At approximately 12.5 linear feet, the Lou Reed series is the largest within the Bockris Collection. Each of its subseries, Correspondence; Notes and Notebooks; Clippings and Articles; Events; Sketchbooks; Transcripts; Other Resources; Manuscripts; and Reviews are sizeable and detailed, providing an enlightening look into Bockris' research and writing processes.
The Correspondence subseries contains numerous letters both from publishers and sources, the most notable of whom include Shelley Corwin (nee Albin), Reed's former girlfriend, Elizabeth Kronstad, Reed's first wife, and Andrew Wylie, Bockris' agent and former collaborator who struck up a friendship with Reed. The Notes and Notebooks subseries is extensive, containing a variety of notes, some of which were arranged by Bockris by subject, and others which were arranged by year. Bockris also participated in several speaking engagements related to his Lou Reed book, the promotional materials for which are documents in the Events subseries.
In addition to notes, Bockris's research also generated a vast quantity of clippings and articles (11 folders), serials and books (7 folders), and an assortment of Lexis-Nexis article print outs, spanning the years 1950 – 1989. Bockris also filled seven volumes of sketchbooks (the Sketchbooks subseries) with Lou Reed Content. Also utilized as source material, Bockris conducted numerous taped interviews, many of which were transcribed and are contained within the Transcriptions subseries. Interviewees of note include Shelley Corwin (nee Albin), Roberta Bayley, Legs McNeil, Richard Mishkin, Billy Name, Bob Quine, Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, Chris Whent, and Andrew Wylie.
Other Resources also played a role in Bockris' research, and may be found in the subseries of the same name. Included are Reed's college magazine, The Lonely Woman Quarterly, Lou Reed: The Collected Lyrics, and information from Lou Reed's fan club. However, the most extensive portion of this series is the Manuscript subseries which documents Bockris' Transformer: The Lou Reed Story from early proposal all the way to U.S. galleys as well as the U.K. edition galleys, providing a meticulous documentation of the book's evolution. The drafts are organized based on the various arrangements that Bockris utilized. Similar to the arrangement of the Notes and Notebooks subseries, this results in some of the drafts organized chronologically by year range, and others organized by subject or chapter. Numerous final drafts are also included, which reveal different versions of the monograph in its entirety. The series concludes with the Reviews subseries, containing clippings and photocopies the book's reviews.
