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MacAdams (Lewis) papers
LSC.2289  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
  • Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
  • Preferred Citation
  • Provenance/Source of Acquisition
  • Processing Information
  • UCLA Catalog Record ID
  • Biography/History
  • Scope and Content
  • Organization and Arrangement
  • Related Material

  • Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
    Title: Lewis MacAdams papers
    Creator: MacAdams , Lewis
    Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2289
    Physical Description: 53.2 Linear Feet (121 boxes, 5 half boxes, 2 flat boxes, 2 flat boxes oversize, 1 telescoping box)
    Date (inclusive): 1944-2014
    Abstract: Lewis MacAdams is a Los Angeles-based poet, journalist, and filmmaker, and has authored over 20 books of poems and stories. Collection materials include MacAdams' monographs; environmental and cultural journalism; film projects; correspondence with poets and artists; files related to the Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR); performance materials from the San Francisco and Los Angeles poetry and arts scenes; publications from MacAdams' library, and personal memorabilia, as well as countless drafts and poetry fragments. MacAdams' work embraces performance art and political activism on behalf of local and national causes, and includes files related to the founding of FoLAR. His writings about the river, politics, culture, and crime have been published in Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, and the L.A. Weekly.
    Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
    Language of Material: Collection materials are primarily in English, with some writing, correspondence, and performance materials in Spanish, Italian, French, and German.

    Conditions Governing Access

    Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

    Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

    CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed audiovisual materials. For information about the access status of the material that you are looking for, refer to the Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed audiovisual materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

    Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

    Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Lewis MacAdams papers (Collection 2289). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

    Provenance/Source of Acquisition

    Donated by Lewis MacAdams, 2015.

    Processing Information

    Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
    Processed by Kelly Besser with assistance from Jade Finlinson, Gaku Uchino, and Rebecca Bucher, and supervision from Megan Hahn Fraser, 2017.

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 8109562 

    Biography/History

    Lewis MacAdams is a poet, journalist, and filmmaker whose work embraces performance art and political activism. Born October 12, 1944 and raised in Dallas, Texas, MacAdams earned a B.A. in English from Princeton in 1966 and a Master's degree from State University of New York, Buffalo in 1968. He participated in the poetry and performance scenes in Bolinas and San Francisco and was director of the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University from 1975-1978. After moving to Los Angeles, MacAdams concentrated on poetry and journalism as well as film and television projects, including a collaboration with EZTV founder John Dorr and the Lannan Foundation on a video series that featured readings by poets. He also wrote and performed with avant-garde artists like The Dark Bob and others in the Los Angeles performance scene. MacAdams founded Friends of the Los Angeles River (FOLAR) in 1986, which he describes as a "40-year art work" that aims to harness creative energies which engage politics, magic, and imagination "to bring the Los Angeles River, one of the most degraded rivers on earth, back to life." MacAdams has been married twice and has four children.

    Scope and Content

    Collection materials include MacAdams' writings such as monographs, journalism, and film projects, correspondence with poets and artists, files related to the Friends of the Los Angeles River, performance materials and fliers from the Los Angeles poetry and art scenes, publications from MacAdams' library, and memorabilia. Materials also include interviews and transcripts for his book The Birth of The Cool: Beat, Bebop, and the American Avant-Garde about the cultural history of the idea of cool, and materials related to his unpublished biography of Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner. This collection contains scripts for television and film projects, including material related to his documentary What Happened to Kerouac? and other video projects in collaboration with EZTV founder John Dorr, as well as a near-complete run of WET magazine, for which MacAdams was editor from 1980-82. Audiovisual materials include interviews by MacAdams, television and movie projects, and performances.

    Organization and Arrangement

    This collection has been arranged in the following series based on preservation of the existing order and the imposition of an intellectual order:
    • 1. Writing by MacAdams
    • 2. Correspondence
    • 3. FoLAR files
    • 4. Performance materials
    • 5. Publications
    • 6. Memorabilia

    Related Material

    Friends of the Los Angeles River records, 1987-2013 (Collection 2215).   Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
    Alexandra Garrett Papers and Records of the Beyond Baroque Foundation, 1965-1991 (Collection 1615).   Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
    Aram Saroyan Papers, 1965-1989 (Collection 991).   Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
    Wanda Coleman papers, 1960-2013 (Collection 2282).   Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
    Allan H. Kurtzman Collection of Material about Beat Writers and Artists, ca. 1950-1989 (Collection 362).   Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Civic leaders -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archives.
    Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archives.
    Friends of the Los Angeles River
    MacAdams , Lewis -- Archives