James Baker Free Spirit Press Collection

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James Baker Free Spirit Press Collection

1969-2005

http://findingaids.library.umass.edu/ead/mums834

James Baker was a member of the Brotherhood of the Spirit commune (later the Renaissance Community) in the early 1970s, and a key contributor to the Free Spirit Press, the commune's publishing operation. Part promotion, information, and entertainment, the magazine ran for four issues in the winter and spring 1972-1973. The Baker collection consists of the surviving materials from the production of Free Spirit Press concentrated heavily in the period between winter 1972 and summer 1974. Accumulated mostly while preparing a brochure for the commune, the manuscript material contains copies of the commune's by-laws and membership rolls, comments from community members on how they wished to be represented, and a story board for the brochure and series of quotes from community members to be included. The second half of the collection contains hundreds of images, mostly 35mm negatives, taken of or by the commune and its residents. The images depict the production and distribution of Free Spirit Press and the commune band (Spirit in Flesh, later called Rapunzel), but they also include several rolls of film taken by commune members of major rock and roll acts of the era, including the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jethro Tull, Santana, Chuck Berry, Hot Tuna, and Fleetwood Mac.

3 boxes; (1.25 linear feet)

eng,

Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6323683

Related Entities

There are 15 Entities related to this resource.

Baker, James (Brotherhood of the Spirit)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64569v0 (person)

Hot Tuna (Musical group)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n17jzw (corporateBody)

Brotherhood of the Spirit Community

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bq6f6h (corporateBody)

Spirit in Flesh (Musical group)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x22kb5 (corporateBody)

Taj Mahal (Musician)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d25crj (person)

Geisler, Bruce

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z488gh (person)

Rapunzel (Musical group)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vg39t1 (corporateBody)

Metelica, Michael

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r37b2c (person)

Fleetwood Mac (Musical group)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g20t9t (corporateBody)

Free Spirit Press

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z19mfj (corporateBody)

Berry, Chuck, 1926-2017

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xw61fp (person)

Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957), and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music st...

Santana (Musical group)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zw6h39 (corporateBody)

Santana is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1966 by guitarist and songwriter Carlos Santana. The band had early success with their appearance at Woodstock in 1969....

Grateful Dead (Musical group)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64569mv (corporateBody)

The Grateful Dead was formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The founding members were Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann....

Jethro Tull (Musical group)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6130q4n (corporateBody)

Renaissance Community

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68x9rvb (corporateBody)