Allen Ginsberg

Donald Cook and his son Michael, an apartment near Columbia University, Francis Mechner in background, young psychology grad students. Later they proposed innovating Basic Systems Computer teaching machines. New York, Fall 1953.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed 1990

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2018.196.28

Not on view

William Seward Burroughs and Alan Ansen, two elegant gentlemen at entrance to defunct San Remo Café , N.W. corner Bleeker looking north up MacDougal Street, then the heart of Greenwich Village. Before vogue of the Cedar Bar, poets painters Kerouac's "subterraneans" Gregory Corso Carl Solomon myself Frank O'Hara Larry Rivers Maxwell Bodenheim drunk even Dylan Thomas ate drank and talked till 3 AM at this central café - superb inexpensive veal parmigiana and spaghetti a la vongole in rear restaurant, wooden tables - At that season W.S.B.'d published Junkie and we were assembling Yage Letters and Queer, Burroughs improvising earliest routines for Naked Lunch. Alan Ansen had been Polymath secretary to W.H. Auden a decade before, helping type "Age of Anxiety." One mid-afternoon, Fall 1953, fixed with trembling hand.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed 1993

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2010.137.20

Not on view

Kodak-Retina snapshot by William Burroughs, living room 1953 Lower East Side, Jackson Mac Low portrait with recorder by Iris Brodey on wall. We were working on Bills S.A. letters. I had job on N.Y. World Telegram.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed later

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2011.146.17

Not on view

Rebecca Ginsberg, Buba, wife of Pincus, laundry-man later tobacco store owner, my paternal grandmother (b. Russia near Kaminetz-Podolska May 1869–d. July 1962) visiting her elder son Louis’ house, here 84 years old at table for Seder preparations. She’d attended Adult Education English classes in Newark 14 years earlier, written patriotic essay declaring “God Blast America!” Younger son Uncle Abe & daughters Aunt Rose, Clara & H.S. teacher Hannah were her children. Dining room 428 East 34th Street, Paterson New Jersey April 1953.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed later

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2009.103.3

Not on view

A man sits smiling, cross-legged on a bed with his elbows wrapped around his raised knees in this square black and white photograph. The man’s body is angled slightly to our right, and he looks off, grinning, in that direction. His short dark hair is brushed up and back away from his forehead, and he wears dark, round-framed glasses with thick lenses. The man’s white button-down shirt is rolled up to the elbows, and he wears a tie patterned with dark diamonds against a light background. His hairy legs are bare, and he wears argyle-patterned socks. On one arm, he wears a wristwatch and grips his other wrist with that hand. He holds a nearly burned-down cigarette with that other hand. The bedspread has floral patterns, and curtains are blurry on the far right side of the room. Handwriting below the photograph reads, “Carl Solomon in his Prince Street apartment several years after we were locked up together in residence on Sixth Floor Ward, New York State Psychiatric Institute. He got shock treatments, introduced me to Jean Genet's Miracle of the Rose and Antonin Artaud's Van Gogh, The Man Suicided by Society translations, I stayed eight months, weekends off. Afterwards, working mid-town at his uncle's Ace Books publications, he gave Kerouac small advance on first On the Road sketches (scroll later rejected), saw Jaime DeAngulo's classic Indian Tales first hard-back through press, and edited William Burroughs' Junkie paperback first edition. New York, 1953. Allen Ginsberg.”

Carl Solomon in his Prince Street apartment several years after we were locked up together in residence on Sixth Floor ward, New York State Psychiatric Institute. He got shock treatments, introduced me to Jean Genet’s Miracle of the Rose and Antonin Artaud’s Van Gogh, The Man Suicided by Society translations, I stayed eight months, weekends off. Afterwards, working mid-town at his uncle’s Ace Books publications, he gave Kerouac small advance on first On the Road sketches (scroll later rejected), saw Jaime DeAngulo’s classic Indian Tales first hard-back through press, & edited William Burroughs’ Junkie paperback first edition. New York, 1953.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed 1995

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2008.131.15

Not on view

Lucien Carr, his apartment above Sheridan Square, working then for U.P.I.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed later

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2012.118.56

Not on view

Bill Burroughs was in love, you can see the pain in his eyes, the longing. Assembling Queer mss. 1953. 206 E 7 St N.Y.C., 1953

