Shapiro, Michael (Michael Shapiro Papers, 1981-2016)
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 20, 2016. English Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Cambridge Room, Cambridge Public Library Archives and Special Collections Cambridge Public Library 449 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02138 617-349-7757 [email protected] URL: http://www.cambridgema.gov/cpl/Services/cambridgeroom Shapiro, Michael (Michael Shapiro Papers, 1981-2016)
Table of Contents
Summary Information ...... 3 Biography ...... 3 Collection Overview ...... 4 Organization of Collection ...... 5 Administrative Information ...... 5 Related Materials ...... 6 Controlled Access Headings ...... 7 Collection Inventory ...... 7 Artwork ...... 7 Broadsides ...... 8 General ...... 8 Poems by Michael Shapiro ...... 9 Signed Limited Editions ...... 9 Cartoons ...... 10 Ephemera ...... 11 The Illustrated Ern Malley ...... 12 Plays ...... 12 Publications ...... 12
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Summary Information
Repository: Cambridge Room, Cambridge Public Library Archives and Special Collections Creator: Shapiro, Michael, 1948 October 13- Title: Michael Shapiro Papers, 1981-2016 ID: 042 Date [inclusive]: 1981-2016 Physical Description: 2.1 Linear feet Physical Description: .8 Cubic Feet Physical Description: 2 boxes 1 Hollinger box and 1 oversize Physical Description: 100 Items Language of the English Material: Language of the English Material:
Preferred Citation
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection: [Identification of item], Michael Shapiro Papers, 1981-2016, 042, [Box#, Folder title], Cambridge Room, Cambridge Public Library Archives and Special Collections.
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Biography
Michael Shapiro was born in 1948 in New York City and grew up in Woodside, Queens. He earned a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Boston in 1983, a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1988, and a M.E. in Computer Science from Cornell University in 2000. Shapiro grew up in a leftist Jewish household and came of age during the 1960s, participating in the counter culture revolution. Shapiro self describes as a Marginal, part of the Marginal Scene. He has lived for many years in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His is married to Mary Kerins.
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Collection Overview
This collection contains the broadsides, cartoons, publications, and poetry of Michael Shapiro. His particular interest is American Yiddish poets from the early twentieth century. These poets include Anna Margolin (b. Rosa Lebensboym), Rachel Korn, Celia Dropkin, and Moishe-Leib Halpern. English translations of the poets are included with the artwork. “Don’t Think I’ve Changed,” by Margolin is from Drunk From the Bitter Truth, translated by Shirley Kumove. “On the Other Side of the Poem,” by Rachel Korn is from An Anthology of Modern Yiddish Poetry, bilingual edition, selected and translated by Ruth Whitman, originally published by Workmen's Circle and later by Wayne State University Press. Shapiro translated “Who Is?,” “Evening,” and “A Shikse by the Sea” by Halpern, “To Lucifer” and “My Hands” by Dropkin, and “Darkened Room” and “Slowly and Luminously” by Anna Margolin. On the Halpern broadside, the drawing of the man is based on a self-portrait by Halpern.
Shapiro has collaborated with local, national, and international poets to create signed, limited edition broadsides. These broadsides were created for poetry festivals as well as readings, many of which took place at the Cambridge Public Library. The poem “Romance of the Romances,” is by Cambridge Public Library employee Daniel Wuenschel, inspired by his shelving of romance novels. Shapiro collaborated with Wuenschel on the chapbook, Leviathan, in the collection under publications.
Included in the collection is Shapiro’s illustration of the Ern Malley poems. Ernest Lalor “Ern” Malley was a fictitious poet and the central figure in Australia’s most celebrated literary hoax. Malley and his entire body of work were created in one day in 1943 by writers James McAuley and Harold Stewart to prank Max Harris and Angry Penguins, the modernist magazine Harris had founded and edited.
The collection includes three of Shapiro’s plays. The 1981 “A Set of Skits and Songs for Street Theatre” comes with instructions for production. Shapiro wrote the skit, Milton Friedman as Witch Doctor, for “Perverse, Immoral, and Profane” (1981) performed by the Newbury Street Theater. Shapiro was also in the play. “I Tell you These Things are Real,” was performed off Broadway at the Producers Club in New York City on March 22 and 23, 2002.
The underground publication, A House United Against Itself, is a zine founded by the Reverend Crowbar (also known as David Nestle and David Crowbar; his real name was David Molinar and has since become a woman and goes by Susan Poe), who also published Popular Reality one of the largest anarchist zines in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A House United Against Itself was published between 1988 and 1994 and was affiliated with other zines published at the time, which were referred to as the United Front Ministries and was connected to the Church of the SubGenius. During this time, there was a subculture of people who took pseudonyms, gave themselves titles, purchased P.O. Boxes, and published zines, which they traded among themselves. The catalyst for this trading was Factsheet Five, which was published as a zine directory. Shapiro, whose pseudonym was the Rev. Etc. with the title Minister of Propaganda, later took over A House United Against. Numbers and issues do not correlate to any real chronology of
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Shapiro creates all his artwork digitally.
