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Welcome to the home page of the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc. (STERA, Inc.). This organization is dedicated to publishing fact-based information about the Shroud of Turin through its award-winning website, www.shroud.com. In addition to this extensive online resource, the Association maintains a large collection of scientific and historical material crucial to the continuing study of the Shroud. It is our goal to insure that a continually increasing portion of these materials is made available indirectly to the public via the website, and directly to qualified researchers on request. As the process of curating and archiving continues, more and more of these extensive materials will be made accessible. In the near future, the Board of Directors will establish formal, written guidelines for the licensing of Shroud related photographs and establish the criteria for direct access to research materials by qualified researchers. That information will be included on this page as soon as it is finalized. You can read the entire STERA, Inc., Mission Statement, which will give you insight into our future plans, by clicking on the appropriate link at the bottom of this page.
September 7, 2010
I am very happy to report that STERA, Inc. has been operating with great success since it formally began on January 1, 2010. This year, in association with Canterbury Tours, a professional pilgrimage tour company, and many of you, our website viewers who took those special tours, we successfuly completed our first official fundraising effort. Our sincere thanks to those of you who participated (and you know who you are)! I met several hundred of you there, and it was a truly wonderful opportunity to get to know some of our website viewers better.
However, fundraising is an ongoing process for every non-profit organization, and we are no exception (especially in such troubled financial times). Now that the Shroud is no longer in the news, we still need your participation and support to continue the work we have begun. And of course, we still need your fully tax deductible contributions. As many of you already know, you can safely contribute online using our Secure Contribution Form. And, in taking a lesson from the Public Broadcasting System here in the U.S., and as an encouragement for your support, we are now offering a range of gifts for those of you who make contributions to STERA, Inc. Much like PBS, these are offered on a sliding scale, based on the size of your contribution:
Contribution - - - - - - Free Gift
$100.00 - $299.00 - Set of 2 Shroud Lithographs
$300.00 - $599.00 - Shroud Lithographic Poster
$600.00 - $999.00 - Both Lithographs and Poster
$1000.00 (or more) - All the above plus Miniature Shroud Replica on CottonProbably the most exciting news however, is the next project we have planned, which we are simply calling our Archiving Project. As most of you know, the operation of this website and keeping it free of any advertising is not the only work supported by STERA, Inc. One of our major goals is to begin the archiving of the important collections that have been donated to STERA, Inc., including the materials of STURP researchers Raymond Rogers, Robert Dinegar and William Mottern. In addition, we have the extensive collection of Fr. Albert "Kim" Dreisbach, Jr., a world renown Sindonologist and Shroud scholar until his untimely death on April 29, 2006. Fr. Dreisbach's collection alone includes nearly one hundred and fifty boxes of books, correspondence, papers, articles and other Shroud related materials. And of course, my own collection of photographs and other Shroud materials is also rather extensive.
Our goal is to digitally scan and archive all of the important materials in these collections and ultimately make them available via a special gateway page and searchable database we will create on shroud.com. Our hope is that in the future, these important scientific and historic materials will be readily accessible to Shroud scholars around the world. To support that effort, we are in the preliminary stages of developing a grant request that will be submitted to the appropriate funding entities so the project can move forward simultaneously with maintaining the website, etc. We anticipate that the Archiving Project alone will be a 3 to 5 year effort. I feel very fortunate to have working with STERA, Inc. a wonderful Board of Directors that includes Shroud scholars, historians, academics and scientists. With their help and your support, I believe we will realize our goals and then some!
Barrie M. Schwortz
Executive Director
January 21, 2010
On Janaury 1, 2010, STERA, Inc. assumed complete legal ownership of this website. This will ensure the continuity of www.shroud.com into the future. All of my legal interests and intellectual property rights in the Barrie M. Schwortz Collection (and all other Shroud related collections) have been formally transferred to STERA, Inc., which is now the permanent administrator and owner of all the copyrights and other materials, including all Shroud photographs, papers, correspondence and other research materials.
Also effective on January 1, 2010, all proceeds from the sale and/or licensing of Shroud photographs, DVD's and other materials from the Barrie M. Schwortz Collection currently being sold on the Website Store page of this site will go solely and directly to STERA, Inc. There is now a Secure Contribution Form where viewers can securely use a credit or debit card online to make tax deductible contributions directly to STERA, Inc. Contributions can also be made by mail. Use the link below for instructions on how to do so. The future of this website is now in your hands and your support will make it possible for the site to grow and flourish.
Over the next few months, as we create the structure of the organization and make it work, this page will be updated to keep you abreast of our progress.
Barrie M. Schwortz
Executive Director
Important Links:
The Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc. (STERA, Inc.), a non-profit corporation registered in the state of Colorado and a tax exempt public charity granted 501(c) (3) status by the Internal Revenue Service. Contributions are tax deductible as allowed by section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.
The entire contents of this website are ©1996-2010, STERA, Inc., All Rights Reserved, unless otherwised noted.
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