Sun & Moon Press Archive, 1976-2002

ArchivalResource

Sun & Moon Press Archive, 1976-2002

Archives of the Sun & Moon Press, Douglas Messerli's "alternative" publishing venture, dedicated to experimental poetry, fiction and drama, begun in 1976 in College Park, Maryland, and later located in Los Angeles. The collection documents the publishing history of the press throughout most of its 28 years of operation and maps the literary careers and, in some cases, the personal lives of numerous American and international literary figures and artists. The bulk of the materials documents Sun & Moon's publishing activities from 1991-2002. The collection is a compilation of literary correspondence, both to and from Messerli, of Press production materials (manuscripts, typescripts, publishing proofs), and of various documents related to Sun & Moon's business activities (financial records, trade catalogues, and advertising materials). Biographical materials for various writers and artists, interviews, designs, collages, broadsides and postcards are scattered throughout the collection as well. Materials feature, for instance: proofs of work by David Antin, Susan and Fanny Howe, and Gertrude Stein; Sara Garden Armstrong's battery-driven art book designs and collages done by Lou Horvath and Nick Piombino; interviews with Michael Palmer, Allan Kaprow and Linda Montano (interviewed by Moira Roth); materials from the artist Claudia Delmonte, architect Allan Greenberg, sculptor Lawrence McCabe, country western songwriter Chuck Rosenberg, who studied with the well known writer John Ashbery, to mention just a few. Also included are production materials for the anthology FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CENTURY: A NEW AMERICAN POETRY 1960-1990 and THE GERTRUDE STEIN AWARDS IN INNOVATIVE NORTH AMERICAN POETRY: 1993. Throughout the 1990s the press published several titles whose authors were selected as annual winners by the National Poetry Series and published the collection: 50: A CELEBRATION OF SUN & MOON CLASSICS (1995). Messerli's Green Integer succeeds Sun & Moon Press (after its closure in 2004) as the current venue for both celebrated and emerging poets and writers.

108.20 linear feet; (165 archives boxes, 42 records cartons boxes, and 2 oversize folders)

eng,

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6662965

Related Entities

There are 24 Entities related to this resource.

Howe, Fanny, 1940-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6330nmq (person)

Fanny Howe, born in Buffalo (N.Y.) in 1940, is an award-winning poet, novelist, and filmmaker. She is the author of over 50 books of poetry and prose, including Manimal Woe (2021), Love and I: Poems (2019), Needle’s Eye: Passing Through Youth (2016), Second Childhood (2014), The Winter Sun: Notes on a Vocation (2009), The Wedding Dress: Meditations on Word and Life (2003) and Indivisible (2000). Howe was raised in Cambridge (Mass.) with her sisters, Susan Howe and Helen Howe Braider...

Barnes, Djuna, 1892-1982

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61m024z (person)

Noted journalist and avant-garde author Djuna Barnes was born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, on June 12, 1892, the second child and only daughter of Wald and Elizabeth Chappell Barnes. Barnes studied art at the Pratt Institute (1912-1913) and at the Art Student's League of New York (1915-1916). In 1913, she began working as a freelance journalist and illustrator for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and was soon writing and illustrating features and interviews for the New Y...

Waldrop, Rosmarie

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s47k4t (person)

Boyle, Kay, 1902-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q81d3s (person)

Kay Boyle (1902-1992) was an American avant garde writer and poet. She lived in San Francisco, Newark, Delaware, and Rowayton, Connecticut, when she wrote these letters. From the description of Kay Boyle letters and poems, 1935-1975. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 33890909 Kay Boyle was an American essayist, novelist, short-story writer, translator, essayist, and translator. From the description of Kay Boyle collection of papers, 1...

Guest, Barbara

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61r6r77 (person)

American poet and dramatist. From the description of Port : a murder in one act : annotated typescript, c1964 / by Barbara Guest. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 18433605 ...

Silliman, Ronald, 1946-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67s87cs (person)

American poet. From the description of Disappearance of the word, appearance of the world : signed typescript, [1976?]. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 18849645 American poet, writer, and editor, born in Pasco, Washington, in 1946. Has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of his life, and is associated with the Language School of writers. Attended Merritt College, San Francisco State Univ., and the Univ. of California a...

Messerli, Douglas, 1947-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66h531f (person)

Brownstein, Michael, 1943-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6891rfq (person)

Michael Brownstein (1943-), poet and novelist. Anne Waldman (1945-), poet, performance artist, teacher, and co-founder of the Jack Kerouc School of Disembodied Poetics. From the description of Michael Brownstein papers relating to Anne Waldman, 1968-1971. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702186077 ...