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Organization of Collection
Approximatley 100 items grouped alphabetically by title into the following series and subseries:
Series 1: Artwork
Series 2.1: Broadsides, General
Series 2.2: Broadsides, Poems by Michael Shapiro
Series 2.3: Broadsides, Signed Limited Editions
Series 3: Cartoons
Series 4: Ephemera
Series 5: The Illustrated Ern Malley
Series 6: Plays
Series 7: Publications
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Administrative Information
Publication Statement Cambridge Room, Cambridge Public Library Archives and Special Collections
Cambridge Public Library 449 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02138 617-349-7757 [email protected]
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Revision Description Item level description, including new accessions added to the collection between 2013 and 2016. 11 April 2016
Custodial History Donated by Michael Shapiro in June 2013. New accessions regularly added to the collection.
Access to Collection This collection is open to research.
Conditions Governing Use The material in this collection is subject to copyright and intellectual property restrictions. It is the responsibility of the researcher to understand and observe copyright law and to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyright. Researchers must obtain written permission from the copyright holder(s) if they wish to publish materials from this collection. Questions concerning copyright and permission to publish should be directed to the Cambridge Room, Cambridge Public Library Archives and Special Collections.
Processing Information Processed by Alyssa Pacy in June 2013 and April 2016. Encoded by Alyssa Pacy in April 2016.
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Related Materials
Related Materials E. J. Barnes Comic Books, 2005-2014
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Controlled Access Headings
• Caricatures and cartoons • Cartoons and comics • Malley, Ern. Poems • Drama -- 20th Century • Poetry • Political Cartoons • Yiddish poetry Translations into English • Zines • Broadsides (notices) • Cartoons (humorous images) • Chapbooks • Fanzines • Typescripts • Shapiro, Michael, 1948 October 13- • Shapiro, Michael, 1948 October 13- • Dropkin, Celia, 1888-1956 • Halpern, Moshe Leib, 1886-1932 • Korn, Rachel H. (Rachel Häring), 1898-1982 • Malley, Ern • Margolin, Anna • Newbury Street Theater
Collection Inventory
Artwork Title/Description Instances Circular Things Box 1
Contemplating Freedom Box 1
For Judith Box 1
He said, Look Out! Here comes the winding ball. Box 1
It's a Starrett Box 1
Orange Galaxies Box 1
Portrait of the Artist as the Blue Bird of Happiness Box 1
Without Comment Box 1
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Broadsides
General Title/Description Instances A Shiksl Baym Yam (A Shiksa by the Sea) by Moishe-Leib Box 1 Halpern
A spider sewed at night by Emily Dickinson Box 1
Co widzial na nebie Clausen? (What did Clausen see in the Box 1 sky?) by Gregorz Wroblewski
Did the harebell loose her girdle to the lover bee? by Emily Box 1 Dickinson
The Emperor of Ice-Cream by Wallace Stevens Box 1
Fun yener zayt lid iz a foygl faran (On the other side of the Box 1 poem, there's a bird) by Rachel Korn
Hallowe'en 1969 by Paul Goodman Box 1
Hart Harts (Hard Heart) by Anna Margolin Box 1
In the end by Mary Kerins Box 1
In Tunkln Tsimer (In the Dark Room) by Anna Margolin Box 1
Langsam Un Likhtik (Slowly and Luminously) by Anna Box 1 Margolin
Mayne Hent (My Hands), poem of Celia Dropkin Box 1
Meyn nit ikh hob zikh gebitn (Don't think I've changed) by Anna Box 1 Margolin
Prayer of a Petty Crook by Moishe Leib Halpern Box 1
Romance of Romances by Daniel Wuenschel Box 1 Description of Item
based on titles of romance novels shelved at the Cambridge Public Library
Safe upon the solid rock by Edna St. Vincent Millay Box 1
Some certain significance from Moby Dick by Herman Melville Box 1
There once was a hair wig from Queens, by Amber Day and Box 1 Catherine D'Ignazio, 17 March 2016
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Description of Item
Grand Prize Winner at the Institute for Infinitely Small Things' Politickal Limerick contest.
