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Finding aid to the Friends of Perfection Records MS 4008
MS 4008
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Title: Friends of Perfection Records
Date: 1968-1972
Collection Identifier: MS 4008
Creator:
Friends of Perfection
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105-4014
(415) 357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Location of Materials: Collection is stored onsite.
Abstract: Collection consists of a complete set of volumes 1-4 of the
intercommunal newspaper
Kaliflower
(April 24,
1969-June 22, 1972), with some supplements, and a large but incomplete collection of
flyers, broadsides, pamphlets, newsletters, and other materials printed by the Free
Print Shop between the years 1968 and 1972. There are also some miscellaneous
related items, including one of the original
Kaliflower
clipboards, and the trunk in which the archives were
delivered to California Historical Society.
(April 24,
1969-June 22, 1972), with some supplements, and a large but incomplete collection of
flyers, broadsides, pamphlets, newsletters, and other materials printed by the Free
Print Shop between the years 1968 and 1972. There are also some miscellaneous
related items, including one of the original
Kaliflower
clipboards, and the trunk in which the archives were
delivered to California Historical Society.
CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates:
https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Director of Library and Archives, North Baker
Research Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco,
CA 94105. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the
owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from
the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Friends of Perfection Records, MS 4008, California
Historical Society.
A list of the complete oeuvre of the Free Print Shop, compiled by the creators,
including the title and dates of many items no longer available, or not included in
the CHS collection.
California Historical Society also has a related manuscript collection, MS 3159, on
the Haight Street Diggers, which is closely related to the Friends of Perfection
collection. There are also some new series issues of
Kaliflower
, printed at later dates for special occasions, some of which
are among California Historical Society's collections.
Kaliflower
, printed at later dates for special occasions, some of which
are among California Historical Society's collections.
The Sutter Street Commune donated the Friends of Perfection collection to California
Historical Society in 1973. Known informally as the Sutter Street Commune or the
Scott Street Commune, depending on the street on which they lived, this intentional
community used the name Friends of Perfection for things like sales receipts,
information requests or legalities, such as the deed to CHS for the collection. The
"front" name, Friends of Perfection, derived from the commune's interest in the
Oneida Community and the philosophy of Perfectionism of John Humphrey Noyes. This
interest is reflected, for example, in "Communal Archaeology," the cover article
(p.1) of
Kaliflower
Vol. 3, No. 1 (May 6, 1971).
"
Kaliflower
," as the Friends of Perfection were often known, also derived their
practices of complex marriage, third persons, criticism, and self-criticism from
Noyes and the Oneida Community.
Kaliflower
Vol. 3, No. 1 (May 6, 1971).
"
Kaliflower
," as the Friends of Perfection were often known, also derived their
practices of complex marriage, third persons, criticism, and self-criticism from
Noyes and the Oneida Community.
The Free Print Shop, one of several work projects of the Sutter Street Commune,
published the intercommunal newsletter
Kaliflower
in
San Francisco from April 24, 1969 through June 22, 1972. The Sutter Street Commune
was one of several hundred communes in the 1960s in the San Francisco Bay Area. The
Free Print Shop was in the basement of the commune's Victorian house in the
redevelopment-owned area of the city, near where Japantown now stands.
Kaliflower
in
San Francisco from April 24, 1969 through June 22, 1972. The Sutter Street Commune
was one of several hundred communes in the 1960s in the San Francisco Bay Area. The
Free Print Shop was in the basement of the commune's Victorian house in the
redevelopment-owned area of the city, near where Japantown now stands.
Part 1: The Sutter Street Commune and the Diggers: The Sutter Street Commune
consciously adopted the Diggers' "Free philosophy." The Diggers (1966-1968) were one
of the groups in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District, a center of 1960s
counterculture. Often cloaked in anonymity, the Diggers took their name from the
original English Diggers (1649-1650), who had promulgated a vision of society free
from private property and all forms of buying and selling.
The Diggers combined street theater, direct action, and art happenings in their
social agenda of creating a Free City. Their most famous activities revolved around
distributing free food every day in Golden Gate Park and distributing "surplus
energy" at a series of Free Stores. Digger events, editorial comments of the day,
pronouncements, manifestos and miscellaneous communications were broadcast through
broadsides, leaflets and posters distributed by hand on Haight Street. The Sutter
Street Commune set out to implement the blueprint for action that the Diggers had
outlined a few months earlier in 1967.
Part 2: The Free Print Shop and
Kaliflower
: The
announcement of the opening of the Free Print Shop was printed on silk cloth-faced
paper, which the commune obtained from a large paper company in San Francisco that
sold odd lots of paper very cheaply. Over the next several years, the Free Print
Shop published a variety of materials, including flyers for other communal groups,
free services, ecology groups, free arts groups, and the occasional political
protest. California Historical Society's collection includes hundreds of Free Print
Shop broadsides and flyers on various topics, such as "Free the Presidio 27," "Bring
Huey Home," "Hells Angels Party," "The Non-Violent Revolution of India a talk," and
"Gay Liberation Now."
