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Finding Aid to the Bruce Conner Photograph Collection, circa 1935-circa 2008
BANC PIC 1997.069
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Collection Title: Bruce Conner photograph collection
Date (inclusive): circa 1935-circa 2008
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1997.069
Collector:
Connor, Bruce
Extent:
5 boxes and 9 oversize folders (ca. 925 photographic prints, ca. 100 xerographic prints and 10 slides), 2 boxes (ca. 350 negatives)
and 25 negatives ; b&w and color; 48 x 34 cm or smaller.
5 digital objects (5 images)
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: Contains portraits, snapshots and professional photographs documenting the life, activities and artwork of Bruce Conner.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Access Information
COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.
RESTRICTED NEGATIVES. Use of negatives only by permission of the appropriate curator. Inquiries regarding these materials
should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Bruce Conner photograph collection, BANC PIC 1997.069, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley
Digital reproductions of selected images are available.
Related Material
Bruce Conner correspondence concerning Jay DeFeo's "The Rose" (BANC MSS 98/32 c)
Auerhahn Press records (BANC MSS 71/85 c)
Bruce Conner papers (2005/50 c)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
Clements, Geoffrey
Conner, Bruce, 1933-2008--Archives.
Conner, Bruce, 1933-2008--Pictorial works
DeFeo, Jay, 1929-1989--Pictorial works.
Haller, Robert A.
Hopper, Dennis, 1936-2010--Pictorial works.
Keenan, Larry
Kurz, Vivian--Pictorial works.
McClure, Michael--Pictorial works.
Shea, Edmund
Art, American--California--20th century--Photographs
Artists, 20th century--Photographs.
Artists, American--Photographs.
Series 1: transferred from the Bruce Conner correspondence concerning Jay DeFeo's "The Rose" (BANC MSS 98/32 c) with additions
from the Auerhahn Press records (BANC MSS 71/85 c) and from the Bruce Conner papers (BANC MSS 2000/50 c).
Series 2-4: transferred from later additions to the Bruce Conner papers received in 2011.
Processing/Project Information
Among 2011 additions, some material may duplicate that of earlier installments of the collection.
Biography/Organization History
Sculptor, filmmaker, collagist, painter, draftsman, photographer, conceptual artist.
Born in McPherson, Kansas, in 1933, Bruce Conner spent his childhood and young adulthood in nearby Wichita. Upon graduating
from Wichita High School East, Conner went on to study art at Wichita University and University of Nebraska, where he met
his wife-to-be, Jean Sandstedt. He continued art studies at the Brooklyn Art School and the University of Colorado. In 1957,
at the urging of his childhood friend, the poet Michael McClure, and attracted by stories of a vibrant art and literary scene
that included visual artists Jay DeFeo, Joan Brown, and Jess, and poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Whalen, and Philip Lamantia,
Conner and his wife, Jean, moved to San Francisco. He subsequently became a key figure in the city's legendary Beat community.
After brief sojourns to Mexico City, 1961-1962, where his son, Robert was born, and Brookline, Massachusetts, 1963-1964, Conner
resettled in San Francisco where he continued to live and work until his death.
-Biographical note by Dean Smith, Bancroft Library
Scope and Content Note
Contains portraits, snapshots and professional photographs documenting the life, activities and artwork of Bruce Conner.
Portraits depict Conner from childhood through his later years. Also depicted are family members, friends and associates,
including his wife Jean, his son Robert, artist Jay DeFeo, poet Michael McClure, actor Dennis Hopper and friend Vivian Kurz.
Many of his exhibitions are documented, as are numerous artworks. Also includes many film stills. In addition to photographs,
the collection also includes several xerographic reproductions of Conner’s collages, drawings and other works.
Collection includes work by numerous photographers, including Edmund Shea, Larry Keenan, Frank English, Robert A. Haller,
Erni Burden and Geoffrey Clements.
Collection does not include original artwork by Bruce Conner.