Overview of the Collection Creator Suiter, John. Title John Suiter papers Dates 1990-2009 (inclusive) 1990 2009 Quantity 12, (5.5 linear feet) Collection Number USU_COLL MSS 460 Summary Repository Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division Special Collections and Archives Merrill-Cazier Library Utah State University Logan, UT 84322-3000 Telephone: 435-797-2663 Fax: 435-797-2880 scweb@usu.edu Access Restrictions The audio recordings contained in Series II cannot be reproduced for distribution to patrons. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Not available through interlibrary loan. Languages English Biographical Note Writer-Photographer John Suiter was born and spent his early years in the Philadelphia area. He attended Syracuse University from 1965-1968. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he traveled around the United States, writing freelance articles for underground newspapers such as the Berkeley Barb, the Madison Kaleidoscope, the Syracuse Nickel Review, and The Black Panther. He eventually earned a B.A. in American Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse University in 1973. For several years in the mid-1970s and early 80s he worked as a bookseller. In the mid-1980s, Suiter attended the Art Institute of Boston and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he studied to become a photographer. He began doing free-lance assignment photography work for magazines in the Boston area in 1988. In 1989 he published his first photoessay entitled, Kerouac s Lowell a ten-image exploration of the literary landscape of Lowell, Massachusetts, hometown of beat writer Jack Kerouac. This photo-essay, published in Bostonia magazine, earned him a culture grant from the Department of the Interior to create an exhibit of Kerouac-related images for Lowell s Preservation Commission. Rumours of Kerouac, opened at the James McNeil Whistler House in Lowell and the Boott Gallery at the Lowell National Historical Park in 1993. In 1994 and 95, Suiter traveled to Mexico, following the route described by Jack Kerouac in On the Road and Visions of Cody. Photographs from these trips were included in the 1994 group exhibit Beat http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 1
Art: Visual Works by and about the Beat Generation at New York University, and in the award-winning A Jack Kerouac CD-ROMnibus, an early digital multi-media project. Suiter was Associate Producer on that production. Also in 1995, Suiter added to his Kerouac-related portfolio with pictures from Desolation Lookout in Washington state the fire-watch cabin that provides the setting for the culminating chapters of Kerouac s novel, The Dharma Bums. Suiter stayed at Desolation Lookout as a volunteer fire-watcher in the summer of 1995. The photographs he made during that time were later exhibited at the Visitors Center of the North Cascades National Park in Newhalem, Washington, and, in subsequent years, at numerous other galleries. With his experience at Desolation Lookout, Suiter began the transition from being strictly a photographer to a photographer-writer. His first published writing (since 1970) was a 1996 article about Kerouac s sojourn on Desolation Peak for The Independent in London. In 1997 and 98 Suiter returned to the North Cacades, expanding his Kerouac project to include Kerouac s fellow poets Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen. [It was Snyder who encouraged Kerouac to apply for a fire lookout job in 1956 and was the life model for Kerouac s character Japhy Ryder in The Dharma Bums]. In 1997, Suiter met and interviewed Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen. After a series of photo-essays, interviews, and correspondence with them, and other San Francisco poets, Suiter published Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen and Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades. [Counterpoint Press, 2002]. This book led in turn to Counterpoint contracting Suiter to write the first full-length biography of Gary Snyder, a long-term project on which Suiter is still at work at this writing (2014). From 1997 to 2006 he taught documentary photography and digital imaging at the New England School of Photography and the Art Institute of Boston. In 2006, Suiter was invited to Logan to present at Utah State University s Tanner Symposium, The 1950s, the Beat Generation, and the Power of Expression. In 2007, the university began acquiring Suiter s