Bukowski research in the USA (1 Viewer)

Dear everyone,

I already told Roni about this and he suggested me to ask the forum.

I am already in my third year working on my PHd dissertation, so it is my last chance
to get a French scholarship to visit the US do do some research for a month or so.

When it comes to Bukowski research I guess the point is to visit the libraries that host archives.
I already know some names of libraries, but I don't really know what each of them contains, and to apply I have to be very specific about the places I intend to visit and what I expect to find and do there (not to mention that I have to get an official invitation, but I'll take care of that ;)).

I would be grateful for any leads or information, including what could be done for research outside of
libraries. Thanks in advance!
 
Ponder: thank you, I do know the existence of the walking Bukowski encyclopedia named De Britto ;) Hope he will answer the thread, as I thought posting those info on the forum might be of help to others as well.

Roni: that would be so great thanks!
 
[...]could always interview Linda B. and John Martin [...]
That's a good one! They're sitting around waiting to be interviewed by somebody. No really, nice as the idea would be, these two aren't easy to get, even if you know their location.
 
Just to bring some closure to the thread, in case someone comes up with the same problem, here is what I gathered from PMs:
The two main libraries in California containing Bukowski archives are the Huntington library and the library of the University of Santa Barbara. You can find a detailed archive list of the latter (and any California university) on this website:
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/http://www.oac.cdlib.org/

As for interviews...well I hope I won't need to. Imagine interviewing Mr "Martinized" about his posthumous editing? :-s
 
Imagine interviewing Mr "Martinized" about his posthumous editing? :-s
I'm pretty sure L. Ron Martin would just gaze into your eyes very intensely and smile and nod and you'd be hypnotized and come away from the meeting thinking of him as a holy, Christ-like figure, the way many people do. You would become one of them; a Martintologist.

Those posthumous books that the non-believers denigrate are actually the only true Bridge To Total Freedom. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you will gain your superpowers.
 
I'm pretty sure L. Ron Martin would just gaze into your eyes very intensely and smile and nod and you'd be hypnotized and come away from the meeting thinking of him as a holy, Christ-like figure, the way many people do. You would become one of them; a Martintologist.

Those posthumous books that the non-believers denigrate are actually the only true Bridge To Total Freedom. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you will gain your superpowers.

MJP, you are clearly a Suppressive Person with deep rooted complexes. I can offer to relieve you of your traumatic engrams. For a small administrative fee.
 
Hi Dora,

I'm beginning to organise a similar research trip, although not until next year (I'm only just completing my first year of PhD candidature).

Another relevant library collection is the Gotlieb Centre in Boston. Caleb Daniloff has written a short article on Bukowski's presence there. Though I think, when planning a time and budget constrained Bukowski research trip, California may be the better option as there are more archives and material (including non-Buk specific material regarding 60's magazines, newspapers, etc) within easier reach of one another.

I feel your pain on the various forms and applications needed to get a research trip done, by the way. Good luck!
 
I didn't know about the Boston collection, thanks! Maybe another time. Now I have to wait for the end of May to know the result of my application.

Those applications are a hassle indeed, but since I had to work while doing my Phd to finance it, having a research stay financed is really worth the hassle :)
 
BadBadams's idea about locating archives of 1960s magazines and newspapers is a good one. I would check out the underground newspapers published in California in the 1960s and 70s. Who knows what you might find. I bet Linda King would agree to an interview.
 
I know that was a loong time ago, but I wanted to let you know that I got the research grant :) Although they gave me barely enough to cover the plane ticket :( I should spent between one and two weeks in LA and a week in Santa Barbara, hopefully leaving enough time to visit San Franscisco afterwards.

But thanks everyone for the help and the leads, and also thanks all the people behind the website, which is going to be *very* useful for preparing the library research.

(Also, as I said the hostel expenses are not covered by the grant, and they are terribly expensive (around 400euros for two weeks in LA!!) so if anyone has any lead, or a room to sublet in LA or Santa Barbara, please send me a private message!)
 
This is quite amazing that a person could do a Ph. D. on one Charles Bukowski. Who would have ever thought. Buk certainly could never imagine that he would be the focus of such intellectual scrutiny. He would probably yell and curse and hurl unpleasant insults. But, later in the evening when puffing on a GOOD cigar he would have quiet smile on his face and think, "well yeah dammit, I'm Charles Somebody."

Hey Dora, thanks for having the Guts to do a Ph. D. on Buk. You're gonna have the BEST Ph. D. because you're Ph. D. has Guts!
 
I guess it is safe to say that she'll all let us know when it's done and we can all hope that she'll post it some where, where can all read it. Won't that be grand.
 
I bet Linda King would agree to an interview.

Yes, the King sisters are quite talkative.

