Finding Aid to the Carol Tarlen and David Joseph Papers
1977-2010
SFH 73
Finding aid prepared by Dee Dee Kramer
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA, 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
2013
Title: Carol Tarlen and David Joseph Papers
Collection Identifier: SFH 73
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Physical Description:
3 cartons, 3 manuscript boxes
(4.25 linear feet)
Date (inclusive): 1977-2010
Abstract: Chiefly typescripts of poetry, fiction, essays, reviews and criticism by Carol Tarlen and her partner/husband, David Joseph;
together with a small amount of personal papers and publications. Joseph's papers include files related to his editorial and
translation work. Many of Tarlen's files were collected or compiled by Joseph in preparation for their posthumous publication.
Physical Location: The collection is stored onsite.
Languages represented: The bulk of the collection is in English, with a few files in Spanish.
Creator:
Joseph, David
Creator:
Tarlen, Carol
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
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. Copyright is retained
by the donor and his family members in perpetuity.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Carol Tarlen and David Joseph Papers (SFH 73), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public
Library.
Provenance
Donated in two accessions by David Joseph in July 2009 and May 13, 2010.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note
870 files (31.7MB) of electronic files (mostly Microsoft Word 97-2003) in the collection were received on CD-R. Preservation
copies have been made and stored on the Library's internal hard drive, and a set of public access copies has been stored on
a flash drive and added to the collection.
Biographical/Historical note
Carol Tarlen was a San Francisco working class poet and writer, as well as a union, labor, and peace activist, who died in
2004. She was married to writer and poet David Joseph, her collaborator and partner.
Related Materials
Scope and Contents
Chiefly typescripts and drafts of poetry, fiction, essays, reviews and criticism by Carol Tarlen and her partner and husband,
David Joseph; together with a small amount of personal papers and publications. Many of Tarlen's files were collected or compiled
by Joseph in preparation for their posthumous publication.
Joseph's papers include files related to his editorial and translation work. Significant files include those of
Working Classics magazine; a small number of files on writer colleagues; and files documenting Tarlen and Joseph's travels and correspondence
in Nicauragua in the 1980s. Also included are a large number of blog entries by Joseph from 2008-2010.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into Series 1: Carol Tarlen Papers; and Series 2: David Joseph Papers. Each series is arranged by
type of material; manuscripts and typescripts within each series are arranged by genre, then alphabetically by title.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Joseph, David -- Archives
Tarlen, Carol -- Archives
San Francisco (Calif.)--Social conditions
Women writers.
Working class writings, American.
Series 1
Carol Tarlen Papers
Arrangement
Organized in five subseries: 1.1 Typescripts; 1.2 Published Writings; 1.3 Editorial notes; 1.4 Ephemera and Clippings; and
1.5 Miscellaneous Personal Papers.
Subseries 1.1
Personal Papers
Box 1, Folder 1
Letters from David Joseph,
1977-1979
Box 1, Folder 2
Incoming correspondence and snapshot photos
Related Materials
Some correspondence with publishers can also be found filed with individual manuscripts, as submitted.
Box 1, Folder 4
Personal copy of Edward Albee's American Dream
Subseries 1.2
Typescripts
Arrangement
Arranged by genre.
Poetry
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by title, with all available versions included in each file.
Box 2, Folders 1-4
The Arsonist Sings in Her Cell
Box 2, Folders 8-16, Box 6, Folder 1
Box 2, Folders 20-21
Love Cycle: A Fiction, a Romance, a Story Told in Nine Poems
Box 2, Folders 23-27
Small Deaths and Other Attempts at Living
Box 2, Folder 28
Trailer Trash / White Trash
Box 2, Folders 29-30
What Makes Us Human: Collected Poems 1974-2004
Box 2, Folders 31
White Trash: An Autobiography
Box 6, Folder 3
White Trash: Poems/Fiction
Box 2, Folders 34
SF Bay Guardian Reading
[1994]
Box 2, Folders 38-40
Partial unidentified typescripts
Box 2, Folder 41, Box 6, Folder 2
Box 2, Folder 46
Autobiography: White Trash
Box 2, Folders 50-52
Charity's No Substitute for Love
Box 2, Folder 53
Charity's No Substitute for Love and Other Stories
Box 2, Folders 54-55
Charity's No Substitute for Love: The Book
Box 3, Folders 4-7
Everybody's Happy in America
Box 3, Folders 16-18
In Memoriam: Johnny Avila
Box 3, Folders 24-25
Letter from an English Prison
Box 3, Folder 26
Letter from an English Prison: Four Stories
Box 3, Folders 29-30
Miss Sidney's Marvelous Morning
Box 3, Folders 31-32
No One's a Virgin Anymore
Box 3, Folders 36-38
Pizza Pete, Jewel Thief Kate, and the Underground City
Box 3, Folder 39
Prisoner No. 25; The Arsonist Sings in Her Cell
Box 3, Folder 45
The Sandinistas Are Coming
Box 3, Folder 53
The Terrorists and Other Stories
Box 3, Folder 62
Partial unidentified typescript
Box 3, Folders 63
Miscellaneous short stories
Criticism, Reviews, Essays
Box 3, Box 64
The D.P.: Finding a Homeland in Louise Nayer's Keeping Watch
Box 3, Folder 65
Eudora Welty's Use of Sexual Imagery
Box 3, Folder 66
The Failure of the Liberal Consensus and the Fall of Camelot
Box 3, Folder 67
From the Journal of a Union Maid
Box 3, Folder 68
Jonathan Baumback, the Life and Times of Major Fiction
Box 3, Folder 69
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore and Group Portrait with Lady by Heinrich Boll: A Comparison
Box 3, Folder 70
The Memory of Class and Intellectual Privilege
Box 3, Folder 71
The Memory of Class and Intellectual Privilege: and Other Critical Works
Box 3, Folder 72
October and After--As Seen by Vladimir Mayakovsky, Poet
Box 3, Folder 73
On the Golden Bowl by Henry James
Box 3, Folder 74
Poems from Prison and Belly Song: Two Books by Etheridge Knight
Box 3, Folder 75
A Room of One's Own and Mrs. Dalloway: A Comparison
Box 3, Folder 76
Spring and All: A Naturist Examination
Subseries 1.3
Published writings
Box 1, Folder 7
Broadside "Alicia, on her 16th birthday"
Subseries 1.4
Editorial work
Related Materials
See also Working Classics files in Series 2: David Joseph Papers.
