Peter Orlovsky's Archive Acquired

One of 140 notebooks Orlovsky filled before his death

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin has acquired the Peter Orlovsky archive. Click here for the news release.

Correspondence in the collection highlights Orlovsky’s many connections with other poets, authors and artists. There are more than 1,600 letters written to Orlovsky and/or Ginsberg, including 165 letters written by Ginsberg himself. Some notable correspondents include Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Ken Kesey and Robert LaVigne. Orlovsky also wrote regularly to his parents and siblings, and more than 65 of his letters are included in the archive. 

The collection features more than 2,650 photographs taken by or of Orlovsky, documenting the years between 1970 and 2010. Also included are eight reel-to-reel tapes from the 1960s and more than 120 audiocassettes made by Orlovsky during the 1970s and 1980s, some recording conversations with Ginsberg.

The Kerouac connection, of course, is Orlovsky's relationship to Kerouac intimate and inner circle Beat Generation member Allen Ginsberg. While the news release doesn't mention Kerouac as represented in the archive, he's bound to be referenced. Kerouac scholars and others will have access once the archive has been processed and cataloged (catalogued looks more correct to me but I suspect that is a British spelling).

See you in Austin.