Then the doorbell rang. Lydia got us. A fat
woman stood there with frantic, pleading eyes.
“This is my sister, Glendoline.”
“Hi.”
Glendoline pulled up a chair and started talking. She could talk.
If she was a sphinx she could have talked, if she was a stone she could
have talked. I wondered when she’d get tired and leave. Even after I
stopped listening it was like being battered with tiny ping-pong balls.
Glendoline had no concept of time or any idea that she might be intruding.
She talked on and on.
“Listen,” I said finally, “when are you going to leave?”

(WOMEN, chapter 2)

I walked to the spring and came back with 3 bottles of beer. The girls
said no, they didn’t want any. They were very anti-beer.

The conversation shifted and the girls started chatting about men,
parties, dancing, and sex. Glendoline had a high, excited voice, and
laughed nervously, laughed constantly. She was in her mid-forties,
quite fat and very sloppy. Besides that, just like me, she was simply
ugly.
Glendoline must have talked non-stop for over an hour, entirely
about sex. I began to get dizzy. She waved her arms over her head,
“I’M THE WILD WOMAN OF THE MOUNTAINS! O WHERE O WHERE
IS THE MAN, THE REAL MAN WITH THE COURAGE TO TAKE ME?”
Well, he’s certainly not here, I thought.

(WOMEN, chapter 30)

And here they are, 40 years later.


If you want to follow the adventures of Linda's sister, GERRY HITT, look her up on facebook.
The last weeks or longer she is writing about her friend Doc, an alcoholic who quit drinking,
but a few days ago Doc started drinking again. Amusing story, that is, if you're able to handle it.
She can not only talk but she can also type.
 
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This appears to be the latest update (Aug. 21st 2013) to the Bukowski collection at the Huntington Library.

Abstract:
This collection contains nearly 400 issues of 248 periodicals with content written by or about the poet, novelist, and short-story writer Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), who was known for his crude and evocative poetry and prose that often described the hard luck, boozing, and womanizing underbelly of life in Los Angeles, California, in the second half of the 20th century. The items date from 1941 to 2009 and consist of periodicals ranging from small literary journals to large weekly news magazines that contain poems, short stories, interviews, excerpts, and drawings by Bukowski, as well as photographs of him, and articles or interviews about him, or in which he is mentioned.


http://findaid.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8nk3gdk/entire_text/
 
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Thanks, I guess that would be a good excuse to go back. I couldn't see all the boxes- they have this rule of not more than an hour of picturetaking per day, and having photocopies made there is awfully expensive.
 
Yes, I thought that it was nice to see what was in these boxes.
Another excuse to try to find all those magazines. I noticed that there was something by Bottle of Smoke (Bill).
 
Digging out those old magazines must be a hard, yet such a rewarding job!
While in LA i actually found a recent book about the LA poetry and magazine scene that is pretty awesome- the kind of books I wish I had come across earlier in my research. It's called "Hold-Outs" by Bill Mohr if you've heard of it.
 
Thanks for drawing attention to that recent periodicals collection at the Huntington, Black Swan. I'm heading there in January to look into the archives and that kind of material is what I'm most interested in.

And Dora . . . how did your trip end up turning out? I think you said you spent about 3 weeks in L.A. and Santa Barbara . . . was that a useful amount of time? (despite not getting to see ALL the boxes!) Any tips for a fellow Buk-scholar about to head over?
 
And Dora . . . how did your trip end up turning out? I think you said you spent about 3 weeks in L.A. and Santa Barbara . . . was that a useful amount of time? (despite not getting to see ALL the boxes!) Any tips for a fellow Buk-scholar about to head over?

Any amount of time is useful, I would say. I can only recommend to be very organized-study the catalogue carefully beforehand so you know which boxes you will need.
As I said: they give you only one box at a time, which you can mark and put aside, then you need to register in advance for a half-an-hour slot where you can take pictures of material. Half-an-hour in the morning, same the afternoon. If you beg them shameslessly, they might allot you an hour more per day, just at the end of your stay when you're at the brink of madness from dealing with so much paper in so little time.
 
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Thanks Dora. I hadn't actually spoken to Sue Hodson at the Huntington yet about the processes for copying material, so that's a good heads up I will email her about.

What about L.A. in general? I'm planning on staying within riding or walking distance of the various archives while I'm there (thank you Air BnB!). USC LA for 2 weeks, in Pasadena near the Huntington for a week or so and then in SB for another week. Is this what you did? And more importantly, did you manage to have a rewarding time without a car?
 
Also Dora, thanks for mentioning 'Hold Outs' . . . I'm currently reading 'Smoking Typewriters' by John McMillian & am looking for more in-depth reading on the whole underground press scene. Will see if I can get a copy all the way down here in Australia.
 
Hae you read it already? It will be a lifesaver for my thesis. Can you tell me more about 'Smoking typewriters'? Does it deal specifically with the Southern Californian scene?
 
Smoking Typewriters is an overview of the whole underground press scene, so only has a small portion devoted exclusively to So-Cal. I haven't looked through it all yet, but it's definitely a good read and useful resource for understanding the political/cultural motivations behind the small-press/counter-cultural movement.
 

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