Skip to main content Skip to main navigation

Tuli Kupferberg and Sylvia Topp Papers

Call Number

MSS.385

Dates

1821-2010, inclusive
; 1960-2000, bulk

Creator

Kupferberg, Samara (Role: Donor)
Kupferberg, Tuli
Topp, Sylvia (Role: Donor)

Extent

202.75 Linear Feet
in 106 record cartons, 146 manuscript boxes, 1 half-manuscript box, 1 tall manuscript box, 30 flat boxes, 3 hinged-ring binder boxes, 33 oversize flat boxes, 4 flat-file folders, 1 suitcase, 2 musical instruments, 1 toy gun

Extent

3 Sound_Disc--Vinyl

Extent

2 CDs

Extent

2 DVD-R

Extent

86 sound tape reels

Extent

273 audiocassettes

Extent

2 DAT

Extent

33 MiniDV

Extent

3 film reels

Extent

132 VHS

Extent

16 U-matic

Extent

1 1_Inch_Video_Reel

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

Naphtali "Tuli" Kupferberg (1923-2010) was an American counterculture poet, cartoonist, publisher, activist, and musician. This collection reflects the varied, interconnected assortment of projects Kupferberg undertook beginning in the 1940s until his death in 2010, while living in lower Manhattan. Material in this collection includes essays, articles, and books by Kupferberg and his wife Sylvia Topp; work files for his and Topp's publishing company, Birth Press; fan mail, song lyrics, and recordings related to his band, The Fugs; props for his performance group, The Revolting Theater; and recordings of his local television show, Revolting News. His correspondence with authors including Sparrow, Urban Gwerder, Ted Joans, Walter Lowenfels, and Coby Batty, provide perspective into the network and relationships among the literary bohemian community within New York and beyond during the 1960s through 2000s. The bulk of the collection is Kupferberg's extensive research and source material grouped into subjects including sex, politics, smoking, religion, drugs, and education. Material within these subject files were used as inspiration or incorporated into works he wrote and performed. His significant collection of local, small-run independent published material as well as mainstream publications illustrates the output of writers and artists during these decades, and represents the interests of readers within the New York community and beyond.

Biographical Note

Naphtali "Tuli" Kupferberg (1923-2010) was an American counterculture poet, publisher, performance artist, cartoonist, activist, and founding member of the underground rock band, The Fugs.

He grew up in Manhattan and attended Brooklyn College, graduating in 1944. Before graduating from college, Kupferberg had already become active in the literary and political scenes in downtown New York City, publishing poems, short stories, and essays in local journals and newspapers, including the The Village Voice, Midstream, and Liberation. He also drew cartoons and collages beginning in the 1950s, his earliest work including drawings with captions of witty, altered aphorisms, which were accepted in a number of publications and in book form.

Throughout his life, Kupferberg was also known for being politically active, participating in protests and rallies; during his appearances with his band The Fugs; his published articles, as well as co-authoring a satirical anti-war book 1001 Ways to Beat the Draft (1966) with Robert Bashlow.

Kupferberg met Sylvia Topp (1935- ) in 1957 and were together until his death in 2010. Initially, they lived together in the East Village, starting a publishing company, Birth Press (also known as Vanity Press) in the late 1950s, working out of their apartment. They published not only Kupferberg's works, but other authors of this period as well. Between 1958 and 1965 they released a number of publications from the Birth Press imprint, including the zines Birth, Yeah, and Swing, as well as the collage-and-quotation-assemblages 1001 Ways to Live Without Working; Beatniks: or, The War Against the Beats; The Rub-ya-out of Omore Diem; The Christine Keeler Colouring Book & Cautionary Tale; The Mississippi (A Study of the White Race); and Children As Authors: A Big Bibliography. Topp and Kupferberg also edited a number of mainstream reference books, including As They Were, As They Were Too, and First Glance: Childhood Creations of the Famous.

