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Finding Aid to the Richard Brautigan Papers, 1942-2003, (bulk 1958-1984)
BANC MSS 87/173 c
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Collection Title: Richard Brautigan Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1942-2003,
Date (bulk): (bulk 1958-1984)
Collection Number: BANC MSS 87/173 c
Creator:
Brautigan, Richard
Extent:
Number of containers: 9 boxes, 10 cartons, and 4 oversize folders
Linear feet: 15.9
Repository: The
Bancroft Library.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Abstract: Contain manuscripts, notebooks, correspondence, financial and travel records, records of his literary agent The Helen Brann
Agency, clippings, reviews, publicity and flyers, a few photographs and some personal items.
Languages Represented:
Collection materials are in English, with some German.
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research with the following exceptions:
Microfilm only to be used for Boxes 1-5 and Cartons 5-9;
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce must be submitted
in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-6000. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted
to research and educational purposes.
Literary rights have been assigned to Richard Brautigan's daughter, Ianthe Swensen.
[Identification of item], Richard Brautigan papers, BANC MSS 87/173 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Boxes 1-5 and Cartons 5-9 are available on microfilm. (BANC MSS 87/173 FILM)
Note: notebook #38, found in carton 9, is on microfilm reel 10, it is included with notebook #39.
Additional Notes on Collection:
Many of the papers included in this collection, with the exception of the Helen Brann Agency files and some other files, were
found with Richard Brautigan's body in 1984. These papers have been microfilmed and are restricted for public use.
Richard Brautigan Papers (BANC MSS 93/91)
Richard Brautigan Papers: From Dwain Richard Cox (BANC MSS 2006/220)
William Novak Collection of Richard Brautigan (BANC MSS 91/4)
City Lights Books Records: Additions (BANC MSS 77/89)
Bruce Conner Correspondence Concerning Jay DeFeo's "The Rose" (BANC MSS 98/32) contains photocopy of corrected typescript
of
Sombrero Fallout in box 2.
Videotapes and sound recordings have been transferred to the Microforms Division of The Bancroft Library. (Phonotape 1975;
Motion Pictures 455 & 456)
Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library. (BANC PIC 1987.068--AX)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Brautigan, Richard--Archives
Helen Brann Agency
Authors, American--20th century--California
American poetry--20th century
Manuscripts for publication
Poems
Notebooks
The Richard Brautigan Papers were purchased by The Bancroft Library from Serendipity Books in March 1987. Additions were made
on February 9, 2005 by the Helen Brann Agency.
No additions are expected.
Processed by Kristen Schutjer and John Hawk in 1992; additions by Alison E. Bridger in 2006.
Richard Gary Brautigan, 1935-1984
American novelist, short story writer, and poet.
| 1935 | Born 30 January in Tacoma, Washington, oldest child of Bernard F. Brautigan and Mary Lull Brautigan. Very little is known about his childhood, which he refused to discuss. Some sources say that Brautigan never knew his father, others say that his father never knew of him until Brautigan's death was announced |
| 1955? | Allegedly committed to Oregon State Hospital after throwing rock through police station window, diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and given shock therapy treatments. Left home soon after release from hospital. |
| 1955-1958? | Moved to San Francisco and became involved with the Beat Movement. |
| 1956 | The Second Kingdom, first known poem, published. |
| 1957 | Married Virginia Dionne Adler in Reno, Nevada, 8 June. |
| 1957-1958? | The Return of the Rivers, a single poem, published. |
| 1958 | The Galilee Hitch-Hiker, a single poem, published |
| 1959 | Lay the Marble Tea published, collection of twenty-four poems. |
| 1960 | The Octopus Frontier published. |
| Daughter Ianthe born, 25 March. | |
| 1961 | Spent summer camping with family in Idaho's Stanley Basin and wrote Trout Fishing in America on a portable typewriter alongside the trout streams. |
| 1964 | A Confederate General from Big Sur published. |
| Involved with the Diggers and the hippies of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district and often gave away copies of his poems on the streets. | |
| 1966-1967 | Poet-in-residence at California Institute of Techonolgy . |
| 1967 | Trout Fishing in America published |
| All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace published. | |
| 1968 | Awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. |
| In Watermelon Sugar and The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster published. Please Plant This Book also published: eight seed packets, each containing seeds, with poems printed on the sides. | |
| 1969 | Trout Fishing in America, The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar published in collection. |
| 1970 | Rommel Drives On Deep into Egypt published. |
| Divorced from Virginia, 28 July, in San Francisco. | |
| The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966 published. | |
| 1971 | The Revenge of the Lawn published. |
| 1972-1973? | Establishes a residence in Pine Creek, Montana, just north of Yellowstone National Park. Allegedly refuses to deliver lectures or grant interviews for the next eight years. |
| 1974 | The Hawkline Monster published. |
| 1975 | Willard and His Bowling Trophies and Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork published. |
| 1976 | Sombrero Fallout published. |
| 1977 | Dreaming of Babylon published. |
| 1978 | June 30th, June 30th published. |
| The Abortion, The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, Trout Fishing in America, Rommel Drives On Deep into Egypt, and A Confederate General from Big Sur banned in Union Hills High School in northern California. ACLU case decided in favor of Brautigan and his publisher. | |
| 1979 | At December meeting of Modern Language Association in San Francisco, participated in a panel discussion concerning Zen and Contemporary Poetry with Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Robert Bly, and Lucien Stryk. |
| 1980 | The Tokyo-Montana Express published. Begins lecture/promotion tour. |
| 1982 | So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away published. |
| 1984 | Commits suicide in house in Bolinas, California. Body discovered 25 October. |
Chronology excerpted from
Richard Brautigan: an Annotated Bibliography,
by
John F. Barber.
(McFarland & Company, Inc., 1990)
For more information on Richard Brautigan see the website
Brautigan Bibliography and Archive: The Works and Life of Richard Brautigan, by John F. Barber at
http://www.brautigan.net/
The Richard Brautigan Papers contain manuscripts, notebooks, correspondence, financial and travel records, records of his
literary agent The Helen Brann Agency, clippings, reviews, publicity and flyers, a few photographs and some personal items.
Manuscripts of his poetry and prose appear in a variety of stages, including notes and notebooks, manuscript drafts and typescripts
and comprise the bulk of the collection. Correspondence is mostly incoming letters concerning both his professional and personal
life including letters from publishers, literary advisors and from family and friends. The Helen Brann Agency files cover
not only dealings with Brautigan but with his daughter and estate after his death. Files include correspondence, permissions,
royalties and financial records.
Richard Brautigan was known to leave his papers with friends when he would leave town and some of these papers are included
in other collections held at The Bancroft Library. See the Related Collections portion of this finding aid under Information
for Researchers.
Many of the papers included in this collection with the exception of the Helen Brann Agency files and some other files, were
found with Richard Brautigan's body in 1984.