Scope and Content Note
The core of the Burroughs collection is the 12 linear feet of manuscripts, dating from 1938, including several drafts of a number of Burroughs' major works including The Soft Machine, Ah Pook Is Here, and The Wild Boys. Also included are drafts of unpublished works such as Numero Uno Nu, The Revised Boy Scout Manual, and The Unspeakable Mr. Hart, each of which had portions significantly revised by Burroughs before their inclusion in his published oeuvre. Additionally, there are clippings and source materials (used by Burroughs in his text manipulations) dating from his tenure at the unnamed Beat Hotel at 9 rue Git-le-Coeur in Paris during the late 1950s-early 1960s. It was at the Beat Hotel that Brion Gysin stumbled across the text manipulation technique called cut-up, which Burroughs has used extensively. It was also Brion Gysin who wrote the first screenplay adaptation of Burroughs' Naked Lunch, present in this collection in Gysin's holograph. There are also over seventy other small manuscripts and fragments in this collection as well as two volumes of dream notes.
Arizona State University continues to expand the collection, primarily by adding to Burroughs' copies of over 100 magazines containing his work, as well as books by Burroughs, not to mention translations of same. Further expansions have been made in the audio and video medias with the collection of Burroughs recorded appearances. Notable among these expansions are Call Me Burroughs, his first album (released in 1965) Ali's Smile, a companion disc to the 1971 limited edition book, and the Howard Brookner documentary Burroughs.
An additional concern addressed by this collection is the immediate circle of writers around Burroughs such as the aforementioned Gysin, Jack Kerouac, Jeff Nuttall, Paul Bowles, Alan Ansen, William S. Burroughs Jr., Carl Weissner, and Mary Beach. Each of the above authors is represented, either in the Burroughs ephemeral section or in the Special Collection stacks.
This archive is the largest Burroughs collection publicly available. It continues to grow as ASU's commitment to Burroughs, not to mention Burroughs' own proclivity, brings in dozens of items annually.
Series I: Archival Boxes is the centerpoint of the Burroughs archives and houses a number of Burrough's own working files, down to his handwritten titles and cover collages. Within the files are manuscript pages (published and unpublished), photographs, cut-ups, drawings, correspondence from fans, publishers, family and collaborators, as well as film scripts and other associated materials. A note regarding the identification of manuscript pages: William Burroughs has achieved great renown for his advocacy and use of various text manipulation methods, including cut-ups and fold-ins. Additionally, one aspect of Burroughs' style is the repetition of words and phrases, recontextualized and slightly altered. These factors render the identification of unlabeled manuscript pages problematic at best. Identification is further complicated by Burroughs' penchant for using his own text as well as others' in these manipulations. Thus, specific identification, including whether a piece has been published, should not be thought of as definitive.
Dates
- Creation: 1938-1997
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1959-1978
Language of Materials
Material in English
Access Restrictions
Manuscript materials in this collection are extremely fragile and subject to damage with use. Therefore, access will be restricted for use by scholars providing need to use them.
Those wishing to use these materials will be asked to observe the following regulations:
1. Obtain a letter of introduction from a faculty member or scholar who will vouch that you are engaged in serious research requiring use of this collection.
OR
Have a letter or signed contract from a publisher verifying that you are writing a work for publication that requires research based upon these manuscript materials.
2. Provide a copy of your documentation for departmental files.
3. You will be asked to meet with the Head of Archives and Special Collections or his Assistant to discuss your research project and to determine what materials you will need.
4. You will be restricted to using only ONE FILE FOLDER at a time. It is imperative that you observe and retain the same order of materials within the file folder as when you received it.
5. File folders will be collated as they are returned to the collection before a new one will be issued.
6. Failure to comply with these rules will result in loss of privileges to use the collection.
To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.
Copyright
Arizona State University's original purchase agreement acknowledges that Burroughs continue to hold the copyright on the material represented by the manuscript pages in the collection, including unpublished selections.
Arrangements and permission to photocopy manuscript pages must come from Burroughs' office. Ask for assistance of Reference Staff.
Published materials such as books and magazine articles may be photocopied up to a maximum of ten percent of an entire publication.
However, certain works may not be photocopied either because of their large size (The Cat Inside, for instance) or their delicate nature (APO 33: A Metabolic Regulator).
For works that can be photocopied, standard Special Collections costs and procedure are in effect.
Other materials such as videotapes and audio recordings can not be duplicated. These materials must be viewed during regular hours.
Duplication of any photographs made by Clayton Patterson is prohibited without the advance written consent of Mr. Patterson. Contact the Head of Archives & Special Collections to receive instructions for how to contact Mr. Patterson. Approved uses of these photographs shall always be presented and associated with the citation Clayton Patterson Photographs.
Biographical Note
William S. Burroughs (1914-1997), an American writer, is one of the literary figures identified with the Beat movement. A prose-poet, Burroughs is known as an experimental innovator of forms (such as the cut-up
technique), unique narrative techniques and moods in his writings. He is the grandson of William Burroughs (1855-1898), the inventor of the first recording adding machine and founder of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. At Harvard, Burroughs studied literature, linguistics, and anthropology. Later, in the process of drifting through odd jobs in New York City, he became a drug addict. From the late 1940's to 1973, Burroughs lived in Mexico, Tangiers, London, and Paris, returning briefly to New York in 1965. In 1981 he moved to Lawrence, Kansas where he died August 3, 1997 at the age of 83.
Full extent
25 Box(es)
Full extent
12 Linear Feet
Abstract
The core of the Burroughs collection is 12 linear feet of manuscripts, dating from 1938, including several drafts of a number of Burroughs' major works including The Soft Machine, Ah Pook Is Here, and The Wild Boys. Also included are drafts of unpublished works such as Numero Uno Nu, The Revised Boy Scout Manual, and The Unspeakable Mr. Hart, each of which had portions significantly revised by Burroughs before their inclusion in his published oeuvre. Additionally, there are clippings and source materials (used by Burroughs in his text manipulations) dating from his tenure at the unnamed Beat Hotel at 9 rue Git-le-Coeur in Paris during the late 1950s-early 1960s.
Arrangement
This collection consists of twenty-four boxes divided into seven series:
- Series I: Archival Boxes
- Series II: Blue Slipcased Materials
- Series III: Magazines
- Series IV: Pamphlets
- Series V: Ephemera
- Series VI: Audio and Video
- Series VII: Oversized Magazine Articles
Provenance
This collection was purchased from (50%) and donated by (50%) Robert H. Jackson in 1984.
Genre / Form
Occupation
Topical
- Title
- William Seward Burroughs Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Steve Kranz, Janette Emery, and Patricia Wittman.
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding guide encoded in English.
Repository details
Part of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository
Contact
Arizona State UniversityP.O. Box 871006
Tempe AZ 85287-1006 United States
(480) 965-4932
archives@asu.edu