Simultaneously his cartoons and articles were also being accepted in publications like The Soho Weekly News, The Village Voice, and High Times. Throughout this time, Topp worked as a freelance copy editor for various publishing houses, including Grove Press and Academic Press, which also published Kupferberg's material.

Kupferberg was also involved in the New York music scene, becoming a founding member of the rock band, The Fugs, in 1964 with poet Ed Sanders and Ken Weaver. The Fugs performed in galleries, clubs, and theaters throughout New York; recorded six albums; and toured regularly. The Fugs' involvement in counter cultural politics and the anti-war movement enabled Kupferberg to be present at a number of seminal events, including the 1967 March on Washington and 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention.

During the early 1970s, while on a break from The Fugs, Kupferberg, along with Sylvia Topp, formed a satirical experimental theatrical group called the Revolting Theater. The material originated from Kupferberg's 1966 solo album, No Deposit, No Return.

Kupferberg also appeared as an actor in a number of movies: W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971) depicting the life and work of Wilhelm Reich; Kupferberg and Revolting Theater members performed a sketch in the Richard Pryor film Dynamite Chicken (1972); and he starred in the Canadian experimental feature film Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec God? (1972).

Kupferberg began writing what he described as "parasongs" in the 1970s, which consisted of new lyrics adapted to known melodies. Many were published in his 1973 book, Listen to the Mockingbird, which had multiple editions over the next 20 years.

In 1989 Kupferberg became involved with television, producing a show with Lannes Kenfield, Theater of the Real. They went on to make the show, Revolting News, broadcast on a local New York City community channel starting in 1992, on which he delivered satirical "newspoems" and "perverbs," and discussed a variety of topics, including Judaism, sexuality, spiritualism, and militarism.

Throughout the 1990s, Kupferberg sold cartoons, books, and records from a table on the sidewalk of Spring Street near his New York apartment. Until his death in 2010, he videotaped and posted online readings and performances of his works, as well as continued to draw and write, with many regularly published in newspapers and magazines.

Arrangement

The records are arranged in nine series, one of which has been further arranged into two subseries.

The series and subseries arrangement of the records is as follows:

Series I. Writings

Series II. Cartoons/Collages

Series III. The Fugs

Series IV. Projects

Series V. Birth Press

Series VI. Research and Source Material

Subseries A. Research and Subject files

Subseries B. Source Publications

Series VII. Publications

Series VIII. Correspondence

Series IX. Performance Props and Costumes

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of over 60 years of material generated by Tuli Kupferberg through his writings; music lyrics; cartoons and collages; sound and video recordings; performance props; and publications. His work was often inspired by political and social issues, including protesting Vietnam War in music lyrics and cartoons, criticizing a Presidential administration in Birth Press publications and his Revolting News television show, and discussing the drug culture in his Dope Lore magazine columns. Kupferberg corresponded with many writers and poets active in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, which provides a view into the literary community during these decades, including Sparrow, Urban Gwerder, Ted Joans, Walter Lowenfels, and Coby Batty. These correspondents discussed submissions to Kupferberg and Topp's Birth Press publications, shared their own publications, and updated Kupferberg on news of their families as well as mutual friends.

The Fugs material in this collection illustrates the development of a band active in the 1960s through promotional advertisements, flyers, and set lists, performing primarily in local New York area clubs. The band's popularity spread beyond the bohemian and hippie population of the New York area and expanded throughout the United States as well as internationally, illustrated through concert tour planning files and fan mail addressed to both Kupferberg and band co-founder Ed Sanders. Their music was initially focused on protesting against the Vietnam War, but eventually evolved into general political satire, which can be traced through their set lists and published/unpublished recordings found in this collection.

A significant portion of this collection is Kupferberg's extensive research and source material accumulated throughout his life and grouped into subject headings such as humor, sex, religion, education, war, and politics. These files contained clippings, articles, print advertisements, illustrations, photographs, and political cartoons, ranging in date from the late 1800s to 2010. These files were used by Kupferberg in his collages and publications, but also as visual elements in performances with The Fugs, Revolting Theater, and his solo act, many helping to convey his satirical interpretations on politics, sex, war, and drug use. Along with these source files, his collection of small-run publications represents the literary and artistic output of lower Manhattan writers and artists from the 1950s to the mid-2000s, while his collection of wider-circulated publications provide a broader view of popular culture nationally and internationally during the same time period.

