. Theater program. Costumes and sets designed by Claude Bragdon.</ref>
<ref>''Walter Hampden in "Caponsacchi" and "Hamlet"''. New York: Arthur Klar, 1900. Theater program. Costumes and sets designed by Claude Bragdon.</ref>
<ref>''Catalog of an exhibition of drawings and designs for Walter Hampden's dramatic productions by Claude Bragdon.'' Buffalo : Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, 1927.</ref>
<ref>Lytton, Edward Bulwer. ''Richilieu''. New York: Appleton, 1930. Playbill. "Poli's Theatre, S.Z. Poli, proprietor, direction Messrs. Lee and J.J. Shubert, T.D. Bonneville, Mgr., Walter Hampden in "Richelieu," a new version of Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton's play of the same name by Arthur Goodrich, entire scenic production designed and supervised by Claude Bragdon, staged and directed by Mr. Goodrich and Mr. Hampden."</ref><ref>Bragdon, Claude. "The Hamlet problem from the standpoint of the artist in the theatre." ''The Architectural Record'', Vol. 59, 1926, pp. 1-6.</ref> Much of his work was in collaboration with '''[[Walter Hampden]]''', who produced, directed, and starred in many of the productions.

During Bragdon's New York years, his best friends were Walter Kirkpatrick Brice or "Kirk," and Harry Barnhart, who had both moved from Rochester to NYC and continued to work in community chorus events. He had an active social life, associating with many artists, social reformers, and Theosophists. In 1924 he moved into a highrise hotel, the Shelton, where he lived for the rest of his life. Fellow residents included photographer '''Alfred Stieglitz''' and painter '''Georgia O'Keeffe'''.

[[File:Silver Circus book jacket.jpg|right|176px|thumb|Book jacket design]]

== Design work ==

Throughout his life, Bragdon engaged in thousands of design projects. He drew cartoons and illustrations; worked on lanterns for his festivals; designed book plates, book jackets, costumes, stained glass windows, gravestones, and innumerable other objects.  

=== Book jackets ===

From the early days of his career, Bragdon designed '''"bindings for books"''' or book jackets, like these:
* ''At the Sign of the Sphinx: A Book of Charades'' by Carolyn Wells, New York: Stone and Kimball, 1896.<ref>See title page of book at [https://archive.org/details/atsignofsphinxbo00well Internet Archive].</ref>
* ''Stories from the Chap-book; Being a Miscellany of Curious and Interesting Tales, Histories, &c'', a compilation by many authors. Chicago: Herbert S. Stone and Company, 1896. <ref>See title page of book at [https://archive.org/details/storieschapbook00editrich Internet Archive], and [https://archive.org/details/beingmisctales00essarich Internet Archive].</ref>
* ''The Will of Song; a Dramatic Service of Community singing'' by Percy Mackay. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1910.
* ''Dostoevsky'' by André Gide. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1926. 
* ''Cora'' by Ruth Suckow. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. 
* ''Silver Circus'' by A. E. Coppard. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929.

== Theosophical Society activities ==

Claude Bragdon was introduced to [[Theosophy]] by his father, '''George C. Bragdon''', who joined the [[Theosophical Society]] on November 6, 1884.<ref>Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at [http://tsmembers.org/ http://tsmembers.org/]. See book 1, entry 3084 (website file: 1B/5).</ref> The '''Rochester Branch''' of the Society was formed on [[July 27]], 1882  by [[Josephine Cables]], her husband James, and fourteen others.<ref>Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at [http://tsmembers.org/ http://tsmembers.org/]. See book 1, entries  1285-1299 (website file: 1A/42).</ref> The lodge grew to at least 25 members, including '''[[Matilda Joslyn Gage]]''', a remarkable feminist and mother-in-law of [[L. Frank Baum]], who joined the lodge on March 26, 1885.<ref>Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at [http://tsmembers.org/ http://tsmembers.org/]. See book 1, entry 3274 (website file: 1B/11).</ref><ref>See [https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/sp-1469793668 A Notable Theosophist: L. Frank Baum] by John Algeo.</ref> The Rochester area was described by [[William Quan Judge]] as  "the vital centre" of Theosophy, with Genesee, White Lotus, and Iris lodges forming quickly.<ref>"The Rochester Theosophical Society" ''The Theosophist'' Supplement Vol. 6 (December, 1885), 162.</ref> Mrs. Cables published [[The Occult Word (periodical)|''The Occult Word'']], the first Theosophical periodical in the United States.