Auster, Paul, 1947-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jd50fn (person)

Paul Auster (b. 1947) is a Brooklyn-based novelist, screenplay writer, poet, essayist and translator. From the description of Paul Auster collection of papers, 1999-2006 2000-2005. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 770725385 From the guide to the Paul Auster Papers, 1963-1995, 1972-mid-1995, (The New York Public Library. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.) From the guide to the Paul Auster collection of papers, 19...

Acker, Kathy, 1948-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xf3c3q (person)

1948 Born. 1963 65 Studied Classics at Brandeis University. 1967 Received BA from University of California at San Diego (UCSD). 1968 19...

Sherry, James

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ms5n77 (person)

American poet James Sherry was born on December 30, 1946, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His published work includes Part Songs, In Case, Converses, and Popular Fiction. From the description of In case : typescript, circa 1981. (University of Delaware Library). WorldCat record id: 428160485 American poet James Sherry was born on December 30, 1946, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His published work includes Part Songs , In Case , Converses , and Po...

Andrews, Bruce, 1948-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tf1506 (person)

Major, Clarence

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67492ff (person)

Clarence Major, born in Atlanta, Georgia, was raised in Chicago where he briefly attended the Chicago Art Institute. He began writing before joining the U.S. Air Force in 1955, during which he continued to write poems and short stories. From 1958 to 1961 he edited Coercion Review, which put him in touch with such writers as William Carlose Williams, Robert Creeley, and Allen Ginsberg, and allowed him to continue to develop his craft. In 1966 Major moved to New York City, where he became further ...

Dipalma, Ray

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6th9jss (person)

Greenwald, Ted, 1959-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kr091v (person)

Hejinian, Lyn

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jh462v (person)

American poet, publisher, and editor, born in San Francisco in 1941. Associated with the Language School of contemporary poetry. Publisher of Tuumba Press chapbooks since the late 1970s and editor of Poetics journal since 1982. An important figure in promoting the avant-garde poetry of her day. Has spent most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area. From the description of Lyn Hejinian papers, 1973-1994. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat recor...

Antin, David

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n01sb3 (person)

David Antin is a performance artist, experimental poet, curator, and critic who developed a unique literary form, the "talk piece." He has been a key figure in the New York literary and art scene for forty years, and was a long-time professor at the University of California at San Diego. From the description of David Antin papers, 1954-2006. (Getty Research Institute). WorldCat record id: 668135856 Biographical/Historical Note ...

Davidson, Michael, 1944-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6765f44 (person)

Armantrout, Rae, 1947-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p84x0g (person)

American writer and poet, Armantrout teaches classes on poetry and personal narrative at the University of California, San Diego. From the description of Rae Armantrout papers, circa 1970-2001. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 462519833 Rae Armantrout was born on April 12, 1947, in Vallejo, California, and grew up in San Diego. She studied literature at UC Berkeley, where she received her bachelor's degree in 1970, and at San Francisco State University where she earned her mas...

Bernstein, Charles, 1950-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k653t2 (person)

Late 20th-century American poet acknowledged as a leader of the LANGUAGE movement, Charles Bernstein was born in New York City in 1950 and Educated at Harvard University (1968-1972). He founded, and co-edited with Bruce Andrews, the LANGUAGE Journal; published over fifteen works of his collected poetry. Bernstein teaches literature and poetry at the State University of New York in Buffalo. From the description of Charles Bernstein papers, 1962-2000. (University of California, San Die...

Abish, Walter

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h51pd7 (person)

Sun & Moon Press

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bw3hm9 (corporateBody)

Historical Background In the winter of 1976 in an apartment in College Park, Maryland, Douglas Messerli founded the Sun & Moon Press (supported by the Contemporary Arts Education Project, Inc.) and began the publication of the internationally recognized magazine SUN & MOON, co-edited by his longtime partner, Howard Fox. In the magazine, Messerli and Fox published conceptual and language poetry, mixed-media art, and the work of the New...

Howe, Susan, 1937-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cz3t4r (person)

American poet. From the description of Susan Howe manuscripts for Coracle Press publications, 2000-2002. (University of California, San Diego). WorldCat record id: 706711159 Susan Howe (b. 1937), American poet and author. From the description of Susan Howe papers, 1894-2008 (bulk 1956-2008). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702198469 Susan Howe was born in 1937 in Boston, Massachusetts. She is the author of several books of poems and two volum...

Taggart, John, 1942-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rr2hhx (person)

Poet, editor, and professor of English at Shippensburg State College; b. John Paul Taggart. From the description of John Taggart papers, 1974-1975. (University of Connecticut). WorldCat record id: 28420710 American poet born in 1942 in Guthrie Center, Iowa. Received M.A. in English literature from the Univ. of Chicago in 1966 and Ph. D. in Humanities from Syracuse Univ. in 1974. Professor of literature and writing at Shippensburg State Univ. since 1972. ...