Jean Brown papers, 1916-1995 (bulk 1958-1985)

Biographical/Historical Note

Jean Brown was born in Brooklyn, New York, 20 December 1911. Her father, Irving Levy, was a rare book dealer. During the Depression Brown worked in a library in Springfield, Massachusetts where she was trained in library cataloging.

Brown amassed a significant and rich body of materials by many of the most influential and challenging artists of the 20th century. The initial inspiration for the collection was provided by Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology, 1951, edited by Robert Motherwell. In the 1960s Brown and her husband, Leonard Brown, traveled to Europe frequently to acquire Dada and Surrealist art works, books, pamphlets and papers, many of which were documented in Motherwell's anthology.

When Leonard died in 1971, Brown moved into the Shaker Seed House in Tyringham, Massachusetts. From this point on her collection grew rapidly as Brown acquired materials from the movements, especially Fluxus, mail art and concrete poetry, that grew out of Dada and Surrealism. Many of these artists worked on the fringes of the established museum and gallery system and showed their work in alternative spaces or created alternative distribution systems.

Brown's primary goal was to assemble a study collection. She acquired comprehensively on the topics mentioned above. This included standing orders with some small presses to acquire all of their output. Her early appreciation of books lead naturally to an interest in artists' books. If an artist's work interested her she asked the artist to create a book for her archive. In the early 1970s, her son Jon sent notices about the archive to every art history graduate program. Scholars and graduate students with research interests were invited to use the collection.

Brown maintained close friendships with many of the artists whose work she collected, including George Maciunas, Dick Higgins, Ken Friedman, Peter Frank, Mirella Bentivoglio, and Rimma and Valeriy Gerlovin, to name a few. They visited frequently and created works for the archive in her upstairs workroom, a room designed by Maciunas. Brown became a part of the international mail art network. Every major mail artist sent her examples of their work. Eventually, she found it impossible to keep up with the quantity of mail she was receiving and by the mid-1980s had stopped answering their letters. Brown died May 1, 1994 in Tyringham.

Scope and Content of Collection

The Jean Brown papers (1916-1995, bulk 1958-1985) form a significant ensemble of original works and printed matter, and document Brown's intent to build a study collection of avant-garde materials. Dada and Surrealism provided the core inspiration for Brown's acquisitions, as well as for the later artists whose work she collected. In-depth holdings by artists participating in Fluxus, happenings, concrete, sound and visual poetry, new music, mail art, copy art, rubber stamp printing, and video and performance art underscore her range of interests. The collection's broad scope presents a comprehensive account of alternative movements, distribution networks and exhibition venues of the 1960s and 1970s.

[DELETE??]A significant portion of the archive consists of approximately 500 objects created by Fluxus artists and other contemporaries. Another large component documents Brown's interaction with the international network of mail artists and those distributing their work via post. Considerable printed matter records the exhibition and performance activities of artists and the alternative artists' spaces which sponsored them. Also included are bibliographic notes written by Brown, audio cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, and films. Publications received with the archive have been separated to the Getty Research Library.[/DELETE]

Materials by Fluxus and mail artists comprise the bulk of Series I. Of primary import are manuscripts, performance instructions, scores, correspondence, drawings and announcements by Fluxus artists. Concrete, visual and sound poetry is substantially represented through manuscripts, typescripts, chapbooks and prints.

Announcements and invitations in Series II include postcards, fliers, press releases and posters from galleries, museums and avant-garde artists' spaces. The majority of the venues are situated in New York City, providing a rich account of exhibitions, happenings and poetry readings within a prolific artistic community.

Series III includes printed ephemera and clippings of Dada and Surrealism, copy art, dance, Fluxus, happenings, mail art, music, poetry, rubber stamp printing, semiotics, small presses, and video. Items typically document group activities occurring in venues different from those in Series II. The small presses section, the bulk of this series, is comprised of catalogs and publicity from publishers, distributors and bookstores dealing in artists' books, poetry and art multiples.

Series IV comprises clippings from newspapers and magazines concerning artists, galleries, books, and cultural trends. The most common sources are the New York Times and New Yorker magazine.

Series V consists of Brown's personal files including a transcript copy of her UCLA Oral History (1993), and an annotated copy of Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology. There are several series of card catalogs handwritten by Brown listing her collection of books and objects.

Series VI forms a significant portion of the archive, consisting of approximately 500 original art objects created by Fluxus artists and other contemporaries. Many of the items are small-scale and ephemeral, reflecting the Fluxus spirit of mass-produced or home-made inexpensive art. Some are one-of-a-kind pieces created especially for Brown.