Bragdon wrote about incorporating Theosophy into his life on a Sunday morning in 1898 when he was reading [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Ralph Waldo Emerson's]] ''Conduct of Life'':
<blockquote>
He [Bragdon's father] was a great admirer of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a life-size portrait of the Sage of Concord hung on our stair landing, and his complete works adorned our library shelves. One morning, when I was just emerging from my adolescence, I took up Emerson's ''Conduct of Life'', and became so utterly absorbed in it that I lost all sense of the passage of time... 

I date my conversion to Theosophy from that hour, for Emerson's essays are so largely a distillation of the Ancient Wisdom through the consciousness of a New England Brahmin. Emerson and Thoreau were among the first Americans to read and ponder the ''Sacred Books of the East'' in English tranlation, and it is clear both from the record of their lives and from internal evidence that this coloured all their thought.

My more self-conscious and considered acceptance of the Theosophical cosmo-conception occurred years after my Emersonian initiation... I came upon ... A. P. Sinnett's ''Esoteric Buddhism''... I was completely fascinated; it was unlike anything I had ever read. I found there unfolded a conception of life and of the cosmos so sublime, so all-inclusive, and at the same time so reasonable and consistent, that it seemed to me to transcend the power of any merely human mind to have conceived; and because I could not but accept this teaching, I had also to accept the idea of superhuman intelligences...

I devoured other Theosophical books in my father's library, such as ''Isis Unveiled'', by Madame Blavatsky, ''The Perfect Way'', by Maitland and Kingsford, and ''Light on the Path;', by Mabel Collins.<ref>Claude Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs" An Autobiography'' (New York: Cosimo, 2005), 51-52. Chapter VI.</ref>
</blockquote>

The date of Claude Bragdon's acceptance as a member of the Society is not precisely known. Theosophy remained an intellectual pursuit to Bragdon, however, rather than a lifestyle, until he met [[C. Jinarajadasa]].<ref>Ibid, 54-55.</ref> Then a small group banded together to form the Genessee Lodge of the Theosophical Society on March 19, 1909, with Bragdon as president. He lectured, wrote, and distributed Theosophical booklets, placing his ''Episodes from an Unwritten History'' in every hotel room in Rochester.<ref>Ibid, 54-55.</ref>

in 1911 on June 6th in New York City, he and ATS president [[Weller Van Hook]] sponsored '''[[Walter Hampden|Walter Hampden's]]''' membership in the [[American Theosophical Society]].<ref>Membership Ledger Cards roll 3, number 03547. Theosophical Society in America Archives.</ref>.

Bragdon was always a very active member at local and national levels. He served on the American Editorial Committee for [[The Theosophist (periodical)|''The Theosophist'']], along with [[Anita Henkel#Marriage and later years|H. Douglas Wild]] and [[Fritz Kunz]].<ref>"American Editorial Committee," ''The American Theosophist" 24.3 (March 1936), 70.</ref> 

=== Lodge activities ===
'''UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''

Genesee Lodge worked with Rochester Lodge to draw high-caliber lecturers such as [[Irving S. Cooper]] and [[L. W. Rogers]] for public lectures and member classes.<ref>Lillian B. Daily, "The Field," ''The Theosophic Messenger'' 11.12 (September, 1910), 759.</ref> Genesee was able to purchase a headquarters building in 1915, and established a policy that no other organization could rent space in it. "It was thought best to take no risk of giving the public the impression that Theosophy is allied to [[Rosicrucianism]], [[New Thought]], or any other organizations however occult or progressive."<ref>"Lodge Notes from Here and There" ''The Messenger'' 11.12 (May 1924), 204.</ref> Bragdon was creative and successful in his efforts to increase lodge membership. In addition to lecturing for civic groups like the Century Club, he placed copies of some of his Theosophical writings in every hotel room in Rochester.

