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66.5 linear feet (in 82 boxes) — 1 oversize folder (UAl) — 1 oversize volume — 33 open reel videotapes — 727.7 GB (online)

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.

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Sound Recordings

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The Sound Recordings subgroup of the Sinclair collection provides a unique perspective on Sinclair's interests and activities, and thus complements and expands the manuscript and photographic holdings. Including recordings of meetings, interviews, demonstrations, and musical performances, the collection strongly represents the sounds and voices of the counterculture movement.

While recording some of the same activity and covering the same basic time frames, the Sound Reels and Sound Cassettes series augment, rather than duplicate, one another. Both the reels and cassettes series are arranged in eight units. In order to facilitate access the reels are numbered sequentially within the series as a whole. Both series include recordings of meetings and interviews; the reels have the longest run of meetings (16 tapes spanning the years 1968 to 1972, with most tapes covering 1972), while the cassettes have a much larger collection of interviews.

A special strength of the Sound Cassettes is the recordings of trials and trial-related events. Included are the John Sinclair marijuana trial, "Free John" rally and prison release, and the CIA conspiracy case against Pun Plamondon. The cassettes also showcase Sinclair's involvement with community radio. The radio shows unit consists of samples taken from Sinclair's radio shows on college or public radio stations in both Michigan and New Orleans. The cassettes also include tapes of some of Sinclair's lectures on the history of Blues, Jazz and Rock and Roll music from his classes at Wayne State University.

The greatest strength of the Sound Reels is the large number of musical performances. The recordings of various "free park concerts," and the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festivals, and live recordings and studio outtakes of the MC 5, the UP, and other area musical acts, provide a valuable glimpse of the musical and cultural environment of Detroit and Ann Arbor from the late 1960's to the mid-1980's.

The Sound Discs are primarily commercial and limited-run pressings of musical groups which John Sinclair managed, or artists who recorded for Strata Records, the company Sinclair organized in 1977. Most notable are recordings of the MC 5 and the UP. Also included is a set of discs recording the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, both preliminary and final pressings. The discs are arranged by size in two chronological units.