Scope and Content of Collection
The Dick Higgins collection extensively documents Higgins' literary, performance, music, artistic and personal activities
from 1972 to 1993, with some correspondence with family members, lawyers and accountants dated as early as 1960. Higgins'
early Fluxus, Happenings and Something Else Press publishing activities are not as well represented. Most of that material
from ca.1957-1971 is now housed at Archive Sohm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.
This archive consists primarily of carbons of Higgins' letters. Written in a frank and open style, the letters contain many
artistic and personal insights into his numerous endeavors. Attached to his letters are many responses and, in some cases
extensive exchanges with Fluxus, Mail art and Art and Language artists, Concrete and Sound poets and New Music composers,
and small press publishers and poets. Thus, the correspondence includes many art "pieces" and manuscripts sent to Higgins
as gifts or for comment.
The archive contains a substantial quantity of Higgins' works in original manuscript form, some with annotations and correspondence,
and also includes works rejected by Higgins. Additionally housed is production material on 26 of Higgins' 45 published books
from Something Else Press, Unpublished/Printed Editions and elsewhere, along with books by four other authors (two at Something
Else Press and two others for Emmett Williams and Robert Filliou) and one killed project. Many of his earlier books, ephemeral
publications and other works may be found in the Getty Research Institute's Jean Brown archive (Special Collections accession
no. 890164), as well as the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection and the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete
and Visual Poetry. The collection also has a small amount of miscellaneous personal papers and extensive research and correspondence
files accumulated by Higgins for his publication
Pattern Poetry: Guide to an Unknown Literature, 1987.
Arrangement note
The archive is organized in 5 series:
Series I. Correspondence;
Series II. Works;
Series III. Books;
Series IV. Personal;
Series V. Pattern Poetry.
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