=== Manas Press ===

[[File:Entrance Arch 1.jpg|right|450px|thumb|Blueprint of Entrance Arch, 1940]]
Bragdon recognized the need for a publishing house to print Theosophical pamphlets and books. The '''[[Manas Press]]''' was esdtablished Rochester around October, 1909. It is especially noteworthy for publishing the first English-language edition of [[P. D. Ouspensky|P. D. Ouspensky's]] Russian work ''Tertium Organum'', and for printing Bragdon's excellent writings on Theosophy, art, and architecture. The publishing house was named after the Sanskrit term '''[[Manas]]''', or "mind," the intellectual faculty of human beings.

=== Impact on Theosophical Society headquarters campus ===

In 1926, when the [[American Theosophical Society]] was planning its new national center in Wheaton, Illinois, Bragdon was asked to serve as architect. He was then reorienting his career from architecture to stage design, so he declined. He recommended engaging Pond, Pond, Martin & Lloyd, the Chicago architectural firm headed by his friend Irving Kane Pond, and the Society followed his advice. The architects submitted two designs for consideration, and the Society's Board of Directors was evenly divided over which should be the finalist. President [[L. W. Rogers]] sent both drawings to Bragdon, who sent back a telegram saying that his preference would be the "asymmetrical" design, and that is the one that was built. It is now called the '''[[L. W. Rogers Building]]'''.

Bragdon did design an important structure at the [[Olcott (campus)|headquarters campus]] that was unveiled for members in a [[Co-Freemasonry|Co-Masonic]] dedication ceremony at the summer convention in 1940. An '''arch''' was built at the Main Street entrance to the campus. The cost of the project was underwritten anonymously by a member from Portland, Oregon, later acknowledged to be John H. Mason. Two stone and brick support columns are topped by carved Platonic solids &ndash; a dodecahedron and an icosahedron. Between them is a wrought iron arch with the name of the Society in America]] and the TS emblem in the center. Originally a lighted lantern hung from the emblem, but it had to be removed in later years when vehicles became taller. 

In 1942, then-President [[Sidney A. Cook]] wrote:
<blockquote>
As I look out my office window a car stops at our gateway, as cars often do, while its occupants read the bronze plaques on its pillars, moving from the one to the other to read the whole of the statements they contain as to the founding, the Founders and the principles. The car passes on, but our Headquarters has made its impression; the breadth and dignity of our principles have sown seed.
<ref>S.A.C.[Sidney A. Cook], "Our Gateway," ''The American Theosophist'' 30.3 (March, 1942), 70.</ref>
</blockquote> 

In 1989, the entire gateway had to be moved a few feet to accommodate a turn lane in Main Street, when an apartment complex was built across the street. It remains one of the most admired features of the headquarters estate.

=== Lecturing ===

Much in demand as a lecturer, Bragdon spoke at many lodges in North America, such as Toronto, Hartford, and Buffalo; and in other venues like the International Hindustani Society and the Mecca Temple in New York. In the early 1920s he lectured at the '''Master Institute of United Arts''', founded by [[Nicholas Roerich]].<ref>Nicholas Roerich, ''Adamant'' (New York: Corona Mundi International Arts Center, 1923): back matter. Printed in Paris at Presse Franco-Russe. Available at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044034438218&seq=1 Hathitrust].</ref> For many years his center of activity was New York City, where he frequently lectured at the lodges and at the New York Theosophical Federation. Topics were wide-ranging, such as yoga, mysticism, science, music, the fourth dimension, the machine age, education, and Emerson.

== Later years ==

Mr. Bragdon passed away on [[September 17]], 1946.