photographs and research materials. Suiter s photographic prints and negatives from that project are in the John Suiter Photograph Collection: USU_P0375. Content Description Series I contains materials related to John Suiter s early work documenting and photo-graphing the literary landscapes of Jack Kerouac in Lowell, Massachusetts, and Mexico. Series II contains materials collected and produced by John Suiter for his book Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen and Jack Kerouac in the Cascades, published in 2002 by Counterpoint Press. Primary research materials in this series include Suiter s correspondence with various persons, including his editors and publisher at Counterpoint; his working notebooks and journals from the period; audiotapes and typed transcripts of interviews with persons of interest to the work, including poets Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Michael McClure, Philip Lamantia, and Joanne Kyger; drafts and proofs of the book, many with marginal notes by Gary Snyder and other poets; post-publication reviews, and events promoting the book. Also included are related articles and photographs by John Suiter in various periodicals during the period of working on Poets on the Peaks. In the Special Collections and Archives at Reed College in 2007, during the course of his research on Gary Snyder s life, Mr. Suiter identified a previously unknown 1956 recording of Allen Ginsberg reading his iconic poem, Howl. Seven other early Ginsberg poems are on the tape. In 2008, Mr. Suiter published an article on his discovery in Reed magazine, providing evidence that the audiotape contained the earliest-known recording of Ginsberg reading Howl. Later that year, Suiter published another article on a previously missing companion audiotape of Gary Snyder reading his poems on the http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 2
same night. That audiotape surfaced in Portland, Oregon, after news reports of the Howl discovery. The Snyder tape is the earliest known recording of Gary Snyder reading, and contains 46 poems. 1, s 1-6 contain correspondence related to the Reed magazine articles on Ginsberg and Snyder. Also included are Suiter s detailed reports on each poem on the tapes, indicating variations between the sound recordings and published versions of both Ginsberg s and Snyder s poems. Use of the Collection Restrictions on Use It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from the John Suiter papers must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator and/or the Special Collections Department Head. Preferred Citation Initial Citation: John Suiter papers USU_COLL MSS 480, [ ]. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah. Following Citations:USU_COLL MSS 480, USUSCA. Administrative Information Location of Collection Processing Note Processed in April of 2014 Acquisition Information These materials were purchased from John Suiter by Special Collections and Archives in 2010. Related Materials John Suiter Photography Collection, P0375. Bibliography Detailed Description of the Collection Series I: Early Work, 1998 http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 3
Early Work 1998 1 1 Commemorating Kerouac: An Interview with Paul Marion 1998 June 29 Series II: Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac in the Cascades, 1998 Container(s) Description Dates Research 1998 1 1 Desolation Peak 1995-1997 1 2 Lookouts 1994-2002 1 3 Beats and Transcendentalists 1991 1 4 Kerouac/ Thoreau undated 1 5 Journal Entries 1995-1998 1 6 San Francisco notebook 2000 December 1 7 Miscellaneous undated Research 1998 1 8 Shambhala Sun See Desolation Revisited: Jack Kerouac s Peak Experience March 1997.See Poems and Zen talks of Philip Whalen who died in San Francisco on June 26, 2002 November 2002. 1 9 Sierra See Rolling Towards the Moon: Jack Kerouac s Last Great Adventure 1997 March-2002 November 1998 March/April http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 4
1 10 North Cascades Institute See Desolation Angels at 50 (2 copies) 1 11 Hooked See On the Trail" 1 12 Beat Scene See Philip Lamantia: An Interview" 2 1 Studio Voice See photo on pg. 32-33. Magazine in Japanese 2 2 Men s Journal See # 10 in 10 Ways to Do Summer Right 2 3 The Sunday Review Beat a Path to Kerouac Country in MSS 480, Series II, 10 (Oversize), Fd 1 2 4 Pacific Magazine See Keeping Company With Kerouac in MSS 480, Series II, 10 (Oversize), Fd 2 2 5 Janus See Kerouacs Gipfel (In German) 2 6 The Practice of Peace See Peace Under Pressure 2 7 National Parks Magazine See The Art of Mountain Watching by Kevin Grange Drafts 2006 Fall-2007 Winter August 2003 2005/2006 Winter 2005 February 2007 June 1996 October 20 1996 June 9 1999 2001 2009 Fall undated 3 1 Draft Ch. 1-4 undated 3 2 Draft Ch. 5-8 undated 3 3 Draft Ch. 9-10 undated 3 4 Bound Galley undated http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 5
