Walter H. Smith Collection of Beat Literature, 1950-2009
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Summary
- Creator:
- Smith, Walter H. (collector)
- Abstract:
- Walter H. Smith donated this collection of Beat Literature. The majority relates to the career and life of Allen Ginsberg, a founding member of the Beat Generation. Other writers represented include Anne Waldman, Diane di Prima, and Anselm Hollo. Accessions (2009-0113) and (2009-0130) (200 items; 3.5 lin. ft.; dated 1959-2003) include books, compilations, journals, magazines, and other publications with works by and about Allen Ginsberg. Also included are posters and broadsides advertising events, readings, or publications by Ginsberg; many of these are signed. Accession (2010-0098) (25 items; 0.6 lin. ft.; dated 1950-2009) includes writings and some correspondence from Diane di Prima, Anselm Hollo, and Anne Waldman; also includes some Allen Ginsberg materials. Accession (2011-0045) (27 items; 1.5 lin. ft.; dated 1963-2007) includes pamphlets and publications by Gary Snyder.
- Extent:
- 4.1 Linear Feet
225 Items - Language:
- Material in English
- Collection ID:
- RL.00095
Background
- Scope and content:
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Accessions (2009-0113) and (2009-0130) (200 items; 3.5 lin. ft.; dated 1959-2003) include books, compilations, journals, magazines, and other publications with works by and about Allen Ginsberg. Also included are posters and broadsides advertising events, readings, or publications by Ginsberg; many of these are signed.
Accession (2010-0098) (25 items; 0.6 lin. ft.; dated 1964-2009) includes publications and some correspondence from Beat Generation poets such as Anne Waldman, Diane di Prima, Anselm Hollo, and Allen Ginsberg. Includes signatures of Hollo and Waldman.
Accession (2011-0045) (27 items; 1.5 lin. ft.; dated 1963-2007) includes publications, pamphlets, and posters featuring works and readings by Gary Snyder.
- Biographical / historical:
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Walter H. Smith donated this collection of Beat literature. The majority of the collection is by and about Allen Ginsberg, a poet and member of the Beat Generation.
Allen Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in the New York area. He entered Columbia University in the 1940s, where he developed close friendships with men like Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy, who, with Ginsberg, were founding members of what became known as the Beat Generation. Ginsberg's most famous work, Howl and Other Poems, was published in 1956, and became a test case for fighting obscenity and censorship laws. He was also an outspoken proponent for gay rights, the legalization of marijuana and other drugs, and free speech, and frequently led protests against the Vietnam War during the 1960s and 1970s. He went on to publish numerous volumes and compilations of poetry, and later became a professor at Brooklyn College. He died in New York City at the age of 70. (Source: Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org)
Diane di Prima was born in 1934 and became an important writer and poet in the Beat movement. She has written over 40 books of poetry and prose, and has won numerous grants and awards, including an Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Poetry Association in 1993. In 2009, she was named the Poet Laureate of San Francisco. (Source: dianediprima.com)
Anne Waldman was born in 1945, and also joined the East Coast poetry scene in the 1960s. She was a co-founder, with Allen Ginsberg and others, of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poets, at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. She remains there as a professor and director of the Naropa University Summer Writing Program.
Anselm Hollo, born in Finland in 1934, has lived in the United States since 1967. He is a poet and translator, and has published over 40 titles of poetry. He also teaches creative writing at Naropa University.
Born in 1930, Gary Snyder is a Pulitzer Prize winning poet, ecological activist, founder of the Ring of Bone Zendo, and member of the English Department faculty of U.C. Davis.
- Acquisition information:
- The Walter H. Smith Collection of Beat Literature was received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
- Processing information:
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Processed by Meghan Lyon, August 2009
Encoded by Meghan Lyon, August 2009
Updated by Meghan Lyon, October 2010, April 2011
Materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
Accessions included in this collection: 2009-0113, 2009-0130, 2010-0098
- Physical location:
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Subjects
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Collection is open for research.
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- Preferred citation:
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[Identification of item], Walter H. Smith Collection of Beat Literature, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University