== Association with famous people ==

While lecturing a Princeton, Bragdon met '''[[Albert Einstein]]''', who asked his opinion of thought transference. "I told him about certain significant experiments carried on in that field by Fritz Trautmann and myself."<ref>Bragdon, ''The Secret Springs'', 108.</ref>

== Tributes, reviews, and commentaries ==

=== Manly P. Hall ===

Basanta Koomar Roy related a story about Bragdon's meeting with [[Manly P. Hall]]:
<blockquote>
The first question Mr. Claude Bragdon, American mystic, asked Mr. Hall immediately after their first meeting was:

"Mr. Hall, how do you know so much more about the mathematics of [[Pythagoras]] than even the authorities on the subject?"

Standing beside both these dear American friends of mine, I was wondering with trepidation in my heart what reply Mr. Hall would make.

"Mr. Bragdon," answered Mr. Hall quickly, unhesitatingly, and with a simultaneous flash of smile in his eyes and on his lips, "you are an occult philosopher. You know that it is easier to know things than to know how one knows those things."

In silence Claude Bragdon, the famous authority in the Fourth Dimension, looked at the radiant face, and into the fathomless eyes of Manly P. Hall; and in silence the four eyes spoke in the solemn language of the soul.<ref>Basanta Koomar Roy, "America's Timeless Philosopher." Horizon 1, no. 4 (November-December 1941), 15.</ref>
</blockquote>

== Writings ==

Claude Bragdon was a prolific writer, with a lively and engaging style, and amazing use of language.

=== Articles ===
Bragdon frequently wrote articles for Theosophical magazines. The [[Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals]] lists '''[https://theosophicalsociety.org.au/union_index/entries?q=Claude+Bragdon&s=author 65 articles by Claude Bragdon]'''. Some of his books were serialized as "Theosophy and Architecture" and "H.P.B. and Theosophy." One interesting topic was "Camp Sherman," a military training facility in Ohio, which he visited in 1918. 

He frequently submitted essays to architectural and design journals, and early issues of ''Rosicrucian Digest'' published by A.M.O.R.C. Here are some examples:

* '''"Some Chinese Letters of Willard Straight"''' ''Scribner's'' June 1919. On China and the "Spirit of the East."

=== Books and pamphlets ===
His books about architecture, art, and Theosophy are listed here in alphabetical order. Most are compilations of essays or lecture transcriptions. Major titles like ''Architecture and Democracy'', ''The Beautiful Necessity'', ''The Frozen Fountain'', and ''Projective Ornament'' have been reprinted many times and translated into multiple languages.

