Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Program Director at the Ark, Ann Arbor, Michigan music club. The collection includes the Ark's financial records and select correspondence, printed materials such as concert calendars, flyers, and posters, sound recordings, photographs of Ark performances, informal snapshots and publicity photos of performers.

The Dave Siglin papers date from 1968-2008 and primarily document Siglin's management role at the Ark, an Ann Arbor music club. The papers have been arranged into four series: Administrative Records; Printed Materials; Photographs; Sound Recordings.

John and Leni Sinclair were leaders of the counterculture movement in Michigan, organizers of radical social, political, and cultural endeavors primarily in the areas of music, poetry, graphic design, and community welfare projects. Papers and photographs (1957-1979) relating to all phases of their careers, including participation in the Artists' Workshop in Detroit, the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, the White Panther Party and its offshoot, the Rainbow Peoples Party; also materials concerning the legalization of marijuana, radical politics, and prison reform. Also material, 1979-2000, relating to John Sinclair's work as a writer, performer, radio show host and music promoter.

The John Sinclair papers came to the library in 1979. Jointly donated by John and Leni Sinclair, this initial accession, covering the period 1957-1979, included textual material, sound recordings, and photographs relating to all phases of their careers, including participation in the Artists' Workshop in Detroit, the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, the White Panther Party and its offshoot, the Rainbow Peoples Party; also materials concerning the legalization of marijuana, radical politics, prison reform, and rock and jazz music.

The Sinclair papers provide a rich and unique source for the study of America's radical movement in the nineteen sixties and seventies. Beginning with a remarkable series of correspondence that includes letters from Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and Jerry Rubin, and continuing on through extensive subject files, the collection details the cultural, political and business activities of a man whose energy and charisma made him a local and national leader of the counterculture. In addition, the collection documents the support and creativity of his wife and partner, who as writer, photographer and publicist helped to showcase the lifestyle which he symbolized.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, John Sinclair added to his papers with materials relating to his career as a writer and performer. In the winter of 2000, he donated a second large accession relating mainly to the period since leaving Detroit for New Orleans.

The Sinclair collection has been divided into four subgroups: Textual Files, Printed Material, Sound Recordings, and Visual Material.

William L. Clements Library staff member, collector of posters; event posters and announcements flyers advertising University of Michigan and Ann Arbor and other Michigan community events and activities.

The posters in the John Harriman Collection have been arranged first by size and then either by date or by broad category: University of Michigan events and Ann Arbor and other Michigan community events. The sizes of the poster and event flyers fall into three ranges. Within each, there are of course variations. The smallest range is mainly 8 1/2"x11" (with a few measuring 8 1/2"x14"); the medium size is a combination of 11"x17" and 17"x22"; the largest size of poster measures more than 21"x25".

The largest portion of the collection consists of posters and flyers advertising University of Michigan events, activities, courses, lectures, groups, and elections that took place on the campus of the university, involved groups from the university, or were sponsored by the university. Some of the more common poster topics include: student elections, student music groups, fraternity/sorority activities, campus classes and lectures, and theatrical or musical performances on campus. A smaller accumulation of posters and flyers advertises events, activities, groups, and elections that taking place in the state of Michigan, largely Ann Arbor.