Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Christy, Ana, Christy, David, and The Poetry Collection
- Abstract:
- This collection contains material from Alpha Beat, an independent press publishing Beat generation and Beat-inspired work. Included are manuscripts, advertisements, reviews, and production material for monographic and periodical publications.
- Extent:
- 2 Linear Feet and 4 full manuscript boxes, 1 half-manuscript box.
- Language:
- Collection material is in English.
- Preferred citation:
[Description and dates], Box/folder number, PCMS-0069, Alpha Beat Collection, 1986-2003, The Poetry Collection of the University Libraries, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.
Background
- Scope and Content:
The Alpha Beat Press Collection contains manuscripts, material related to the publication of the periodicals Bouillabaisse and Shoes, business and financial records, and printed matter including announcements, publicity flyers, and clippings.
- Biographical / Historical:
Alpha Beat Press was a small literary press publishing post-Beat independent modernist poetry with the intention of keeping the aesthetics and sensibilities of the Beat generation alive and giving voice to poets of the Beat tradition, from the prominent to the lesser known. Founded in Montréal, Canada in 1986 by Dave Christy, the press published magazines, broadsides, and chapbooks.
After a period of artistic collaboration with the New Jersey based poet Ana Pine, editor of the magazine Cokefish, Dave Christy moved to the United States. The couple eventually resettled in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where they married and worked as co-publishers of Alpha Beat Press until Dave Christy's death in 2010.
From the late 1980s until 2010, Alpha Beat Press published several little magazines, which often took various titles and formats throughout their publication. Periodical publications included Alpha Beat Soup, Bouillabaisse, Cokefishing in Alpha Beat Soup, and Shoes.
The press also published a broadside series and chapbooks from contributors such as Michael Basinski, Jeffery Beam, Alan Catlin, Ed Gailing, Douglas Holder, Ruth Moon Kempher, Jack Powers, T. Kilgore Splake, Joseph Verrilli, and Joy Walsh.
- Acquisition information:
- Donated by co-publisher Ana Christy in 2011.
- Processing information:
Collection processed by Sarah Akers, 2016.
- Arrangement:
Collection is arranged in four series: Poets, Periodicals, Printed Matter, and Business Records.
- Accruals:
No further accruals are expected to this collection.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using local best practices.
Indexed Terms
- Names:
- The Poetry Collection
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
The Alpha Beat Collection is open for research.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Copyright of papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the Poetry Collection before requesting photocopies and/or publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Once permission is obtained, most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[Description and dates], Box/folder number, PCMS-0069, Alpha Beat Collection, 1986-2003, The Poetry Collection of the University Libraries, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
- CONTACT:
-
716-645-2917lpo-poetry@buffalo.edu