* '''''The Arch Lectures: Eighteen Discourses on a Great Variety of Subjects Delivered in New York, During the winter of 1940'''''. New York, Creative Age Press, 1942.
* '''''Architecture and Democracy'''''. New York, A. A. Knopf, 1918. Available at [https://archive.org/details/architectureandd12625gut Internet Archive], [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/423683.html Hathitrust], [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12625 Gutenberg.org], and other sources.
* '''''Argentina from a British Point of View'''''. [Place of publication not identified] : General Books, 2010.
* '''''The Beautiful Necessity: Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture'''''. 1910. Rochester, NY: Manas Press. 109 p. Available at [http://www.archive.org/details/beautifulnecessi00bragiala Internet Archive], [http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924008627949 Internet Archive], [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/4219201.html Hathitrust], [http://books.google.com/books?id=-gtQAAAAMAAJ Google Books], and [http://books.google.com/books?id=wtwtAAAAMAAJ Google Books].
* '''''A Brief Life of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society'''''. Rochester, N.Y.: The Manas Press, 1909. 20 pages. Pamphlet.
* '''''Delphic Woman'''''. New York, London, A.A. Knopf, 1936. Twelve essays reprinted from ''The New Image'' and ''Old Lamps for New''.
* '''''Details from Italian palaces'''''. Rochester, N.Y.: Cutler Manufacturing Co., 1897. 
* '''''Diary of Claude Fayette Bragdon'''''. [Watertown, N.Y.], [Printed by the Watertown Daily Times], 1974. "This diary ... was printed serially in the ''Watertown Daily Times'' in October, November and December of 1972." Introduction and notes by Henry W. Bragdon.
* '''''An Educated Heart'''''. Written with Katherine Susan Anthony. [New York] : [Dial Pub. Co.], 1910. Reviews of Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890-1891, by John Johnston and J.W. Wallace and The letters of Anne Gilchrist and Walt Whitman. In a whole issue of the ''Dial'', v. 66, no. 781 (Jan. 11, 1919).
* '''''Episodes from an Unwritten History'''''. Rochester, NY: Manas Press. In 1910, an enlarged second edition was published. Available at [https://archive.org/details/episodesfromunwr00brag Internet Archive].
* '''''The Eternal Poles'''''. New York, A.A. Knopf, 1931.
* '''''Explorations into the Fourth Dimension'''''. Formerly ''Four Dimensional Vistas''. 
* '''''Four Dimensional Vistas: a Primer of Higher Space'''''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1916. Available at [https://archive.org/details/fourdimensional00braggoog Internet Archive], [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/1448931.html Hathitrust], and [https://archive.org/details/fourdimensionalv11906gut Internet Archive].
* '''''The Frozen Fountain'''''. New York, A.A. Knopf, 1932. Available at [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/683025.html Hathitrust]. 
* '''''The Gift of Asia'''''. Rochester, N.Y.: Manas Press, 1914. Available at [https://books.google.com/books?id=WctTAAAAYAAJ Google Books] and [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101065416800&view=1up&seq=5 Hathitrust].
* '''''The Golden Person of the Heart'''''. Gouverneur, N.Y., Brothers of the Book, 1898. Available at [https://books.google.com/books?id=0vBDAQAAMAAJ Google Books] and [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435018158170&view=1up&seq=12 Hathitrust]. "This was Bragdon's explanation of the Buddhist view of creation," per Carolyn Swanton's unpublished biography, ''Claude Bragdon: His Life."
* '''''The Hamlet Problem from the Standpoint of the Artist in the Theatre'''''. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1926. From ''The Architectural Record'', Vol. 59, 1926, pp. 1-6.
* '''''The "Heathen" Invasion; an Open Letter to the Editor of the Hampton-Columbian Magazine'''''. Rochester, N.Y.: Manas Press, 1911. 15 pages. 
* '''''The Home of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce at Rochester, New York'''''. Boston: Rogers and Manson, 1918. A reprint from the ''Architectural Forum'' Dec. 1917.
* '''''An Introduction to Yoga'''''. New York, A.A. Knopf, 1933.
* '''''Karma Once More'''''. 1915. Pamphlet.
* '''''Man and Death'''''. 1915. Pamphlet.
* '''''Man the Square: a Higher Space Parable'''''. Rochester, N.Y.: Manas Press, 1912. 34p. Available at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924117653919&view=1up&seq=7 Hathitrust] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=1hw2AQAAMAAJ Google Books], both signed by author.
* '''"The Master of the Blue Cape"''' [story]. This inspired two members of the St. Petersburg Lodge to stage an impromptu play on December 21, 1938.<ref>''Bulletin of the Florida Federation''. January 15, 1939. From clipping in National Secretary's files for St. Petersburg Lodge. Theosophical Society in America.</ref>
