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Photographer from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Photographs (prints and negatives) of student demonstrations at the University of Michigan, draft card burnings and other anti-Vietnam War protests, of the riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, of appearances of John Cage, Lyndon Johnson, Timothy Leary, Eldridge Cleaver, John Sinclair, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, and Gerald Ford in Ann Arbor, and a meeting of Ku Klux Klan in Dearborn, Michigan.

The collection contains prints and 35 mm negatives of photographs taken between 1964 and 1980. The photographs primarily document student protests and other student political activities at the University of Michigan, as well as some other campus activities, including political speakers and social and musical events. Some events outside of Ann Arbor are also documented, including the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and a Ku Klux Klan meeting in Dearborn, Mich.

The photographs are arranged chronologically, and are described in the following list by topic and date. Some undated photographs are grouped at the end of the sequence. Although the bulk of the collection is made up of negatives, for most topics the collection also contains prints of selected frames. In some cases there are no prints, and in a few cases no negatives. The list indicates these cases.

Prints and negatives are filed in parallel sequences in the collection, both in the same order.

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.