Kaliflower
: The
announcement of the opening of the Free Print Shop was printed on silk cloth-faced
paper, which the commune obtained from a large paper company in San Francisco that
sold odd lots of paper very cheaply. Over the next several years, the Free Print
Shop published a variety of materials, including flyers for other communal groups,
free services, ecology groups, free arts groups, and the occasional political
protest. California Historical Society's collection includes hundreds of Free Print
Shop broadsides and flyers on various topics, such as "Free the Presidio 27," "Bring
Huey Home," "Hells Angels Party," "The Non-Violent Revolution of India a talk," and
"Gay Liberation Now."
In the spring of 1969, the Sutter Street Commune began weekly publication of the
intercommunal newspaper
Kaliflower
. The name comes
from Kali Yuga, the Hindu name for last and most violent age of humankind. The title
suggests a flower growing out of the ashes of destruction. For three years
Kaliflower
circulation grew, until nearly three hundred
communes received
Kaliflower
every Thursday. The
burgeoning circulation compromised ideals of staying small, local and anonymous, so
publication was eventually suspended.
Kaliflower
. The name comes
from Kali Yuga, the Hindu name for last and most violent age of humankind. The title
suggests a flower growing out of the ashes of destruction. For three years
Kaliflower
circulation grew, until nearly three hundred
communes received
Kaliflower
every Thursday. The
burgeoning circulation compromised ideals of staying small, local and anonymous, so
publication was eventually suspended.
"
Kaliflower
Day," as the name by which Thursdays
became known, was the day of the week when
Kaliflower
was bound and distributed to all the other communes. In the beginning, each commune
that received
Kaliflower
had a plywood board located
in a communal space, where the messengers would hand-deliver the
Kaliflowers. California Historical Society has one of
the plywood boards used for delivery. A bamboo tube attached to the board held any
free messages waiting for the deliverer to pick up. Members from other households
would show up at Sutter Street, and later Scott Street when the commune moved. They
spent the morning binding
Kaliflower
, using a
Japanese sewing method of side stitching.
Kaliflower
Day," as the name by which Thursdays
became known, was the day of the week when
Kaliflower
was bound and distributed to all the other communes. In the beginning, each commune
that received
Kaliflower
had a plywood board located
in a communal space, where the messengers would hand-deliver the
Kaliflowers. California Historical Society has one of
the plywood boards used for delivery. A bamboo tube attached to the board held any
free messages waiting for the deliverer to pick up. Members from other households
would show up at Sutter Street, and later Scott Street when the commune moved. They
spent the morning binding
Kaliflower
, using a
Japanese sewing method of side stitching.
Commune members lived in two successive Victorian houses for their first seven years.
In the 1960s in San Francisco, the Redevelopment Agency tore down many Victorian
buildings in Japantown and the Western Addition. Commune members would go into the
old Victorians and salvage as much as they could. California Historical Society's
copies of
Kaliflower
were donated in an old Japanese
steamer trunk salvaged from one of these abandoned houses.
Kaliflower
were donated in an old Japanese
steamer trunk salvaged from one of these abandoned houses.
Each
Kaliflower
was printed on a Chief 15 and bound by
hand. Every ten weeks or so, a commune member would gather a sequence of the issues
and put them into an elaborately decorated envelope. For example, volume 4 has 7
issues, which are organized in order in a envelope silk-screened with images
depicting the Free Bakery and Free Food in three colors.
Kaliflower
was printed on a Chief 15 and bound by
hand. Every ten weeks or so, a commune member would gather a sequence of the issues
and put them into an elaborately decorated envelope. For example, volume 4 has 7
issues, which are organized in order in a envelope silk-screened with images
depicting the Free Bakery and Free Food in three colors.
Kaliflower
became an important mode of communication
among the communes. It was common for people who delivered
Kaliflower
to come back with stories of travelling from one commune to
another and being fêted at each in various ways. The messengers would pick up
announcements and ads -- always free ads -- that would appear in the next week's
issue. California Historical Society also has a set of broadsides, posters and other
printed matter distributed with
Kaliflower
from time
to time.
Collection consists of a complete set of volumes 1-4 of the intercommunal newspaper
Kaliflower
(April 24, 1969-June 22, 1972), with
some supplements, and a large but incomplete collection of flyers, broadsides,
pamphlets, newsletters, and other materials printed by the Free Print Shop between
the years 1968 and 1972. There are also some miscellaneous related items, including
one of the original
Kaliflower
clipboards, and the
trunk in which the archives were delivered to California Historical Society.
Kaliflower
(April 24, 1969-June 22, 1972), with
some supplements, and a large but incomplete collection of flyers, broadsides,
pamphlets, newsletters, and other materials printed by the Free Print Shop between
the years 1968 and 1972. There are also some miscellaneous related items, including
one of the original
Kaliflower
clipboards, and the
trunk in which the archives were delivered to California Historical Society.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog:
Diggers
Free Print Shop
Kaliflower
Sutter Street Commune
Communal living--California--San Francisco
Experimental theater--California--San Francisco
Free material
Gay liberation movement--California--San Francisco.
Hippies--California--San Francisco
New Left--California--San Francisco
San Francisco (Calif.)--History--20th
century
Underground literature--California--San Francisco
Underground press--California--San Francisco
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