Note: Includes an epilogue chapter entitled Further Peaks that was left out of the published version of the book. 3 5 Unbound Finished Proofs undated 3 6 Unbound Finished Proofs undated 3 7 Typescript of Copyedited Poets on the Peaks Ch. 1-5 undated 3 8 Typescript of Copyedited Poets on the Peaks Ch. 9 and Annotations undated 4 1 Typescript of Copyedited Poets on the Peaks Ch. 6-8 undated 4 2 Typescript of Copyedited Poets on the Peaks Ch. 9 and Annotations undated 4 3 Draft Revision of Ch. 6 undated 4 4 Draft Revision by Philip Lamantia undated 4 5 Draft Revisions of Ch. 1 by Gary Snyder 1999 4 6 Draft Revisions of Ch. 2 by Gary Snyder 1999 4 7 Draft Revisions of Ch. 3 by Gary Snyder undated 4 8 Draft Revisions of Ch. 4 undated 4 9 Draft of Revisions by Philip Whalen Ch. 2 undated 4 10 Page Proofs of Poets on the Peaks w/changes by John Suiter See Mss 480, Series II, 9 (Oversize) 4 11 Prototype Book Jackets See Mss 480, Series II, 10 (Oversize), Fd 3 2001 December 7 undated Promotions/Events 1998 4 12 Various Events undated http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 6
See Mss 480, Series II, 10 (Oversize), Fd 4 4 13 Events 1998-2002 4 14 Reviews 2002 4 15 Mountain Gazette See Mapping Kerouac and The Zen Lunatics in MSS 480, Series II, 10 (Oversize), Fd 5 2002 May/June Corresondence 1997-2002 5 1 Gary Snyder-John Suiter 2001 5 2 Gary Snyder-John Suiter 2002 5 3 Email Correspondence with Counterpoint Press - 2001 Photo Considerations 2001 5 4 Email Correspondence with Jack Shoemaker 2001-2002 5 5 Email Correspondence with Norman MacAfee 2001-2002 5 6 Email Correspondence with Trish Hoard 2001-2002 5 7 Miscellaneous Emails Emails to: Philip Whalen, Michael McClure, Philip Lamantia, Joanne Kyger 1997-2001 5 8 Emails with Tim Manns and Bob Mierdorf 1996-2001 5 9 Gary Snyder-John Suiter 1997-1998 5 9 Gary Snyder-John Suiter 1999 Interviews 1997-2003 6 1 Gary Snyder 1997-2001 http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 7
6 2 Philip Whalen 1997-1998 6 3 Michael McClure 2000-2002 6 4 Philip Lamantia 2000 6 5 Joanne Kyger 2000 6 6 Harold Vail 1998 6 7 Marlene Buller 1998 6 8 Shubert Hunter 1998 6 9 Jack Francis 1998 6 10 Maxine Franklin 1998 6 11 Gerry Cook 1998 6 12 Disc and Inventory Lists undated 6 13 Interview of John Suiter by Michael Rothenberg 2003 Tapes 1997-2000 Tape 7 1a Gary Snyder 1997 October 7 1b Gary Snyder 1997 October 7 2 Gary Snyder 1998 November 12 7 3a Gary Snyder 2000 December 6 7 3b Gary Snyder 2000 December 6 http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 8
7 3c Gary Snyder 2000 December 6 7 4a Philip Whalen 1997 October 28 7 4b Philip Whalen 1997 October 28 7 5 Philip Whalen 1998 March 11 7 6a Philip Lamantia 2000 December 11 7 6b Philip Lamantia 2000 December 11 7 7 Jack Francis, Dell Hymes, and Harold Vail undated 7 8 Harold Vail 1998 September 18 7 9 George McLeod, Shubert Hunter undated 7 10 Michael McClure 2000 December 8 7 11 Tommy Buller, Gerry Cook 1998 September 14 7 12 Gerry Cook, Roger Vail 1998 September 7 13 Maxine Franklin undated 7 14 Joanne Kyger 2000 December 4 8 1 Philip Whalen s Funeral 2002 September 1 Oversized Items 1996-2001 Item http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 9
9 1 Page Proofs of Poets on the Peaks with changes by John Suiter 2001 December 7 10 1 The Sunday Review 1996 October 20 10 2 Pacific Magazine 1996 June 9 10 3 Prototype Book Jackets undated 10 4 Various Events undated 10 5 Mountain Gazette undated Series III: Reed Magazine Correspondence, 2003-2008 Container(s) Description Dates Reed Magazine Correspondence 2003-2008 1 1 Mitchell Hartman 2007 December-2008 March 1 2 Aimee/Sisco 2008 February-2008 March 1 3 Mark Kuestner 2003 August-2008 May 1 4 Archives, etc./john Suiter 2007 December-2009 September 1 5 Media 2008 February-2008 November http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 10
1 6 Reed Magazine Copies and Disc 2008 Names and Subjects Finding aid/register created by Andrew Izatt, Clint Pumphrey 2014 http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25408 11