Vagabond Press Records (Ms. 83.1)

The Vagabond Press Records span the fifteen years between the birth of the press in 1965 and its death in 1979.

Series 1, Correspondence, opens the door on the world of writers. It contains, for the most part, letters exchanged between John Bennett and contributors to Vagabond publications. One senses here Bennett's masterful handling of myriad personalities involved in a network of publishing activities. The letters deal with the business of the press, the acceptance and the rejection of material by contributors, personal news, commiseration over the lot of writers in an alien society, speculation about small presses,etc. Correspondents inside the Vagabond include teachers, musicians, librarians, prisoners, artists, broadcasters, actors, etc., who wrote fiction, poetry, or criticism. Contacts with writers beyond the Vagabond underground include Henrich Böll, Norman Mailer, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Alan Ginsberg.

John Bennett and Charles Bukowski corresponded about life, poetry, writing, and other writers. Similar exchanges took place with Hugh Fox, who considered Bennett a personal confidant. Conversations with Alyce Ingram often focused on writing and on Vagabond publications. Len Fulton, Diane Kruchkow, and Bennett discussed the relationship of small presses to society as a whole. Kruchkow referred to other small press publications like Cafe Solo. Charles and Pam Plymell discussed with Bennett the question of integrity in small press publishing. Tom Kryss and Bennett talked about poetry in practice and in life. Curt Johnson discussed with Bennett the evolution of December and Vagabond, their own writing careers, etc. Exchanges with Dave Steward embraced philosophy, poetry, fiction and literary agents.

Different regions of the country as well as different nations and languages are represented here. Bennett corresponded in German with Louise Rinser, for example about using her work in a Vagabond publication. The Westenhuber Brothers, German printers who had printed the early Vagabond issues when Bennett was living in Munich, expressed their wishes for the continued success of the press in the United States.

Of special interest are Bennettt's description of the demise of Vagabond in a letter to Val Morehouse and his personal recommendations of reviewers and critics in a letter to Bill Robson. The series also contains several discussions with writers in prison. Ed "Foots" Lipman, for example, described to Bennett the problems of the poet in prison. Paul Bacik spoke about censorship, his daughter, and Vagabond. John P. Minarik, Larry Sykes, and Bill Pruitt discussed their prison experience in relation to their writing.

The most colorful letters are those whose authors reveal the true colors of their convictions. Tom Smario, for example, in a letter from 3 January 1977, told Bennett: "There is always something warm about your rejection slips. Maybe it's the color of that paper that's deceiving me ... God damn man everything I've sent would look good in there ... Perhaps you'll do me a favour, though, if you reject this poem tell me why because damn you sure got me curious." (See box 14, folder 28.)

If Series 1 could be called, "what they said and how they said if", then Series 2 might be entitled, "what they did and how they did it." Series II, Archives, shows press activities in progress. It contains both printed material and manuscript material, including correspondence

Subseries A, Original Art Work for Vagabond publications, displays the work of John Bennett's wife, Cindy Bennett, and that of other artists. Included here are calligraphy, photography, cover film, etc. One of the more dynamic samples is the series of woodcuts by R. Denner, featured in Vagabond 23/24.

Subseries B, Material for Chapbook Series, illustrates the step-by-step development of several Vagabond chapbooks. Two of the more interesting are Blue Horses, by Alyce Ingram, with correspondence, layouts, and copy proofs, and The Discovery of Music, by Art Beck, including planning notes, the typewritten manuscript, and additional poems not used in the book itself.

Subseries C, Material for Vagabond Books, continues in the same vein. The very expansive Vagabond Anthology project includes the original manuscript of 238 pages, with the individual contributions of many poets and fiction writers, including William Wantlig, Nila NorthSun, Vivian Yudkin, and Al Masarik. One sees how Bennett planned, puzzled, rearranged, and revised. The layout with revisions, as well as corrections, photographs, marked-up proofs, printer's blues, and a sample hardcover with type for the spine, illustrate concretely the steps in making of the anthology

Subseries D, Material for Vagabond Issues #10-30 and Mr. Clean Magazine #1 and #2, includes, in most cases, the original manuscripts together with correspondence related to the issues, biographical notes, copy layout, and proofs. Bennett's editorial work is the foreground here, He contributed his own fiction and poetry to several issues. The thirtieth issue is dedicated to his poetry alone.

Subseries E, Material for Kamikaze Rejects, contains correspondence between Bennett and possible contributors to a new publication intended to succeed Vagabond. Bennett said of it in his original notes: "A lot of preliminary contacts were made, but the mag never got off the ground." The proposed title meant that only manuscripts rejected by other publishers were to be submitted here.

Subseries F, Correspondence and Materials Generated While Participating in the Controversial November 1977 CCLM Grants Committee, highlights Bennett's participation in the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines (CCLM). Serving on the committee with John Bennett were Margarita Coda Cardenas, Diane Kruchkow, Pamela Skeen, and Harry Smith. The material includes correspondence, reports, memoranda, grant applications of numerous small magazines, and preliminary status reports with "Yes", "No", and "Uncertain" ratings. The grant applications emphasize the objectives of these small magazines competing for money in their struggle to survive to expand.

Subseries G, Correspondence and Materials Generated While Chairman of Board, COSMEP, March - December 1981, focuses on the Cooperative of Small Magazine/Press Editors and Publishers. Among the more important items in this section are Bennett's letter of resignation from the chairmanship and his general notes identifying problems to be pursued by the group. Included here are the issues of the "COSMEP Newsletter".

Subseries H, Controversy with NEA, June 1969 - November 1969, describes John Bennett's dispute with the National Endowment for the Arts. In an open letter to the NEA, Bennett accused the institution of bias and unfair discrimination in its choice of awards. The correspondence includes reactions from several readers.

Subseries I, Controversy with "Invisible City" Editors, 1979, presents the controversial essays of Vangelisti, Beltrametti, McBride and Cherry, and Bennett's defense fo Charles Bukowski against their hostile criticism. The debate is recorded here in manuscript and printed form.

Subseries J, Copies of Vagabond publications, contains the printed counterparts of manuscript items in subseries 4, 2, and 3 respectively. Many of these are signed by their authors. The first Vagabond issue was signed by most of its contributors.

Subseries K, Miscellaneous, includes letters from Charles Bukowski and Caricature drawings done by him of Bennett, Joel Deutsch, Ronald Koertge, Lyn Lifshin, Al Masarik, Ann Menebroker, Gerda Penfold, and John Thomas for Six Poets.

Subseries L, Museum Objects, simply lists, for the convenience of the reader, the four museum objects of the collection, irrespective of their locations. It includes a 1906 steamer trunk that served as Vagabond's filing cabinet from 1965 to 1980 and an A.B. Dick open-drum mimeograph machine on which most of the Vagabond issues had been printed.

An index follows Series 1 and 2. It lists and locates authors of correspondence and other manuscript material, and the names of editors, presses, publishers, and publications with whom the Vagabond Press had dealings.

This introduction originally included the cataloguer's observations on the content of the collection, to which Mr. Bennett took exception. For the original observations and an exchange of letters on the subject, see the Apendix to the collection (Box 45, folder 13).

The original order of the material established by John Bennett has for the most part, been preserved. The collection is divided into two main series, Series I, Correspondence Calender, almost exclusively manuscript materials, is arranged alphabetically by the name of individual or by name of press or publication. Most of the correspondence in the collection are concentrated here, but sections within the second series contain many letters as well.

For provenance-related correspondence, see the description in subseries I.