* '''''Merely Players'''''. New York, A.A. Knopf, 1929. Essays continuing themes of "Old Lamps for New." Limited availability at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3314925 Hathitrust]. Personal accounts of "Purple Cow" poet Gelett Burgess; architects Harvey Ellis and Louis H. Sullivan; poet [[Kahlil Gibran]]; clairvoyant [[Dora van Gelder Kunz]]; mystic Francis Grierson; artists [[Nicholas Roerich]] and Van Deering Perrine; poets [[George William Russell]] (Æ) and Adelaide Crapsey; and Nicholas Bessaraboff. 
* '''''The Message of Buddha'''''. Rochester, N.Y.: Manas Press, 1914. 15 pages.
* '''''Minor Italian Palaces'''''. Rochester, N.Y.: Cutler Manufacturing Co., 1897. Portfolio, 6 plates. 
* '''''More Lives Than One'''''. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1938. Available at [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/1333280.html Hathitrust]. 
* '''''The New Image'''''. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1928. Available at [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/497788.html Hathitrust] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=v7U0AAAAMAAJ Google Books].
* '''''The New Rochester Chamber of Commerce Building'''''. Rochester, NY: 1919. Available at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435080569866&view=1up&seq=1 Hathitrust] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=lBtGAQAAMAAJ Google Books].
* '''''Old Lamps for New, or The Ancient Wisdom in the Modern World'''''. New York, A.A. Knopf, 1925.
* '''''Oracle'''''. Rochester, NY: Manas Press, 1921. 64 p. Portrait in frontispiece. Available at [https://archive.org/details/oracle00brag Internet Archive] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=bm1HAQAAMAAJ Google Books].  Bragdon collected messages that had been received by his deceased wife Eugenie Julier Macaulay Bragdon via automatic writing. Some are epigrammatic personal messages, and others are prophetic.
* '''''A Primer of Higher Space (the Fourth Dimension)'''''. Rochester, NY: Manas Press, 1913. 78 p. Illustrated. Available at [https://archive.org/details/aprimerhighersp00braggoog Internet Archive]. "The clearest and most capable presentation of the Fourth Dimension in our literature," per ''The Theosophical Messenger'', November 1928.
* '''''Projective Ornament'''''. Rochester NY: Manas Press, 1915. 78 p. Illustrated. Reprinted New York : A.A. Knopf, 1927.
* '''''Revival: an Introduction to Yoga'''''. 1933. 
* '''''The Secret Springs: an Autobiography'''''. Rochester, N.Y.: Manas Press, 1917. Reprinted by New York: Cosimo Classics, 2005.
* '''''Self Education: An Address Given Before the Boston Architectural Club April the third 1909'''''. 1910. Rochester, NY: Manas Press. 16 p. Available at [https://archive.org/details/selfeducationadd00brag Internet Archive].
* '''''Six Lectures on Architecture'''''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1917. Scammon Lectures. Coauthors were Ralph Adams Cram and Thomas Hastings. Available at [https://archive.org/details/sixlectureson00cram Internet Archive], [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/907655.html Hathitrust], [https://books.google.com/books?vid=HARVARD:HN2WCM&printsec=titlepage#v=onepage&q&f=false Google Books], and other sources. Bragdon lectures included "Organic Architecture" and "The Language of Form." 
* '''''The Small Old Path'''''. Rochester, NY: Manas Press, 1911. 2nd edition. available at [https://archive.org/details/smalloldpathbycl00brag Internet Archive], [https://archive.org/details/sixlecturesonarc01cram Internet Archive], [https://archive.org/details/sixlecturesonarc00cram Internet Archive], and [https://archive.org/details/sixlecturesonarc1917cram Internet Archive].
* '''''Tapestry Brickwork'''''. Boston: Fiske & Co., 1909. "Artistic Brickwork: Its Achievements and Possibilities / by Claude Bragdon."
* '''''Theosophy and the Theosophical Society'''''.  Rochester, NY: Manas Press, 1909. Available at [https://archive.org/details/theosophytheosop00brag Internet Archive]. 
* '''''Wake Up and Dream!''''' [New York], [Outlook Co.], 1931. Available at [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/66291146.html Hathitrust].
* '''''Where Are You Going, My Pretty Maid?'''''. Wheaton, Ill.: League for American Womanhood, 1941. 7 pages. "An address delivered by Claude Bragdon before the friends of Carman Barnes, at the Arch Headquarters, 170 East 78th Street, New York, on the twentieth day of November, nineteen hundred and forty... Inquiry into the interests, activities, aspirations (if she has any), of the modern young woman, and an indication of the direction in which I think she should be headed." 7 pages.
* '''''Yoga for You'''''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1943.