Tsu Lutzifern (To Lucifer) by Celia Dropkin Box 1
Un vi fun nest aroys a foygl vos iz krank tsum shtarbn (And Box 1 like a sick dying bird that falls from its nest) by Moishe-Leib Halpern
Ver iz? (Who is?) by Moishe-Leib Halpern Box 1
Why can't he grab both whores, death and life from Fabius Lind Box 1 Days by Aaron Glants - Leyeles
Why do they shut me out of heaven? by Emily Dickinson Box 1
Poems by Michael Shapiro Title/Description Instances Eugene Linden Tells Box 1
The Human Trait that Blew Up Those Bookstores Box 1 Description of Item
In honor of the exhibition Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here
Know Your Platonic Solids Box 1
Late November Box 1
Today I Saw A Sparrow Die Box 1
Signed Limited Editions Title/Description Instances 29 by Martha Collins, 4 November 2014 Box 2
Bowtie by Daniel Wuenschel, 14 August 2015 Box 2
Aurora Borealis by Molly Lynn Watt Box 2
Balsa by Richard Fein, 28 January 2015 Box 2
Chickadee Ruckus by Hannah Mahoney, 2016 May 15 Box 2
Childhood that Nest by Mary Buchinger, 26 January 2016 Box 2
Dear Gaybashers by Jill McDonough, 28 October 2015 Box 2
Ghazal VII, "You'll be hunted" from Your Lover's Beloved, 51 Box 2 Ghazals by Hafez, translated by Mahmood Karimi-Hakak and Bill Wolak, 9 July 2015
Island Rock and Stone by Louise C. Callghan, 14 May 2014 Box 2
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Krokodile Longing by J. C. Foritano Box 2
My heart stands in a small boat by Mary Buchinger Box 2
Mermaid's Song by Barbara Thomas Box 2
Nail by Daniel Wuenschel, 2016 May 28 Box 2
The Origamist by Daniel Tobin, 13 November 2014 Box 2
Self-Portrait Without Wings by Anna Ross, 30 September 2015 Box 2
Pacifisms by Michelle Y. Burke, 2016 May 28 Box 2
Sonhos by Kevin Cutrer, 2016 August 31 Box 2
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Cartoons Title/Description Instances A Caboodle of Kittens Box 1
A Traveller's Guide to Sacrilege Box 1
The Adventures of C-Thru P-U Box 1
All Governments Lie Box 1
Amplexus Box 1
Beelzebubbles I Box 1
Beelzebubbles II Box 1
Beelzebubbles III Box 1
The Beets Box 1
The Brain Tree Box 1
The Biology Cat Box 1
The Book of Job Box 1
Canine Capitalism Box 1
Capitalist Fundamentalist Box 1
The Economic Situation Continues to Unfold Box 1
Finnegans Wake Written by Dashiell Hammett Box 1
Fortunately, America Had the Wisdom to Send Two Oilmen to the Box 1 Whitehouse
The Foul Fiend Flibbertigibbet Box 1
Fowl Play Box 1
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Yiddish Buddha Box 1
The Year: 1968 (Visions) Box 1
God Goes Poof Box 1
Yiddish Ahab Box 1
God Invents Packaging Box 1
Sex Songs of the Ancient Letts Box 1
The Rolls-Canardly Box 1
That's Not Education! Box 1
The Goofy Fish is Hungry, Happy, and Murderous Box 1
To Be "Revered" Box 1
Victims of Vegicide Box 1
How Many Republicans Does It Take To Screw In a Light Bulb Box 1
What? You Thought Flying Sleighs Were Pulled by Raindeer Box 1
Once Again, I Invented the Wheel Box 1
I Must Hang On To This Anchor Box 1
Portrait of the Artist as a Disembodied Glowing Force that Keeps Box 1 on Truckin'
Portrait of the Artist as an Octopus Box 1
Pull! Pull! Ye Sons of Bachelors! Box 1
In Honor of the Mouse Box 1
Inter-Galactic Sparkle Being Box 1
It's Chomsky Box 1
I'm a Diebold Electronic Voting Machine Box 1
Kali's Teeth Bracelet Box 1
Know Your Branches of Government Box 1
Michael Shapiro is of Communo-American Extraction Box 1
The Missing Organ Box 1
More Modest Dreams Box 1
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Ephemera Box 1
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The Illustrated Ern Malley Box 1
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Plays Title/Description Instances I Tell You, These Things Are Real, 2002 Box 1
UNTITLED, a set of skits for street theater, 1981 Box 1
Milton Freedman as Witch Doctor (from Perverse, Immoral, and Box 1 Profane), 1981
Perverse, Immoral and Profane, 1981 Box 1
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Publications Title/Description Instances A House United Against Itself (2 folders) Box 1
Leviathan (Chapbook), 2013 Box 1
Leviathan (Broadsides), 2013 Box 1
Story of Yosl Cutler Drawings, 21 June 2013 Box 1
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