Collection Guide
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Porter (Bern) Mail Art Collection
900270
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Bern Porter mail art collection
Creator:
Random, S. (Steven), 1954-
Creator:
Saunders, Robert
Creator:
Olbrich, Jürgen O.
Creator:
Spiegelman, Lon
Creator:
VooDoo, Michael
Creator:
Welch, Chuck, 1948-
Creator:
Winkler, Chris
Creator:
Yager, Jay
Creator:
Cole, David, 1939-2000
Creator:
Craigie, Peter M.
Creator:
Finlay, Eric
Creator:
Held, John, 1947-
Creator:
Porter, Bern, 1911-2004
Creator:
Pyros, John
Creator:
Cantsin, Monty
Creator:
Bloch, Mark, 1956-
Creator:
Baroni, Vittore
Creator:
Altemus, Reed
Creator:
Pittore, Carlo
Identifier/Call Number: 900270
Physical Description:
19.25 Linear Feet
(39 boxes, 1 flat file folder)
Date (inclusive): 1953-1992 (bulk 1978-1992)
Date (bulk): 1978-1992
Abstract: American physicist, poet, publisher, editor of artists' books, illustrator and mail artist. Collection consists of five collections
of mail art preserved by Porter from his own accumulation and those of fellow mail artists John Pyros, Carlo Pittore (née
Charles Stanley), Robert Saunders, and Jay Yager.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material:
English
.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Received 1990 (accn no. 900270), 1993 (accn. no. 930011), 1997 (accn. no. 970070).
The collection is organized in six series: Series I. Bern Porter collection, 1973-1992; Series II. Carlo Pittore collection,
1969-1992; Series III. John Pyros collection, 1953-1992; Series IV. Robert Saunders collection, 1976-1991; Series V. Jay Yager
collection, 1982; Series VI. Unidentified addressee, 1969-1992.
Bern Porter was born Bernard Harden Porter on February 14, 1911 in Porter Settlement, Maine. Schooled in physics, Porter contributed
to the Manhattan Project until 1945 when he quit shortly after he published Henry Miller's
Murder the Murderer, an anti-war tract. Disillusioned by the misapplication of scientific potential, Porter began to express himself through
a fusion of science and art. In 1959, he established the Institute for Advanced Thinking to encourage freelance physicists
to develop ideas that combine physics and the humanities.
Porter is one of the founders of the mail art network, sending visual poetry, letters, one-of-a-kind postcards and altered
images to international correspondents as early as the 1950s. He has participated in many mail art exhibitions and also maintains
an extensive literary career. To date he has written over 80 books and published over 400.
Bern Porter mail art collection 1953-1992 (bulk 978-1992), Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 900270.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa900270
Ladislay Pugel, Special Collections Intern from October 1990-June 1991, processed and cataloged the first shipment. Materials
from the Pittore, Yager and Saunders collections were separated from the archive. All three collections received an accession-level
catalog record, but were not processed. Rebecca Markman alphabetized some items from the 1993 supplement, which comprises
the bulk of the archive. From April to September 1998, Lynda Bunting reintegrated the Pittore, Yager and Saunders collections,
reprocessed the entire collection and wrote the finding aid.
There is very little of Porter's own work within this archive. More of his mail art collection dated from 1978 to 1984 is
in the following collections.
Jean Brown papers, 1916-1995, bulk 1958-1985. Getty Research Insitute, Research Library, Accession no. 890164.
Bern Porter papers, 1935-1983 . 105 boxes, University of California, Los Angeles.
Bern Porter collection of contemporary letters, 1935-ca.1989 . 15 linear feet. Colby College Library, Waterville, Maine.
Scope and Content of Collection
Five collections of mail art are gathered in this archive by Bern Porter from his own collection (sometimes sent c/o his Institute
for Advanced Thinking) and those of fellow mail artists John Pyros (c/o the Epistolary Stud Farm), Carlo Pittore (né Charles
Stanley), Robert Saunders and Jay Yager. Highlights of the collection are the original contributions sent to Pryos, Saunders
and Yager for inclusion in mail art exhibitions they curated. Also noteworthy are letters sent to Pittore, Pyros and Saunders,
which often mention the mail art network and the work and personal life of the corresponding artist.
Each series is arranged alphabetically by artist with folders of notices and invitations to participate in mail art exhibitions
and projects filed chronologically at the end. Many of the corresponding artists, who hail from countries throughout the world,
are located in more than one series. Artists represented include Reed Altemus, Vittore Baroni, Mark Bloch, Monte Cantsin,
David Cole, Peter M. Craigie, Eric Finlay, John Held, Jürgen Olbrich, Steve Random, Lon Spiegelman, Michael VooDoo, Chuck
Welch and Chris Winkler.
Contact
Library Rights and Reproductions .
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Copy art
Rubber stamp art
Alternative publications
Mail art
Postcards
Announcements