Collections : [University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center]

Hanuman Books was founded by Raymond Foye and Francesco Clemente in 1986. The press published small handmade books, primarily of works by contemporary avant-garde writers and rare translations. The administrative and editorial functions were housed in New York's Chelsea Hotel, while printing and binding were done in Madras, India. Through correspondence, invoices, manuscripts, typescripts, artwork, audiotapes, printed ephemera, photographs and books, this collection documents the founding of Hanuman Books, the administration of a small press, Indian printing practices, San Francisco’s North Beach and New York’s Lower East Side art scenes, Beat poetry, the Naropa Institute, contemporary music and film, and gay culture.

The Hanuman Books Records include correspondence, invoices, manuscripts, typescripts, books, art work, audio material, printed material, photographs, and other assorted material. The twenty linear feet of records span the years 1978 to 1996, with the bulk of the material falling between 1986 and 1994. Subjects documented in the collection include the founding of Hanuman Books, the administration of a small New York press, Indian printing, twentieth- century publishing, San Francisco’s North Beach and New York’s Lower East Side literary and art scenes, Beat poetry, the Naropa Institute, music, film, gay men in the 1980s and 1990s, and gay male literature. The Records are arranged in six series: Administrative Files (1986-1994), Publication Series (1986-1994), Raymond Foye Files (1978-1996), Mixed Media (1980s-1990s), Photographs (1970s-1990s), and Printed Material (1970s-1994).

Note: The Special Collections Library also holds a complete set of all the titles printed by Hanuman Books. To make these Hanuman Books imprints more accessible, the books were removed from the Records and individually cataloged. A listing of all of the titles follows the Scope and Content Note in the Related Material section.

The collection includes business and personal correspondence, production materials, scripts, photographs, motion picture, and sound recordings related to Richard Wilson and Orson Welles's work in radio, theater, and film from the 1930s to the 1950s. Also included are materials related to each man's later solo careers and personal life.

The Richard Wilson-Orson Welles Papers document many aspects of the two men's creative collaboration in radio, theater, and film for the Mercury Theater and Mercury Productions. Material related to several moments in Welles's post-Mercury Productions solo work and life form part of the collection. Richard Wilson's post-Mercury Productions work is also represented. The collection includes business and personal correspondence, production materials, scripts, photographs, and audio and motion picture recordings.

Materials relating to classic films such as Citizen Kane , The Magnificent Ambersons , The Lady From Shanghai, and Macbeth are included in the collection. The original filming and 1980s-1990s reconstruction, led by Richard Wilson, of the suddenly-terminated Welles film, It's All True (1942) is particularly well-documented.

The Wilson-Welles collection has been divided into seven series: Orson Welles; Richard Wilson; Mercury Theatre/Mercury Productions; Sound; Motion Pictures; Realia; and Bill Krohn: It's All True (1993).

The three primary series: Orson Welles, Richard Wilson, and Mercury Theatre/Mercury Productions have been largely organized by production type (e.g. Theater, Radio, and Film) and then chronologically by project. Completed films, theatrical productions, and radio broadcasts are dated according to their first public showing or general release date. Unfinished or unreleased projects are dated according to the year in which most of the work on the project took place.

Correspondence and business papers for each project are located together under the project name. An important exception to this organizational scheme was necessitated by the fact that Welles frequently worked on several projects simultaneously and a single letter or memo may address several projects. Sets of memos and correspondence are filed with the project to which they are most closely related. Notable examples of overlapping projects and sets of memoranda that address at least two films are Macbeth and Othello (much of the information related to Othello is actually in correspondence in the Macbeth files), and The Magnificent Ambersons and It's All True (much of the information related to The Magnificent Ambersons is contained within the It's All True files).

The Richard Wilson and Orson Welles series also contains material related to both men's families and personal lives.