About Us
The Rudolf Steiner Archive is the largest digital library of the works of Rudolf Steiner available in English. With over 155,000 unique visitors each month, the site serves a vast community of Anthroposophists and researchers throughout the world.
RSArchive.org is a project of the US-based not-for-profit charity, Steiner Online Library (SOL). As an IRS 501c3 tax-exempt organization, donations are tax deductible in the United States, US Federal Tax ID 85-2621701.
Steiner Online Library
PO Box 42
Interlochen, MI 49643-0042 USA
[email protected]
[email protected]
Our Mission
Our mission is to increase public awareness of Anthroposophy, a spiritual path of knowledge based on super-sensible perception of 20th-century polymath Rudolf Steiner. Per this mission, SOL maintains the Rudolf Steiner Archive, a library of the works of Rudolf Steiner in English, and offers digital versions of the texts to the public online for research and educational purposes. SOL will also continue to translate the original German text of Steiner’s work into English and include such new translations in the library.
The problem we aim to solve
The advent of the technological revolution has caused mankind to fall into a deep materialism. Much of our former cultural life has been stripped away and is now supplied for us through television and computerized devices. We no longer ask ourselves important life questions but instead seek authoritative answers from political leaders and scientific “experts”. The cost we pay is a loss of our spiritual freedom. Instead of following our own unique path, we are coerced to follow one that has been set for us.
Rudolf Steiner foresaw these developments in the early 20th century. His conceptual framework, Anthroposophy, provides a pathway back to a world that includes spirit. As he states in Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts (GA 26), “Anthroposophy is a path to knowledge, to guide the Spiritual in the human being to the Spiritual in the universe.” It explains how our material world is interwoven with an objectively real spiritual world that we can come to know through study and meditation. This “Spiritual Science” reveals the inner workings of reincarnation and karma and provides a way for people to come to an understanding of their true place in relation to the world.
The solution: “Man, know thyself!”
Steiner Online Library aims to preserve the vast wealth of information contained in the books, articles and transcribed lectures given to the world through the personality of Rudolf Steiner.
A distinct summary of Steiner's message could be summed up by the Ancient Greek aphorism "Man, know thyself!" By studying his teaching, we begin to truly understand our whole being and its purpose in the world. SOL presents this information in a free and easily searchable format to English speakers throughout the world to enable them to carry out this task of self-knowledge.
Our Team
Dr. Christopher Wietrzykowski
Co-Founder, Executive Director and President
Dr. Christopher Wietrzykowski has had an intense interest in Rudolf Steiner since reading How to Know Higher Worlds in 2003. He soon became a vital contributor to the Rudolf Steiner Archive, personally digitizing and editing approximately one-third of the materials in the Archive. In 2012, the original founder of the Rudolf Steiner Archive asked Chris to take over the site in the future and announced the arrangement to the Anthroposophical community. Dr. Wietrzykowski set aside his dentistry career in 2020 and, building upon his prior knowledge of computing, he taught himself several programming languages, website design, search engine development, and system administration.
Karin Wietrzykowski, Esq.
Co-Founder, Director of Operations, Secretary and Treasurer
Karin Wietrzykowski is a devoted practitioner of anthroposophy and is committed to making the work of Rudolf Steiner more accessible online in English. Her prior career as an accomplished technology attorney has prepared her well for this work. Having served as General Counsel to a consortium of digital content producers, technology companies, and digital media retailers, she has expertise in corporate law, IP protection, and other legal issues pertaining to digital media. Karin’s business background is further helping Steiner Online Library become financially sustainable while expanding its reach. Additionally, she enjoys the creative aspect of making the graphics for the website, shop, and social media. Karin has dedicated her career to anthroposophy and the Rudolf Steiner Archive together with her husband Christopher.
The History of this Initiative
Since its creation in 1978, the online web-based Rudolf Steiner Archive has been used by Anthroposophists and others around the world for personal and professional research. In 2021, the US-based organisation behind the Archive, The e.Lib. Inc., transferred the Rudolf Steiner Archive website of RSArchive.org and related technology, books, and materials to a new non-profit organisation, Steiner Online Library. What follows is a brief history of this whole development. [Read More]