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers. Appointments are necessary for the use of manuscript and archival collections.

Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers.

Some material in the collection is presently too delicate for researchers to handle. See individual object entries for details.

Conditions Governing Use

NYU's Fales Library & Special Collections is not the copyright owner for this collection. Collection use is subject to all copyright laws. Researchers wishing to reproduce collection material should contact rights holders for permission.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Tuli Kupferberg and Sylvia Topp Papers; MSS 385; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.

Location of Materials

Portions of this collection are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please request materials at least two business days prior to your research visit to coordinate access.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Sylvia Topp and Samara Kupferberg in 2013. The accession numbers associated with this purchase are 2013.385 and 2014.385.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Access to some audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact special.collections@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Appraisal

Publications with existing issues within Bobst Library, as well as props in poor condition were deaccessioned.

Two computer disks were imaged. No information was recovered off of the one disk and the second contained only an article not related to Kupferberg.

Separated Materials

All Birth Press books, magazines, and booklets were separated from this collection and cataloged separately.

Related Materials

Additional material can be found in the following archival collections:

Tuli Kupferberg Radical Humor Collection (TAM 422) located in the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.

Fugs Archives (MSS 013) located in the Fales Library & Special Collections.

Collection processed by

Stacey Flatt and Samantha Rowe.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-02-06 14:23:50 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

Previously, portions of the collection were arranged and described by two separate groups before being processed by ACM in 2017-2018. Beginning in 2007 and for the next three years, Samara Kupferberg and archivist Don Fleming, Associate Director of the Alan Lomax Archive, arranged, cataloged, and boxed material, with input from Tuli Kupferberg and Sylvia Topp. An initial listing and description was prepared, however there were still materials that were not sorted and listed. In 2015, Fales Library & Special Collections Adjunct, Colin Torre, rearranged, refoldered, and transcribed original folder titles for approximately a quarter of the existing collection (about 80 boxes). Box numbers and content notes were written directly on the boxes at that time. Although item and folder-level arrangement was preserved from the original order whenever possible, in select instances items were rearranged and boxes were split apart due to overpacking. Oversize, photographic, and non-paper objects were separated from their folders and housed in boxes. The Adjunct performed widespread photocopying of newspaper clippings which the originals were then discarded. Three quarters of the collection remained in their original boxes. A box-level inventory was written for the quarter of the collection that had been reboxed. In 2017 the entire collection was surveyed by an archivist and a processing plan was created. Previous box lists from the Fales adjunct and the original seller were analyzed.

The material was organized into series that were loosely based on what was believed to be either Kupferberg's original groupings or fabricated groupings during the packing and evaluation of the collection by the dealer while working in Kupferberg's apartment. From researching his life, the most prominent projects throughout his life that warranted their own series were his writings, cartoons/collages, Birth Press Publications, and the Fugs material. His other projects were so interwoven with each other, it was necessary to group the rest of the them into one series. Material has been refoldered and reboxed when necessary. Five boxes of publications were identified to be cataloged separately by Fales. Ten cartons of publications were identified as already existing in the Library's holdings and were deaccessioned. Two 3.5 inch floppy computer disks were imaged by the digital archivist. New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content.

Revisions to this Guide

March 2021: Updated by Stacey Flatt to include materials integrated from a recovered box
May 2022: Updated by Rachel Mahre and Lyric Evans-Hunter to enhance the description of audio materials and reflect the digitization of video materials
November 2022: Updated by Lyric Evans-Hunter to reflect the digitization of some audioviisual materials
January 2023: Updated by Rachel Mahre to further describe digitized audiovisual materials

Repository

Fales Library and Special Collections
Fales Library and Special Collections
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012