Bernadette Mayer Papers
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http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0199n71x No online items Bernadette Mayer Papers Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Copyright 2019 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla 92093-0175 [email protected] URL: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/collections/sca/index.html Bernadette Mayer Papers MSS 0420 1 Descriptive Summary Languages: English Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla 92093-0175 Title: Bernadette Mayer Papers Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0420 Physical Description: 30.0 Linear feet(70 archives boxes, 1 card file box and 7 oversize file folders) Date (inclusive): 1958-2017 Abstract: Papers of Bernadette Mayer, writer, teacher, editor, and publisher. Most often associated with the New York School, Mayer uses compositional methods such as chance operations, collage and cut-up. Materials include correspondence with writers, artists, publishers, and friends; manuscripts and typescripts; notebooks and loose notes; teaching notes; audio recordings and photographs; and biographical materials such as calendars, datebooks and ephemera. Scope and Content of Collection The Bernadette Mayer Papers document Mayer's career as a writer and teacher and, to a lesser extent, her career as a publisher and editor. Additionally, the papers reflect the broader community of artists and writers known as the New York School. Materials include correspondence from writers, artists, publishers, and friends; notebooks and loose notes; manuscripts and typescripts of Mayer's works; teaching notes; audio recordings and photographs; and biographical materials such as calendars, datebooks and ephemera. Accession Processed in 1998 Arranged in eleven series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS, 4) NOTEBOOKS, 5) WRITINGS OF OTHERS, 6) TEACHING MATERIAL, 7) EDITING MATERIAL, 8) EPHEMERA, 9) PHOTOGRAPHS, 10) SOUND RECORDINGS, and 11) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES. Accession Processed in 2019 Arranged in four series: 12) BIOGRAPHICAL, 13) CORRESPONDENCE, 14) WRITINGS, and 15) TEACHING MATERIALS. Biography Bernadette Mayer was born on May 12, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York. She received her B.A. from the New School for Social Research in 1967, shortly after which she began teaching there on a part-time, semi-permanent basis. From 1967-1969, Mayer and conceptual artist Vito Acconci edited the experimental journal 0 to 9, which published work from experimentalists in a range of genres and media. In the early 1970s, Mayer lived with film-maker Ed Bowes, with whom she collaborated on numerous projects. In 1975, Mayer married writer and publisher Lewis Warsh, with whom she had three children. Warsh and Mayer collaboratively edited United Artists press, which published a number of seminal books of poetry, including Ted Berrigan's Sonnets and Mayer's own Utopia. Throughout the 1980s, Mayer was director of The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in New York where, as well as teaching writing workshops, she produced the Poetry Project's reading series. Mayer's position made her a central figure in the community of artists and writers gathered at that time in New York City's Lower East Side, and many of her students from this period—Lee Ann Brown and Lisa Jarnot among them—have gone on to become writers themselves. As a writer, Mayer is most often associated with the New York School, a rubric which refers to composers, painters, visual artists, conceptual artists, and choreographers in addition to writers. Mayer's use of compositional methods such as chance-operation, collage, and cut-up identify her as an artist pursuing concerns similar to those of John Cage, Jackson Mac Low or Frank O'Hara—central figures in the New York School—as well as more contemporary figures associated with L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing. But Mayer's work is also significantly influenced by modernist figures such as James Joyce and Gertrude Stein, as well as by her background in classical studies, evident in her syllabi, reading lists and in her informal translations of Catullus. Mayer's publications include: Ceremony Latin (1964), Story (1968), Moving (1971), Memory (1975), Studying Hunger (1975), Poetry (1976), Eruditio ex Memoria (1977), The Golden Book of Words (1978), Midwinter Day (1982), Utopia (1984), Sonnets (1989), The Formal Field of Kissing (1990), A Bernadette Mayer Reader (1992), The Desires of Mothers to Please Others in Letters (1994), Proper Name and Other Stories (1996), Another Smashed Pinecone (1998), Two Haloed Mourners (1998), Scarlet Tanager (2005), The Cave (with Clark Coolidge, 2008), Poetry State Forest (2008), Ethics of Sleep (2011), The Helens of Troy, New York (2013), and At Maureen's (2013). Preferred Citation Bernadette Mayer Papers MSS 0420 2 Bernadette Mayer Papers, MSS 420. