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A Gathering of the Tribes Records

Call Number

MSS.198

Date

1976-2019, inclusive

Creator

Gathering of the Tribes (Gallery)
Cannon, Steve, 1935-2019 (Role: Donor)

Extent

30 Linear Feet
in 9 record cartons, 25 manuscript boxes, 7 binders, 1 small flat box, 2 oversize flat boxes, 1 flat-file folder, 4 audiocassettes in a shared box, 1 file in a shared tall LP box, 18 born-digital carriers in two shared boxes, and 8 containers with unknown profiles.

Extent

20.48 Gigabytes
in 335 computer files

Extent

305 items
on audio and video carriers.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

Founded in 1991 in writer Steve Cannon's home, A Gathering of the Tribes was conceived as a venue in New York's East Village for underexposed artists, a networking center, and a place for the development of new talent through its gallery, performance space, and publishing company. The A Gathering of the Tribes Records contain material documenting the administration and wide array of activities of this organization including event promotional material; press clippings; scrapbooks; photographs and albums; audio and video recordings; and financial and administrative files. The collection also includes artist submissions and exhibition files for the Tribes Gallery, as well as writer submissions and project files for both Fly By Night Press and the magazine A Gathering of the Tribes. Ephemera and writings by A Gathering of the Tribes founder Steve Cannon are also in this collection.

Historical Note

A Gathering of the Tribes was a performance space, art gallery, literary magazine, and small print publisher in New York's East Village. Founded in 1991 by Steve Cannon in his brownstone apartment building, Tribes began as an informal salon for cultural exchange between poets, artists, musicians and performers. The collaborative, explorative work done in the space culminated in the founding of the A Gathering of the Tribes magazine, whose first issue was published in the autumn of 1991. Since its inception, A Gathering of the Tribes sought to engage with and promote work from multi-cultural, interdisciplinary, and underrepresented writers and artists. A Gathering of the Tribes was a contributor to the East Village literary, artistic and performance scene alongside such venues as Nuyorican Poets Cafe and the Living Theatre. In 1993, a portion of the space became the Tribes Gallery, hosting exhibitions, readings, and performances. In April of 2014 both the organization and Steve Cannon were forced to relocate and the gallery permanently closed when the occupancy agreement with the person to whom the building had previously been sold ended. Fly By Night Press stopped publishing in 2018, but Tribes magazine continutes to publishing online. Steve Cannon passed away in 2019.

Source:

"About." A Gathering of the Tribes. Web. 22 September 2023. https://www.tribes.org/our-story

Arrangement

This collection is organized into seven series, with Series I. dividing further into two subseries.

Series I. Audiovisual Recordings
Subseries I.A. Video
Subseries I.B. Audio

Series II. Photograph Albums and Scrapbooks

Series III. Project Files

Series IV. Grant Files

Series V. Financial Records

Series VI. Publications

Series VII. Steve Cannon Papers

Scope and Contents

The A Gathering of the Tribes Records (1983-2012) documents the operations and programs of A Gathering of the Tribes, which served as a neighborhood arts center through its gallery, performance space, as well as a literary magazine and book publisher for artists, writers, and performers. This collection contains paper, computer files, and audiovisual recordings generated by A Gathering of the Tribes while the organization served as a gathering space for lesser-known, local New York City artists and writers during the 1990s to the 2010, providing a space to form networks and host events supporting the arts in the East Village. This collection includes video and audio recordings, publicity material, guest books, and scrapbooks documenting the organization's performances, readings, and gallery openings. Project files typically contain correspondence; Fly By Night Press manuscript submissions; artist submissions for the gallery; and business and administrative records. Grant files chronicle A Gathering of the Tribes' pursuit of funding through extensive individual source files, providing insight into the financial struggles of a small New York arts organization through applications, rejection letters, correspondence, and final reports. A small selection of ephemera and writings by Tribes founder Steve Cannon include essays, plays, and short stories, some of which were co-written, while others were produced with the assistance of a transcriber due to Cannon's visually-impaired status. The publications series contains printed material published by Fly By Night Press, or in some way associated with A Gathering of the Tribes.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; A Gathering of the Tribes Records; MSS 198; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.

Location of Materials

Materials 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

The A Gathering of the Tribes Records were purchased by NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections from Steve Cannon in 2007. An accretion of materials was transferred in May 2021; the accession numbers associated with these accessions are 2007.198 and 2021.013, respectively.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Access to select 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.

Some audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Fales Library and Special Collections, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures

Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.

Appraisal

In November 2021, audiovisual recordings containing off-air content with mold contamination were deaccessioned. In September 2023, the following were removed from the collection: (3) 3.5 Floppy Disks, (1) zip drive, and (30) CDs (due to damage or duplicates); an orginal artwork; and 13 books and publications that already existed in the collection.

Separated Materials

Four issues of A Gathering of the Tribes were removed from the archive to be catalogued. They can be found in the Fales Library's Downtown Collection, via Bobcat.

Collection processed by

Nicholas Martin, 2014

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-02-06 14:16:22 -0500.
Language: Description is in English

Processing Information

In 2014, the collection was processed and arranged into six series based on the organization of items upon their arrival to the library. Archival materials were arranged at the folder level, alphabetically by folder title. Folder contents remain in the order in which they arrived at the library. Wherever possible, original folders were retained, numbered and described. Some folders were replaced due to preservation concerns. Materials that were too large for their original folders were rehoused in oversize boxes or into a map-case drawer. Audiovisual and media items were described at the item level. Scrapbooks were rehoused in archival binders for safe storage and access. Later, eight VHS from Box 52 were identified as moldy.

In January, 2023 the items were isolated from other items by housing them in a polyethylene bag with a desiccated board and RH monitor strip. If this strip indicates an RH greater than 50%, contact the Preservation Department immediately. Do not open this packaging without contacting the Preservation Department.

In September 2023, material from a 2021 accretion totalling 13.25 linear feet was processed and added to the collection. The material had already been for the most part foldered and boxed in acid-free containers upon assessioning in 2021. During processing it was necessary to split larger files into additional folders. When multiple copies of material were found, two copies were retained and the remaining material was separated from the colleciton. The processed material's titles were integrated intelectually into the existing collection series, and a new series was created, containing material specifically on founder Steve Cannon. Four audio cassettes were labeled and added to a shared box, and added to the existing inventory as individual items. Series-level scope and content notes, dates, and extents were added to the finding aid. Due to the condensing of material during processing, there are some gaps in the box numbering, specifically box numbers 46-47, 49-51 are not longer used in the collection. The audiovisual extents that were added are the total number of items in the collection and were not broken down into carrier formats.

Born-digital items from the original collection were forensically imaged, analyzed, and arranged in Forensic Toolkit along with the carrriers from the 2021 accretion. 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 2020: Updated by Christine Gennetti and Kelly Haydon to reflect the availability of digitized access copies
June 2021: Updated by Rachel Searcy to reflect 2021 accretion
January 2023: Updated by Anna Björnsson McCormick to reflect the rehousing of materials
September 2023: Updated by Stacey Flatt to reflect the processed 2021 Accretion material and add ACM Required Elements for Archival Description to the existing finding aid.

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