Title:

Larry Keenan, Jr. photograph archive

Creator/Contributor:

Keenan, Larry., creator

The Larry Keenan, Jr. archive is most notable for its documentation of the counter-culture of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s and early 1970s. Youth and popular culture (rock music), the arts (literary and visual arts), and prominent figures of beat and hippie culture are pictured in portraits and candid views taken at events. Literary figures and artists (chiefly associated with the beat generation) include Neal Cassady, Bruce Conner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Gerald Gooch, Dave Haselwood, Ken Kesey, Robert LaVigne, Michael McClure, Free Wheelin' Frank (of the Hell's Angels), Julius and Peter Orlovsky, and Philip Whalen. Among the rock stars pictured are Marty Balin and Grace Slick (of the Jefferson Airplane), Micky Dolenz (of the Monkees), Bob Dylan, Cass Elliott (of the Mamas and the Papas), Jerry Garcia (of the Grateful Dead), Brian Jones (of the Rolling Stones), Country Joe McDonald (of Country Joe and the Fish), and Robbie Robertson (of The Band). Photographs of Candice Bergen (at Monterey Pop Festival, 1967), Jerry Rubin, and Timothy Leary are also present. Events and places pictured include City Lights Books, the Human Be-In (Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 1967), a San Francisco peace march, the Haight-Ashbury (1966-1967), the Spring Mobilization peace march (1967), a Public Smoke-In (UC Berkeley campus), Gay Pride parade and Mr. Acme contest (ca. 1975), and the Monterey Pop Festival (1967). Also present in the archive is work Keenan produced for commercial assignments and for photographic book projects. These book projects, undertaken from 1966 through 1970, are "Birds", untitled, "Sundance", "Europe: east/west", and "Renaissance: roots and reaction". Other creative works present in the collection are t-shirt designs by Keenan (and by others), and his "laminations", "postvisualizations", and "xerography".

Date:

ca. 1965-2009 (issued)

Subject:

Keenan, Larry -- Archives

Balin, Marty -- Portraits

Cassady, Neal -- Portraits

Conner, Bruce -- 1933-2008 -- Portraits

Dylan, Bob -- 1941- -- Portraits

Dolenz, Micky -- Portraits

Ferlinghetti, Lawrence -- Portraits

Garcia, Jerry -- 1942-1995 -- Portraits

Ginsberg, Allen -- 1926-1997 -- Portraits

Kesey, Ken -- Portraits

LaVigne, Robert -- 1928-2014 -- Portraits

Leary, Timothy -- 1920-1996 -- Portraits

McClure, Michael -- Portraits

McDonald, Joe -- 1942- -- Portraits

Orlovsky, Peter -- 1933-2010 -- Portraits

Robertson, Robbie -- Portraits

Slick, Grace -- Portraits

Whalen, Philip -- Portraits

City Lights Books -- Pictorial works

Human Be-In (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Pictorial works

Monterey International Pop Festival (1967 : Monterey, Calif.); -- Pictorial works

Beats (Persons) -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs

Poets, American -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs

Hippies -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs

Rock groups -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs

Peace movements -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs

Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs

Gay pride parades -- California -- San Francisco -- Photographs

BOX 14 and BOX 28: RESTRICTED. UNAVAILABLE FOR USE. Requests for use of original must be approved by the appropriate curator.

COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.

Publications received with the Larry Keenan, Jr photograph archive have been cataloged separately, with provenance noted and an access point under Larry Keenan as former owner.

Personal papers, manuscripts, ephemera, tear sheets, video tapes, compact discs, floppy discs, records and audiotapes have been transferred to the Manuscripts Collections of The Bancroft Library (BANC MSS 2010/253).

Larry Keenan was a 1967 graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts. There he was a student of Michael McClure, who in 1965 invited him to take photographs of his circle of friends. This resulted in numerous opportunities to photograph major figures of the Beat scene over the course of more than a year. He continued photographing poets, artists and musicians of the San Francisco Bay Area counter culture while a high school photography teacher, 1967-1970. In 1970 he became a professional advertising and corporate photographer, starting an award-winning career with clients ranging from AT&T to Genentech to Williams-Sonoma. (Source: http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/keenan/ ).

Preliminary container listing available in library.

Type:

graphic

graphic

photoprint

print

30 boxes, 11 cartons and 8 oversize folders (ca. 2,000 photographic prints, posters and other prints) : color and b&w ; various sizes.

English

Origin:

Various places

BOX 14 and BOX 28: RESTRICTED. UNAVAILABLE FOR USE. Requests for use of original must be approved by the appropriate curator.

COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.