John Perry Barlow papers, 1940-2018

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Summary

Creators:
Barlow, John Perry, 1947-2018, Barlow, Leah Justine, Barlow, Anna Winter, and Barlow, Amelia Rose
Abstract:
John Perry Barlow (1947–2018) was an American writer, technologist, and cattle rancher.
Extent:
60 Linear Feet (119 boxes), 14 hard drive(s) (external), 68 floppy disk(s) (3.5 inch), 27 floppy disk(s) (5.25 inch), 57 optical disc(s), 30 item(s) magneto-optical disk(s) and optical disk cartridge(s), 21 item(s) Jaz disk(s), 6 item(s) SD card(s), 3 computer, portable, 1 computer, desktop, 1 zip disk(s), 14 flash drive(s), and 1 item(s) sim card
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[identification of item], John Perry Barlow papers (M2531). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California.

Background

Scope and content:

John Perry Barlow's papers cover the entirety of his life, although there is far more physical material about his earlier years, and his later years are probably better represented in digital files (which are partially closed until they are fully processed). Correspondence has been separated into personal and professional categories and then sorted chronologically, with selected letters refiled in other more relevant series (such as all music publishing correspondence placed in the Grateful Dead series.) The collection also contains Barlow's email account dating from 1996-2009. The email contains correspondence related to Barlow's life, work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and personal and family relationships. The email also documents Barlow's speaking engagements for various academic institutions and his prolific world travels. There are also series for Barlow's writing, as well as writing about him. Most technology/cyberspace files can be found under Electronic Frontier Foundation and the more generic Technology & Computers series. Some categories such as the Photographs and Media series include material from a variety of sources and subjects.

Biographical / historical:

John Perry Barlow (1947 – 2018) was an American writer, technologist, and cattle rancher. Often called "the father of cyberlibertarianism," Barlow was a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a lyricist for the Grateful Dead.

Born near Cora, Wyoming, Barlow was the only child of Norman Walker Barlow (1905–1972), a Republican state legislator, and his wife, Miriam "Mim" Adeline Barlow Bailey (nÊe Jenkins; 1905–1999). Barlow's paternal ancestors were Mormon pioneers. He grew up on Bar Cross Ranch, a 22,000-acre property his great-uncle founded in 1907.

At age 15, Barlow became a student at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He later attended Wesleyan University where he was active in creative writing, journalism, theatre, and campus politics and was a member of Alpha Delta Phi. He graduated in 1969 and spent time traveling and living in Connecticut and New York before returning to take over operations at Bar Cross after his father's illness and later death. Barlow subsequently operated the ranch until its sale in 1988.

After discovering word processing in the early 1980s, Barlow began using the Internet and was an early user on the online community The WELL. An interest in hacking and law enforcement response led to Barlow working with Mitch Kapor and John Gilmore to found the Electronic Frontier Foundation to defend specific hacking cases which later expanded to involvement and advocacy in issues such as music copyright, intellectual property, the open web, and surveillance and privacy rights.

In addition to policy papers for the EFF (such as the 1996 manifesto "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace"), Barlow was a frequent speaker and panelist at technology conferences and symposia. He wrote extensively for Wired magazine, as well as The New York Times, Mondo 2000, Microtimes, and Communications of the ACM.

Barlow was president of the Wyoming Outdoor Council from 1978 to 1984, and was active in environmental policy work involving logging and mining interests, acid rain, fracking, and missile testing on public land. In keeping with his father's career, Barlow was also active in Wyoming politics, including stints as chairman of the Sublette County Republican Party and the Sublette County Master Plan Design Commission as well as serving on the Sublette County Planning and Zoning Commission.

After several years of declining health, Barlow died at the age of 70 on February 7, 2018 in San Francisco, California.

Acquisition information:
Gift; 2019. Accession 2019-371.
Arrangement:

The collection was received with a minimum of original order, and files have subsequently been arranged in approximate categories, including groupings for Barlow's writing, correspondence, and activities surrounding technology and the Internet, as well as several series devoted to his personal life, family, ranching, and education. Please note that these are necessarily imprecise divisions, and similar material may be found in various places across the collection.

The following series have been employed in organizing the collection:

Series 1. Writing Series 2. Technology & Computers Series 3. Electronic Frontier Foundation Series 4. Articles about Barlow Series 5. Wyoming, Bar Cross Ranch, Parents Series 5. John Perry Barlow Personal & Family Series 6. Personal Correspondence Series 7. Barlow Education Series 8. Wyoming Outdoor Council (WOC) & related Series 8. The Grateful Dead Series 9. Music and Movie-related Series 10. People, Groups, Events, Art Series 11. Politics Series 12. Memorabilia, awards, artifacts, etc. Series 13. Miscellaneous publications & clippings Series 14. Photographs Series 15. Audiovisual Media (CLOSED until processed) Series 16. Born Digital & Hardware (PARTIALLY CLOSED until fully processed)

Material specific details:
The John Perry Barlow email archive contains racial language, images, or content that may be offensive or harmful.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research, with the exception of Series 15 and large portions of 16. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.

Digital materials stored on 5.25" floppy disks have been processed and are open for research. The materials are available through SearchWorks at the collection record: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13312451. Materials containing financial information, contact information of third parties, or copyright held by other parties have been restricted, and only thumnail previews are available online; these materials can be accessed at full resolution by visiting the Field Reading Room. The email contained in the collection is available in the Field Reading Room; correspondents and extracted entities (personal and corporate names and locations) from Barlow's email have been published in Stanford's online discovery module: http://epadd.stanford.edu/epadd/collections. The remaining digital portion of the collection is closed until processing is complete.

Audiovisual and born-digital materials in Series 15 & 16 are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy. Further restrictions may apply.

Terms of access:

While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish.

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], John Perry Barlow papers (M2531). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
specialcollections@stanford.edu
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