Dave Eggers launched Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern from his Brooklyn apartment in 1998. When the the McSweeney's archive was acquired by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas a mere 15 years later the McSweeney's community had become one of the seminal hubs of literary culture in the 21st century. In addition to the highest quality writing each publication conveys a deep appreciation for design and craft making their publications instantly recognizable and consistently appealing. The archive documents the "evolution of a startup quarterly literary journal into a highly influential small publishing house and creator of several serials, including Timothy McSweeney's...
In The Stacks: William Burroughs Through the Lens of Allen Ginsberg
William Burroughs in front of sphinx at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. 1953. For this installment of In the Stacks we visit the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto and their fabulous collection of Allen Ginsberg's photographs. With almost 8,000 prints the collection is the largest repository of photographs by Allen Ginsberg in the world. William Burroughs at typewriter fixing Yage Letters typescript, E 7th street, NY. 1953And with 2014 being the 100th anniversary of the birth of fellow beat icon William Burroughs what better than a selection of photographs spanning almost 40 years of their seminal relationship....
McSweeney’s is moving to Texas
not really, but their archive is. The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas (HRC) has acquired the archive of McSweeneys. Founded in 1998 by Dave Eggers, McSweeney’s is easily one of the most influential literary journals and publishing houses of our generation. Aside from the stellar content McSweeney's also boasts some of the highest production and design chops in the trade. This holistic approach to the book has separated them from much of the field. The bulk of the archive includes of manuscripts of books, essays, and short stories; correspondence drawn from the publishing house’s work with hundreds of writers;...
Living with and sharing 35,000 books
The Johnson family has been collecting and accumulating books since the late 19th century. In 1899 the first family library was built by Thomas Moore Johnson (1851-1919) to house his 8,000 books. It is little wonder that with a library of that size he was known as the “sage of the Osage” (the house and library were built on the Osage River). Now there are two family libraries and 35,000 books.The three generations of Johnsons did it the right way. Collecting “rare books” was never the intention. Collecting books that fell within their diverse areas of interest was the mantra and it...