It is considered one of the greatest collections of sex, drugs and rock and roll ever assembled.
It was put together by Colombian businessman Julio Mario Santo Domingo Jr. who passed away in 2009. The music part of the collection went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the sex and drugs have arrived at the Houghton Library at Harvard University.
Comprised of 700 boxes containing almost 30,000 books and 25,000 posters, photographs, and other ephemera; the collection is a veritable gold mine. “It’s Christmas every day…You never know what you’ll find when you open up a box.” says Harvard archivist Alison Harris.
The addition of the collection to the library’s existing holdings make it the largest of its kind in the world and as it becomes available it will be a boon to scholars of literature, fine art, photography, film, history, medicine and popular culture for a long time to come.
The Doll Man. Created by Will Eisner and originally published by Quality Comics.
An upcoming event at the library, “Collecting the Counterculture,” will feature a talk by Carl Williams of the venerable London antiquarian bookshop, Maggs Brothers Ltd.
The Modern Books and Manuscripts division of the Houghton Library will be blogging about the collection as it gets processed so stay tuned.
Piece in the Harvard Gazette: A collection unlike others
h/t @john_overholt