Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Provenance
Biographical note
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Title: Christopher Hewitt Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1963-2004, undated
Collection Identifier: GLC 67
Creator:
Hewitt, Christopher, 1946-2004
Physical Description:
4.0 boxes + 3 oversized items
(3 cubic feet)
Contributing Institution:
James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA, 94102
(415) 557-4400
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: Christopher Hewitt was a gay poet, disabled activist, recovered alcoholic, editor, and college teacher. His papers include
poetry, prose, correspondence, journals and diaries, photographs, sketches, drawings, and audio-visual materials.
Physical Location: The collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
Access
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk
hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.
Publication Rights
Copyright retained by the Christopher Hewitt estate. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must
be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library
as the owner of the physical items.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Christopher Hewitt Papers (GLC 67), Gay and Lesbian Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Provenance
The Christopher Hewitt Papers were donated by Robert Guter, September 29, 2005.
Biographical note
Christopher Hewitt was a gay writer and disabled activist. He was born on February 2, 1946 in Nottingham and grew up in the
villages of Welland and Upton-on-Severn in Worcestershire, England. He was born with a brittle bone condition called osteogenesis
imperfecta and used a wheelchair from the age of nine. His writing addresses the issues of disability, discrimination, and
communication.
He received an M.A. in English from the University of California, Davis in 1976, and an M.F.A . in Poetry at the University
of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1981. He taught Creative Writing and English at Fordham University, John Jay College, and University
of San Francisco. Christopher Hewitt was also Associate Editor of
Art & Understanding, a magazine in which writers and artists respond to the AIDS crisis.
He published two chapbooks of poetry:
The Careless Days, and
The Infinite Et Cetera. His poems have appeared in
The New Yorker,
The American Poetry Review,
The Observer Poetry Prize Anthology,
Salmagundi,
Cimarron Review, and other magazines. His translation of the Rumanian poet Nina Cassian has appeared in
Life Sentence: The Selected Poems of Nina Cassian, published by Norton (1990) and Anvil Press (England, 1990).
Hewitt wrote the libretti for two song cycles,
Metamorphosis and
Amours, music by Benton Hess, which were performed in New York City and Oberlin, Ohio. He also wrote the libretto for a cantata
Cantata V: Raggedstone Hill, music by Dennis Riley, which was performed in New York City.
Hewitt died due to complications from pneumonia on July 13, 2004 in San Francisco. He was survived by his mother Joan Hewitt.
Scope and Contents
Hewitt's poetry, prose, interviews, and libretti based on his work, form the majority of the collection. The drafts of his
work appear in notebooks and journals which are later typed and often re-edited. There is a small amount of correspondence,
a handful of sketch pads with Hewitt's drawings, some photographs, subject files, and audiotapes of his readings and performances.
There are three videotapes, one of which is the film
Crip Shots, a documentary about artists with disabilities.
Arrangement
The Papers are arranged into 7 series: Series 1. Correspondence; Series 2: Writings (Subseries 2A. Notebooks, Journals, Drafts;
and, Subseries 2B. Typescripts); Series 3. Artwork; Series 4. Subject Files; Series 5. Published Material; Series 6. Photographs;
and, Series 7. Audiovisual Materials.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Hewitt, Christopher, 1946-2004--Archives
Artists with disabilities
Gay poets
Poets--California--San Francisco