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego. Acquisition Information Acquired 1996 and 2018. Restrictions Original audiovisual media and unprocessed digital media are restricted. Researchers may inquire about access to these materials in advance of their visit. Publication Rights Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection. Related Materials Bernadette Mayer. Letters to Rosemary Mayer, MSS 520. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego. Bernadette Mayer. Moving typescript, MSS 480. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego. Bernadette Mayer. United Artists records, MSS 12. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego. Subjects and Indexing Terms American poetry -- 20th century Poetry -- Editing Women poets -- United States Mayer, Bernadette -- Archives Warsh, Lewis Silliman, Ronald, 1946- -- Correspondence Rothenberg, Jerome, 1931- -- Correspondence Notley, Alice, 1945- -- Correspondence Mac Low, Jackson -- Correspondence Whalen, Philip -- Correspondence Warsh, Lewis -- Correspondence Waldman, Anne, 1945- -- Correspondence Berkson, Bill -- Correspondence Corbett, William, 1942- -- Correspondence Banks, Russell, 1948- -- Correspondence Coolidge, Clark, 1939- -- Correspondence Andrews, Bruce, 1948- -- Correspondence Berrigan, Ted -- Correspondence Brainard, Joe, 1942-1994 -- Correspondence Bernstein, Charles, 1950- -- Correspondence Jackson, Laura (Riding), 1901-1991 -- Correspondence Howe, Fanny -- Correspondence Hejinian, Lyn -- Correspondence Creeley, Robert, 1926-2005 -- Correspondence Accession Processed in 1998 BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL Scope and Content of Series Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL: Mayer's calendars and datebooks for the years 1975-1994, address books, biographical abstracts, interviews with Mayer, and grant applications. Additional biographical material may be found in Series 4, 8, 9, and 10. Box 1, Folder 1 Address books Bernadette Mayer Papers MSS 0420 3 Accession Processed in 1998 BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL Box 1, Folder 2-10 Calendars 1975-1977, 1981-1986 Box 2, Folder 1-9 Calendars 1987-1994 Box 3, Folder 1 Conversation between Lee Ann Brown and Bernadette Mayer - Typescript ca. 1993 Box 3, Folder 2 Educational Press Association of America - Distinguished Achievement Award 1989 Box 3, Folder 3 Grant applications 1987 - 1992 Box 3, Folder 4-6 Interview with Bernadette Mayer by Ann Rower - Typescripts 1984 October 18 Box 3, Folder 7 Interview with Bernadette Mayer, by Clark Coolidge? Typescript Box 3, Folder 8 Introduction of Mayer as a speaker, by Ed Friedman - Typescript Box 3, Folder 9 National Endowment for the Arts. Final Report - Fellowship in Poetry 1979-1980 Box 3, Folder 10 New School for Social Research - Bachelor's degree 1967 Box 3, Folder 11 Passport 1972 Box 3, Folder 12 Reading and speaking contracts 1978 - 1992 Box 3, Reading announcements Folder 13-14 Box 3, Folder 15 Resumes Box 3, Folder 16 Reading lists Box 3, Folder 17 Skyline, Saint Saviour High School, Brooklyn, New York [Mayer was co-editor] 1958 - 1962 Box 3, Folder 18 Who's Who of American Women - Biographical note Box 3, Folder 19 Zines - Addresses of small presses and literary magazines CORRESPONDENCE Scope and Content of Series Series 2) CORRESPONDENCE: The most extensive series in the collection, containing letters from a wide range of literary and artistic figures. Correspondents include including Bill Berkson, Charlotte Carter, Clark Coolidge, William Corbett, Ed Freidman, Fanny Howe, Laura Riding Jackson, Nick Piombino, Anne Waldman, and Hannah Weiner. Also included are substantial letters from Bruce Andrews, Charles Bernstein, Lyn Hejinian, and others associated with L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing; younger writers or students such as Lee Ann Brown, Lisa Jarnot and Kristin Prevallet; visual and conceptual artists such as Vito Acconci, Ed Bowes and George Schneeman; family members; and numerous personal friends. In addition to letters, the series also contains enclosures such as personal gifts or publications sent to Mayer, the most noteworthy of which is a group of Anne Waldman's notebooks dedicated to Mayer. Box 3, Unidentified correspondents - Incoming and outgoing correspondence Folder 20-21 Box 3, Folder 22 13th Moon 1974 - 1976 Box 3, Folder 23 A - Miscellaneous Box 3, Folder 24 Abbott, Steve 1983 Box 4, Folder 1 Acconi, Vito 1963 Box 4, Folder 2 Adam, Helen Box 4, Folder 3 The Alternative Press 1993 Box 4, Folder 4 Altieri, Charles Box 4, Folder 5 Andrews, Bruce 1973 - 1976 Box 4, Folder 6 Armantrout, Rae 1989 Box 4, Folder 7 Arthurs, Meg 1991 - 1994 Box 4, Folder 8 B - Miscellaneous Box 4, Folder 9 Baker, Peter N., Jr. 1993 - 2003 Box 4, Folder 10 Banks, Lea 1980 - 1982 Box 4, Folder 11 Banks, Russell 1980 - 1987 Box 4, Folder 12 Barg, Barbara 1981