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed later

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2008.131.11

Not on view

Jack Kerouac wandering along East 7th Street after visiting Burroughs at our pad, passing statue of Congressman Samuel "Sunset" Cox, "The Letter-Carrier's Friend" in Tompkins Square toward corner of Avenue A, Lower East Side; he's making a Dostoyevsky mad-face or Russian basso be-bop Om, first walking around the neighborhood, then involved with The Subterraneans, pencils & notebook in wool shirt-pockets, Fall 1953, Manhattan.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed 1990

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2009.108.2

Not on view

Helen Parker's boys Bruce & Tommy, circa 1953, Greenwich Village, she was my friend when I was in N.Y. Psychiatric Institute a few years earlier, now we'd go to Italian restaurants downstairs on MacDougal Street with Ramblin Jack Eliot.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed later

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2015.163.35

Not on view

William S. Burroughs looking serious, sad lover’s eyes, afternoon light in window, cover of just-published Junkie propped in shadow above right shoulder, Japanese kite against Lower East Side hot water flat’s old wallpaper. He’d come up from South America & Mexico to stay with me editing Yage Letters and Queer manuscripts. New York Fall 1953.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed 1995

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2009.103.5

Not on view

Jack Kerouac looking out window Apartment 16, 206 East 7th Street Lower East Side Manhattan, view from fire-escape, books on the sill, broom handle and old tenement wallpaper in afternoon sun, WM. Burroughs was staying at my place then, Fall 1953.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed 1989

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2010.137.25

Not on view

Alene Lee, her friend Jack Kerouac, time of "The Subterraneans," friend Bob Merims in shadow, my apartment East 7th Street New York Fall 1953.

Allen Ginsberg

1953, printed 1990

gelatin silver print Accession ID 2013.145.46

Not on view

Allen Ginsberg

Donald Cook and his son Michael, an apartment near Columbia University, Francis Mechner in background, young psychology grad students. Later they proposed innovating Basic Systems Computer teaching machines. New York, Fall 1953.

Donald Cook and his son Michael, an apartment near Columbia University, Francis Mechner in background, young psychology grad students. Later they proposed innovating Basic Systems Computer teaching machines. New York, Fall 1953.

Kodak-Retina snapshot by William Burroughs, living room 1953 Lower East Side, Jackson Mac Low portrait with recorder by Iris Brodey on wall. We were working on Bills S.A. letters. I had job on N.Y. World Telegram.

Kodak-Retina snapshot by William Burroughs, living room 1953 Lower East Side, Jackson Mac Low portrait with recorder by Iris Brodey on wall. We were working on Bills S.A. letters. I had job on N.Y. World Telegram.

Lucien Carr, his apartment above Sheridan Square, working then for U.P.I.

Lucien Carr, his apartment above Sheridan Square, working then for U.P.I.

Bill Burroughs was in love, you can see the pain in his eyes, the longing. Assembling Queer mss. 1953. 206 E 7 St N.Y.C., 1953

Bill Burroughs was in love, you can see the pain in his eyes, the longing. Assembling Queer mss. 1953. 206 E 7 St N.Y.C., 1953

Helen Parker's boys Bruce & Tommy, circa 1953, Greenwich Village, she was my friend when I was in N.Y. Psychiatric Institute a few years earlier, now we'd go to Italian restaurants downstairs on MacDougal Street with Ramblin Jack Eliot.

Helen Parker's boys Bruce & Tommy, circa 1953, Greenwich Village, she was my friend when I was in N.Y. Psychiatric Institute a few years earlier, now we'd go to Italian restaurants downstairs on MacDougal Street with Ramblin Jack Eliot.

Jack Kerouac looking out window Apartment 16, 206 East 7th Street Lower East Side Manhattan, view from fire-escape, books on the sill, broom handle and old tenement wallpaper in afternoon sun, WM. Burroughs was staying at my place then, Fall 1953.

Jack Kerouac looking out window Apartment 16, 206 East 7th Street Lower East Side Manhattan, view from fire-escape, books on the sill, broom handle and old tenement wallpaper in afternoon sun, WM. Burroughs was staying at my place then, Fall 1953.

Alene Lee, her friend Jack Kerouac, time of "The Subterraneans," friend Bob Merims in shadow, my apartment East 7th Street New York Fall 1953.

Alene Lee, her friend Jack Kerouac, time of "The Subterraneans," friend Bob Merims in shadow, my apartment East 7th Street New York Fall 1953.

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