Series VII includes audio recordings, primarily of new music, poetry readings and lectures, some of which are homemade or were recorded live. Recordings include a lecture by Marcel Duchamp, works by John Cage and Opal Nations, homemade cassettes by Klaus Groh, a film by Joseph Beuys and a video by the Gerlovins (Rimma Gerlovina and Valeriy Gerlovin) comprising clips of Brown in her home with Fluxus objects.

The Correspondence in Series VIII predominantly comprises letters received from Bernard Karpel (1911-1986), bibliographer and chief librarian of the Museum of Modern Art from 1942 to 1973. The letters, largely addressed to Jean, relate chiefly to the development and provenance of Brown's collection of Dada, Surrealist, and Fluxus art documentation.

[SIMILAR NOTE IN Separated Material Note DELETE THIS??]Publications received with the archive have been separated to the Getty Research Library and they can be found by searching the library catalog for the phrase "Jean Brown Collection."

Arrangement note

The collection is arranged in 8 series: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Series I. Artists' files, 1916-1995, bulk 1958-1985
Series II. Announcements and invitations, ca. 1960-1989, bulk 1970-1985
Series III. Topical ephemera, 1917-1989, bulk 1965-1989
Series IV. Miscellaneous clippings, 1957-1987, bulk 1980-1985
Series V. Jean Brown personal files, 1993, undated
Series VI. Art objects, 1958-1986, undated
Series VII. Audiovisual materials, 1965-1987, undated
Series VIII. Correspondence with Bernard Karpel and miscellaneous notes, 1958-1973, undated.

Restrictions

Access

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Publication Rights

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Indexing Terms

Subjects - Names

Subjects - Topics

Genres and Forms of Material

Contributors

Related Material

Dick Higgins papers, 1960-1994 (bulk 1972-1993), Accession no. 870613.

Bern Porter mail art collection, 1953-1992 (bulk 1978-1992), Accession no. 900270.

Published items, including a large number of small press books and journals, were transferred to the general collection of the Getty Research Institute. They can be found by searching the library catalog for the phrase "Jean Brown Collection."

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Jean Brown papers, 1916-1995 (bulk 1958-1985), Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession nos. 890164 and 2016.M.14

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa890164

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Jean Brown in 1988 with the exception of Series VIII. Correspondence with Bernard Karpel and miscellaneous notes, 1958-1973, undated, which was acquired from the family of Jean Brown in 2016 (2016.M.14).

Processing History

A number of people processed and cataloged parts of the Jean Brown papers from 1988-2002. Eric Vos, a researcher and consultant during periods of 1988, 1989 and 1990, processed and cataloged sections of the collection (see research file for his report and checklist). Jon Hendricks, consultant, visited in August 1989 and helped Vos identify Fluxus materials. Intern Albert DePetrillo organized a portion of the correspondence in February 1990.

Some of the objects were damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. This incident prompted a team of collection maintenance personnel - Rick Zwies, John Pearson, Jessica Holada - to measure and order boxes for each object and write conservation notes. Most of this work was done in 1995-1996, but continued until 1997. Bennington intern Mikel Wadewitz and Pearson photographed about 70% of the objects.

From April 1996 to May 1997, Lynda Bunting reorganized Vos's series arrangements, sorted and integrated unprocessed materials from ca. 25 boxes, and wrote the bulk of this finding aid. Much of the Dada and Surrealist ephemera had been separated from the archive in 1985-1986. Bunting collected these materials, along with some others that had been separated, and reintegrated them into the collection. In addition, she transferred to the library 181 sound recordings and ca. 950 books, serials, and prints. Over 320 book sales catalogs were deaccessioned. The art objects were reorganized into a rough alphabetical order, thus rendering Vos' numbering system obsolete.

In Summer 1996, Phil Curtis integrated and organized materials within Series II. and Series III. From September-December 1996, Kirsten Hammer organized most of Series III., Series IV., and Series V. Peter Frank was hired as a consultant for four days in February 1997 to make attributions on unidentified items.

In 2000-2002 Annette Leddy and Julio Vera provided object-level descriptions for the art objects in Series VI.

In 2016, one box of additional correspondence and notes received from the family of Jean Brown was cataloged by Kit Messick and intellectually integrated into the collection as Series VIII. In December 2018, three boxes of unprocessed material, maily prints and posters, were processed and intellectually integrated into Series I. by Pietro Rigolo (boxes 319*, 320*, 321). In Summer 2021, Petra Warren updated the finding aid in ArchivesSpace by intelectually reorganizing the hierarchical description and adding date components at the file level in Series I.

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