Series 2
David Joseph Papers
Subseries 2.1
Personal papers
Box 4, Folder 1
Incoming correspondence,
1970s
Box 4, Folder 2
Incoming correspondence from Clay Joseph,
1977-1980
Box 4, Folder 4
Email correspondence re: Carol Tarlen's death,
2004
Box 4, Folder 3, Disk 1
Miscellaneous correspondence,
1981-2006
Box 4, Folder 5, Disk 1
Carol Tarlen and family obituaries
Disk 1, Box 4, Folder 6, Box 6, Folder 4
Subseries 2.2
Poetry and Prose
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically, by title of piece or as marked by David Joseph.
Box 4, Folder 9, Disk 1
"Breaking Through the Sounds of Silence"
Box 4, Folder 10
"Charity's No Substitute for Love": Adapted for the stage
Box 4, Folders 15-16, Box 6, Folder 6
Diana Brooks Vargas (translation of)
Box 4, Folder 19
"An Encounter with Katherine"
Disk 1
"Evergreen Notebook,"
Feb. 2008
Box 4, Folder 20
"Foolish Wives" / "Theater Entries"
Box 4, Folder 21
"With Margaret Randall in Managua"
Box 4, Folders 22-23, Disk 1
"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down a Thousand Times"
Box 4, Folder 24, Box 6, Folder 5
Box 4, Folder 25
"None of the Figures in Boxes"
Box 6, Folder 8
Notes from free Nicaragua
Box 4, Folder 26
"The Old Man in the Garden"
Box 4, Folders 27-28, Disk 1
"Praying, and The Sleepwalker"
Box 4, Folder 29
"From Project Catch-up to the Cruel World"
Box 4, Folder 33, Disk 1
"The Sleepwalker"
Jan. 29, 2010
Box 4, Folder 35
"Theater entries from my diary" in
Diarist's Journal
1992
Box 4, Folder 41
"The Year I Learned to Struggle"
Subseries 2.3
Editorial work
Related Materials
See also Series 1: Carol Tarlen Papers and David Joseph's electronic files from CD.
Working Classics: paste-ups, files, and publications,
1982-1992
Box 4, Folder 42
Printed issues,
1982-1992
Box 4, Folder 49
Dummy mock-up [Vol. 2 No. 3]
Box 4, Folders 50
Submissions and drafts,
April 1992
Box 4, Folder 51
Filler file: poetry, also prose, for column ends in [prose issues?]
undated
Disk 1
"Carol's documents,"
2007-2009
Physical Description:
137 files, 4 Folders (12.4 MB)
Scope and Contents
Chiefly drafts of collected and selected poems and other compilations of Carol Tarlen's writings, under multiple titles and
filenames, as compiled and edited by Joseph. Includes individual poems, fiction, and essays by Tarlen, some or all of which
may be files for said compilations; as well as drafts of introductions and query letters by Joseph related to his efforts
to publish these manuscripts. Also included are GIF, JPG, and HTML files for Julia Stein's obituary of
Tarlen for Pemmican: An Online Magazine of Poetry. Some files may be duplicated in paper in Series 1: Carol Tarlen Papers.
Subseries 2.4
Miscellaneous literary and labor files
Box 5, Folder 4
Dolly Connelly "Project Catch-Up" article
Disk 1
Derek Dabkoski,
Jan. 29, 2007
Box 5, Folder 6
League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA),
Box 5, Folder 7
Mill-Hunk Herald,
1983-1986
Box 5, Folder 8
Bob Shaw "Times of a Truck-Driving Man"
Disk 1
Patty Shaw Poems,
July 13, 2007
Box 5, Folder 9
Julia Stein "Industrial Music: Tom Wayman and Contemporary Working Class Poetry"
Box 5, Folder 11
Nellie Wong "Like the Secretary She Is"
Disk 1
Subseries 2.5
Blog entries
2008-2010
Physical Description:
620 files, 1 folder (14.8 MB)
Scope and Contents
Blog entries by David Joseph, written in the wake of Carol Tarlen's death.
