Skip to Content

Alcheringa collection

 Collection
Identifier: PCMS-0002

Scope and Content Note

The records in the Alcheringa Collection span the entire history of the magazine, including approximately 100 manuscript items representing a broad range of the poetry, articles, and reviews that were published; approximately 200 letters and 46 postcards from internationally known poets, anthropologists and folklorists including Michael Corr, Robert Creeley, Ted Enslin, Jerome Rothenberg, Gary Snyder, Nathaniel Tarn, and Dennis Tedlock; approximately 1,219 items of business records including subscription lists, permissions, budget reports, advertising information, copyrights, requisitions, correspondence with other magazines, and other related documents; and miscellaneous photographs and peripherals.

Dates

  • 1970-1980

Language of Materials

Collection material in English.

Terms of Access

The Alcheringa Collection, 1970-1980, is open for research.

Copyright

Copyright of papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the Poetry Collection before requesting photocopies and/or publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Once permission is obtained, most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

Historical Note

Presented as "A First Magazine of the World's Tribal Poetries," Alcheringa, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Dennis Tedlock, was an important publication dedicated to the study of ethnopoetics. Focusing on the intersections of poetry, poetics, anthropology, performance, translation, and issues of orality, the magazine included both innovative English translations of ancient and modern "oral/tribal" poetry from across the globe as well as contemporary experimental writing of an orally performative nature. As the masthead of later issues defines it, the word Alcheringa "comes from the Arunta of Australia" and "refers to dreams, to the mythic past, and to moments when a new song makes itself heard through a singer." Contributing editors included David Antin, Robert Kelly, Simon Ortiz, Gary Snyder, and Nathaniel Tarn. Issues 1 though 5 were published from Fall 1970 to Spring-Summer 1973, followed by a New Series of 8 issues published by Boston University from 1975 to 1980 and titled Alcheringa: Ethnopoetics. Several issues have as inserts discs of recordings ranging from a Zuni performance by Andrew Peynatsa to a poetry reading by Anne Waldman. New Series Volume 2, Number 2 is a special issue edited by Michel Benamou and Jerome Rothenberg featuring papers from Ethnopoetics: A First International Symposium.

Extent

33.5 Linear Feet (39 clamshell boxes, 1 map case drawer)

Abstract

The Alcheringa Collection spans the entire history of the magazine, including approximately 100 manuscript items representing a broad range of the poetry, articles, and reviews that were published; approximately 200 letters and 46 postcards from internationally known poets, anthropologists and folklorists including Michael Corr, Robert Creeley, Ted Enslin, Jerome Rothenberg, Gary Snyder, Nathaniel Tarn, and Dennis Tedlock; approximately 1,219 items of business records including subscription lists, permissions, budget reports, advertising information, copyrights, requisitions, correspondence with other magazines, and other related documents; and miscellaneous photographs and peripherals.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in five series: I. Manuscripts (15 boxes alphabetized), II. Business records (9 boxes semi-sorted by issue), III. Letters (15 boxes alphabetized), IV. Photographs (2 boxes unsorted), and V. Peripherals (1 box unsorted).

Acquisition Information

Donated to the Poetry Collection by Dennis Tedlock, SUNY Distinguished Professor and James H. McNulty Chair of English at the State University of New York at Buffalo, in December 1989.

Related Resources

Alcheringa. Poetry Periodical Collection (shelved by title).

"Statement of Intention" by Dennis Tedlock and Jerome Rothenberg from Alcheringa Issue One, 1970. UBU Web Ethnopoetics: Discourses. UBU Web Ethnopoetics: Discourses.

Processing Information

Collection processed by Poetry Collection staff.

Source

Title
Finding aid for Alcheringa collection
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by James Maynard and revised by Marie Elia.
Date
2008
Description rules
Finding Aid Prepared Using Local Best Practices
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the The Poetry Collection Repository

Contact:
420 Capen Hall
Buffalo New York 14260-1674 US
716-645-2917
716-645-3714 (Fax)