=== Forewords, chapters, translations, and other contributions ===

* Brandon, Wilfred. '''''Open the Door!'''''. New York, A.A. Knopf, 1935. Introduction by Claude Bragdon. Available at [https://archive.org/details/opendoor00bran Internet Archive] and [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6317227M/Open_the_door! Open Library].
* Gargano, James W. '''''Critical Essays on Henry James: the Late Novels'''''. Boston, Mass. : G.K. Hall, 1987. Essay "The Golden Bowl: Thought as the Novelist's Sole Material" by Claude Bragdon.
* Hodson, Geoffrey, and Alexander Horne. '''''Some Experiments in Four Dimensional Vision'''''. Rider & co., 1933. Introduction by Claude Bragdon.
* Mallgrave, Harry Francis. '''''Architectural Theory'''''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. Extract from ''Architecture and Democracy'' by Claude Bragdon.
* Mumford, Lewis. '''''	Roots of Contemporary American Architecture: a Series of Thirty-seven Essays Dating from the Mid-nineteenth Century to the Present'''''. New York : Reinhold, 1952. Essay "The Language of Form" by Claude Bragdon.
* Ouspenskii, P. D. '''''Tertium Organum: the Third Canon of Thought, a Key to the Enigmas of the World'''''. Rochester, NY: Manas Press, 1920. Translated from the Russian by Nicholas Bessaraboff and Claude Bragdon ; with an introduction by Claude Bragdon. Available at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210000485068&view=1up&seq=5 Hathitrust], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZuPWAAAAMAAJ Google Books], and [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000108753777&view=1up&seq=9 Hathitrust]. 
* Parents Theosophical Research Group. '''''A Theosophical Guide for Parents'''''. Ojai, Calif.: Parents Theosophical Research Group, 1981, 1984. Essay "The Ritual of Play" by Claude Bragdon.
* Perrine, Van Dearing. '''''Van Dearing Perrine, the Light Years: [exhibition] November 2-December 16, 1989.''''' New York, N.Y.: Graham, 1989. Text by Claude Bragdon.
* Plummer, George Winslow. '''''Consciously Creating Circumstances'''''. West Hoathly [England] : Derricke Ridgway, 1953. Foreword by Claude Bragdon.
* Roerich, Nicholas. '''''Altai-Himalaya'''''. New York: Frederick A. Stokes & Co., 1930. Introduction by Claude Bragdon.
* Schmidt, Carl Frederick. '''''Cobblestone Architecture'''''. [Rochester, N.Y.], [Great lakes Press], 1944. Preface by Claude Bragdon.
* Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition. '''''Triad'''''. New York, N.Y.: Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition, 1989. Essay "An Architecture of Changeless Change" by Claude  Bragdon. From ''Parabola'', the magazine of myth and tradition,; v. 14, no. 4.
* Sullivan, Louis H. '''''The Autobiography of an Idea'''''. New York, Press of the American Institute of Architects, 1924. Reprinted New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1956. Foreword by Claude Bragdon.
* Sullivan, Louis H. '''''Kindergarten Chats on Architecture, Education and Democracy'''''. [Lawrence? Kan.]: Scarab Fraternity Press, 1934. "First printed, in 1901, in fifty-two successive numbers of the Interstate architect and builder," per introduction. Edited and introduced by Claude F. Bragdon. Available at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x006193798&view=1up&seq Hathitrust] and [https://archive.org/details/kindergartenchat0000sull Internet Archive]. 
* Uhlfelder, Eric. '''''The Origins of Modern Architecture: Selected Essays from "Architectural Record." Mineola, N.Y. : Dover Publications, 1998. Essay "The New Architecture" by Claude Bragdon.

