Charles Bukowski papers, circa 1955-1980

Summary

Abstract:

Papers of Charles Bukowski, former German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer.

Extent:

12 Linear Feet (24 binder boxes, 11 document boxes, and 3 oversize boxes)

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Charles Bukowski papers. Mss 12. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains correspondence, drafts and published material, artwork, biographical information, publicity and reviews, and photographs of Bukowski's family.

Biographical / historical:

Henry Charles Bukowski, Jr. was born August 16, 1920 in Andernach, Germany. In 1923 the Bukowskis left Germany and lived briefly in Baltimore, Maryland before settling in Los Angeles, California in 1924. In 1939, Charles Bukowski enrolled as a scholarship student at Los Angeles City College to study Journalism, English, Economics and Public Affairs. Unable to hold down a job and failing in school, he left home, moved downtown and worked various manual jobs in railroad yards and factories until finally setting out on the road. Traveling across the country and working various jobs, Bukowski lived in boarding houses, drank, and wrote short stories.

At the age of 24, he published his first story, Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip, in Story magazine. Missing his hometown, Bukowski moved back to Los Angeles in 1946. For the next ten years Bukowski claimed that he quit writing and devoted his life to drinking and living the life of a "barfly." In 1955, at the age of 35, Bukowski was hospitalized at the charity ward of L.A. County with a bleeding ulcer. After a blood transfusion from his father, which saved his life, Bukowski started writing poems. In 1958, he returned to the postal service as a mail sorter (after being a mail carrier for three years, 1952-1955).

In 1960 Bukowski published his first book of poems, Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail and in 1962, Longshot Pomes for Broke Players and Run with the Hunted. But it was the two publications by Loujon Press, It Catches My Heart in Its Hands (1963) and Crucifix in a Deathhand (1965), that gained Bukowski his nation-wide underground audience. It was at this time that he met John Martin, founder of Black Sparrow Press, which became Bukowski's primary publisher.

Throughout his life, Bukowski published more than 45 books of poetry and prose, including 6 novels and the screenplay for the movie Barfly. He died of pneumonia in San Pedro, California on March 9, 1994 at the age of 73, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp.

Acquisition information:

Purchase from John Martin and Charles Bukowski, approximately late 1960s-mid 1970s. Additional donations and purchases from various sources, 1970s-1980s.

Arrangement:

The collection has been arranged by topic into three series:

• Series 1: Correspondence
• Series 2: Creative works
• Series 3: Personal and professional materials

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

1. Charles Bukowski/John Martin Collection (Mss 166). Approximately 1,000 letters, mainly from Bukowski to his publisher, John Martin, of Black Sparrow Press, 1967-1994.
2. Sanford Dorbin collection (Mss 21).
3. Thomas Kerrigan papers (Mss 56).
4. John K. Martin collection (Mss 145).
5. Printed works by and about Bukowski (about 600 titles) are cataloged and searchable via the UCSB Library's online catalog.

Manuscript Sources at other institutions (as noted by Seamus Cooney in Screams from the Balcony and Living on Luck).

1. Boston University Libraries.
2. Brown University, Providence, John Hay Library.
3. Centenary College, Samuel Peters Research Library, Shreveport, Louisiana.
4. State University of New York at Buffalo, Poetry/Rare Books Collection.
5. Temple University Library, Special Collections.
6. University of Arizona, Special Collections. Bukowski material assembled by Jim Roman, Tucson bookseller.
7. University of California, Los Angeles, Special Collections.
8. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. [Al Purdy]
9. University of Southern California, Rare Books Collection.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Poets, American -- 20th century -- Sources
Authors, American -- 20th century -- Sources

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and may be retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@library.ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assignees for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Charles Bukowski papers. Mss 12. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:

UC Santa Barbara, Special Research Collections

UC Santa Barbara Library

Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US

Contact:

(805) 893-3062

special@library.ucsb.edu

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