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Bureau of Public Secrets Records

Call Number

TAM.097

Date

1961-1978, inclusive

Creator

Bureau of Public Secrets
Beni Memorial Library (Role: Donor)

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The Bureau of Public Secrets was formed in the early part of 1973 (preceded by "The Council for the Eruption of the Marvelous," "Contradiction," and "1044") was a self-described "neo-realist/quasi-situational" organization aimed at criticizing existing leftist movements and distributed publications mostly in the San Francisco Area. The Bureau of Public Secrets' key figure, who referred to himself as "Special Investigator," was Ken Knabb. The collection consists of flyers, periodicals, leaflets, pamphlets, and statements which document American situationist, anarchist and libertarian activity and criticism.

Historical/Biographical Note

The Bureau was preceded by three organizations: "The Council for the Eruption of the Marvelous," January-June 1970; "1044," July-November 1970; "Contradiction," December, 1970 - September, 1972. The "CEM" and "1044" were self-described "neo-realist/quasi-situational" organizations. Their publications were distributed almost exclusively in the San Francisco Bay Area. "Contradiction" was a situationist organization which aimed at criticizing existing leftist movements. Members of the organization were members or ex-members of the Situationist International. Their publications were distsributed in the Bay Area, major U.S. and Canadian cities, and in Western Europe.

The Bureau of Public Secrets was formed in the early part of 1973, and there is no documentation of its dissolve in this collection. Its key figure, who referred to himself as "Special Investigator," was Ken Knabb; financing and distribution of Bureau material was done by him. Bureau publications consist of some reprints of writings by the Situationist International, though the Bureau maintained autonomy from this organization. The objective of the Bureau was to disseminate information on situationist politics and philosophy.

Sources:

For additional background information on the Situationist International see: Knabb, Ken, Situationist International Anthology, Berkeley, CA, Bureau of Public Secrets, 1981.

Arrangement

Organized into two series:
I. Bureau of Public Secrets
II. Situationist and Anarchist Material
III. Archived Website

Scope and Content Note

The collection spans the years 1961-1978 with the bulk of the material spanning the years 1970-1976. It consists of flyers, periodicals, leaflets, pamphlets, and statements which document American situationist, anarchist and libertarian activity and criticism. One significance of this collection is that it contains a critique of the New Left from activists of the same generation. Also included in the collection are items concerned with prisoner rights and eco-anarchism.

Series I, Bureau of Public Secrets, contains a brief history and publications of the Bureau. The folder and item arrangement are as specified by Ken Knabb in the Bureau catalog (folder 1). The second series, Situationist and Anarchist Material, consists chiefly of materials from other American situationist and anarchist organizations. The remainder is from England and the Netherlands. The folders in this series are arranged alphabetically. The collection provides good documentation of the ideas and activities of the Bureau of Public Secrets. However, the situationist and anarchist material in Series II is selective and not comprehensive. A good deal of this material was distributed by the Social Revolutionary Anarchist Federation (SRAF). Several periodical atitles in Series II were integrated into Tamiment's holdings.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives has no information about copyright ownership for this collection and is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from it. Materials in this collection, which were created in 1961-1978, are expected to enter the public domain in 2099.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Bureau of Public Secrets Records; TAM 097; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by the Beni Memorial Library (Ann Arbor, Michigan), 1975. The accession number associated with this gift is 1975.003.

Custodial History

The archived website was migrated from the California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service to the Internet Archive's Archive-It Service in November 2015. The link to California Digital Library was removed in October 2017.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Due to technical or privacy issues, archived websites may not be exact copies of the original website at the time of the web crawl. Certain file types will not be captured dependent on how they are embedded in the site. Other parts of websites that the crawler has difficulty capturing includes Javascript, streaming content, database-driven content, and highly interactive content. Full-Text searches of archived websites are available at https://archive-it.org/organizations/567.

Collection processed by

Stacy Kinlock, 1990

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:50:14 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Processing Information

In 2014, the archived websites were added as Series III.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from BPS Guide.wpd

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Container

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012