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Preliminary Guide to the Tom Clark Archive
Mss 14  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access Restrictions
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Indexing Terms
  • Related Collections Elsewhere

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Tom Clark Archive
    Dates: ca. 1962-1990
    Collection number: Mss 14
    Creator: Clark, Tom, 1941-
    Collection Size: ca. 18 linear feet (43 document boxes, 2 oversize boxes, and 4 audiotapes).
    Repository: University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections
    Santa Barbara, CA 93106
    Abstract: Correspondence, manuscripts and proofs of writings (monographs, poems, reviews, essays), notebooks, research and teaching files, audiotapes, and ephemera of American poet Tom Clark, who lived in Santa Barbara for several years and published several works with Black Sparrow Press. Correspondents include writers and publishers Carolyn Cassady, Andrei Codrescu, Robert Creeley, Edward Dorn, Barry Gifford, Christopher Lemann-Haupt, John Martin, George Plimpton, Harry Reese, and Leslie Scalapino. Also includes the Great Naropa Poetry Wars Archive, with audiotapes (Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Tom Clark), transcripts, correspondence, newsclippings, and publications re an investigation into a 1975 confrontation between W. S. Merwin and Chogyam Trungpa, founder and director of Naropa Institute.
    Physical location: SRLF (Boxes 1-43); Del Sur Oversize (Boxes 44-45); Annex 2 (Audiotapes).
    Languages: English

    Access Restrictions

    None. Most materials stored off-site; advance notice required for retrieval.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

    Preferred Citation

    Tom Clark Archive. Mss 14. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Acquisition Information

    Mainly purchase from Tom Clark, in annual accretions, ca. 1983-1990; also smaller purchases from other dealers, 1980s, and gift from Maurice Neville, 1985.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The Tom Clark Archive includes correspondence, manuscripts and proofs of writings (monographs, poems, reviews, essays), notebooks, research and teaching files, audiotapes, and ephemera of American poet Tom Clark, who lived in Santa Barbara for several years and published several works with Black Sparrow Press. Correspondents include writers and publishers Carolyn Cassady, Andrei Codrescu, Robert Creeley, Edward Dorn, Barry Gifford, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, John Martin, George Plimpton, Harry Reese, and Leslie Scalapino. Also includes the Great Naropa Poetry Wars Archive, with audiotapes (Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Tom Clark), transcripts, correspondence, newsclippings, and publications re an investigation into a 1975 confrontation between W. S. Merwin and Chogyam Trungpa, founder and director of Naropa Institute.

    Arrangement

    The collection contains the following series:
    • Personal/Biographical
    • Correspondence
    • Notebooks (incl. many poetry notebooks)
    • Poetry Readings (and other public events with TC - mainly announcements)
    • Poetry Workshops
    • Research/Subject Files
    • Teaching
    • Writings by TC - Monographs; and Shorter works (incl. book reviews)
    • Writings/work by others (sent/dedicated to TC) [incl. runs of serials]
    • Oversize
    • Audiovisual
    Selected works by Tom Clark:
    • Apocalyptic Talkshow (Stout, Ohio: Bloody Twin Press, 1987)
    • Disordered Ideas (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1987).
    • Easter Sunday (Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 1987).
    • Edward Dorn: A World of Difference (2002).
    • The Exile of Céline (New York: Random House, 1986).
    • Fractured Karma (Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow Press, 1990).
    • The Great Naropa Poetry Wars (Santa Barbara: Cadmus Editions, 1980).
    • Jack Kerouac: A Biography (1984; 1995).
    • Paradise Resisted: Selected Poems, 1978-1984 (Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1984).
    • Stalin as Linguist (Madison, Wisconsin: J. Wolff and T. Sturgeon, 1987?)
    Abbreviations:
    • TC = Tom Clark

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
    Clark, Tom, 1941-
    Poets, American.

    Related Collections Elsewhere

    Columbia University Libraries. Tom Clark Papers on Jack Kerouac 1981-1983.
    UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Tom Clark Papers, 1963-1991. 7 boxes. Coll. no. 1020.
    Washington University Libraries (St. Louis, MO). Mainly relating to Tom Clark's second book The Sand Burg and his investigation of the Naropa Institute (Boulder, CO).