== Additional resources ==

=== Articles ===
* [[Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals]] lists '''[https://theosophicalsociety.org.au/union_index/entries?q=Claude+Bragdon&s=title 30 articles about Claude Bragdon]'''
* Brown, Frank Chouteau. '''"Shakespeare, Hampden and Bragdon"'''. ''The Drama''. 11: March 1921: 197-199.
* Costa, Erville. '''"Claude F. Bragdon, Architect, Stage Designer, and Mystic."'''  ''Rochester '  29'  October 1967:  1-20.
* Massey, Jonathan. '''"Organic Architecture and Direct Democracy: Claude Bragdon's Festivals of Song and Light"'''. ''Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians''   65 no. 4 (2006): 578-613. Chicago, Ill.: Society of Architectural Historians, 2006.

=== Books and pamphlets ===
* Chait, Richard. '''''Rochester's Famed Bragdon Station: Its Architect, History, and Legacy'''''. Fairfax: Allegra, 2018. 130 pages.
* Ellis, Eugenia Victoria. '''''Claude Bragdon & the Beautiful Necessity: Eleven Essays'''''. Rochester, NY: Rochester Institute of Technology, 2010. 
* Ellis, Eugenia Victoria. '''''Squaring the Circle: the Regulating Lines of Claude Bragdon's Theosophic Architecture'''''. Ph. D. dissertation; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; 2005. 389 pages. 
* Fuchs, Theodore. '''''Stage Lighting'''''.  Boston:  Little, Brown and Company, 1929; reprinted., New York: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1957.
* Massey, Jonathan. '''''Art and Involution: Claude Bragdon's Projective Ornament'''''. Ph. D. dissertation; Princeton University; 2001.
* Massey, Jonathan. '''''Crystal and Arabesque: Claude Bragdon, Ornament, and Modern Architecture'''''. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009. 336 pages. This is an excellent biography of Bragdon's life and work.
* Meyers, Carole. '''''Wake Up and Dream!: Claude Bragdon's Idea of Theatre'''''.  Undergraduate dissertation, University of Rochester class of 1988.  Department of English, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 1987.
* Nixon, Mary. '''''Technically Symbolic: the Significance of Schema and Claude Bragdon's Sinbad Drawings in The Frozen Fountain'''''. Ph. D. dissertation in Architecture; University of Pennsylvania; 2005. 241 pages.
* Oenslager, Donald. '''''Stage Design, Four Centuries of Scenic Invention'''''.  New York: The Viking Press, 1975.
* Siegfried, David Allen. '''''Claude Bragdon, Artist-in-the-Theatre'''''. Ph. D. dissertation; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 1979.

=== Archival records ===
* '''Theosophical Society in America Archives''' has architectural drawings related to the arch that Bragdon designed, and also a limited amount of correspondence to/from or about Bragdon. The John Algeo Papers, Records Series 08.12, have some correspondence with Carolyn Swanton and a photocopy of her manuscript for the unpublished biography, ''Claude Bragdon: His Life''.
* '''[https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/finding-aids/AB81 Bragdon Family Papers]''' at the University of Rochester, The Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation (RBSCP). This is a rich source of correspondence, drawings, photographs, and other materials.
* '''[https://maybragdon.lib.rochester.edu May Bragdon Diaries]''' at University of Rochester Libraries. See also [https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/may-bragdons-diaries-offer-window-into-past-179052 "May Bragdon Diaries offer online window into Rochester’s past"].
* '''[https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b18930176 Claude Bragdon Scenic Designs]''' at the New York Public Library, in Performing Arts Research Collections - Theater. Call numbers CT-Vim 2010-047 Box 1 and 2, and T-Vim 2010-047 Oversized Folder 1.

== Notes ==
<references/>
[[Category:Architects|Bragdon, Claude]]
[[Category:Writers|Bragdon, Claude]]
[[Category:Artists|Bragdon, Claude]]
[[Category:Editors|Bragdon, Claude]]
[[Category:Publishers|Bragdon, Claude]]
[[Category:Famous people|Bragdon, Claude]]
[[Category:TS Adyar|Bragdon, Claude]]
[[Category:Nationality American|Bragdon, Claude]]
[[Category:People|Bragdon, Claude]]