Aram Saroyan Papers

This collection consists of Saroyan's incoming correspondence for the years 1975-1977, manuscripts and drafts, and audio recordings related to the then-pending publication of the book Genesis Angels: The Saga of Lew Welch and the Beat Generation, published in hardcover and trade paperback editions by William Morrow in 1979 and 1980 respectively (and as an ebook in 2011), and publications that feature Saroyan’s writing. The correspondence consists of returned manuscript submissions and numerous copies of Saroyan's own poems and reviews. Notable correspondents include: Donald Allen, Richard Avedon, Ed Dorn, Gerald Hausman, Dick Higgins, David Kherdian, Kenneth Koch, Timothy Leary, Gerard Malanga, Carol and Walter Matthau, Rod McKuen, Joel Oppenheimer, George Plimpton, Charles Plymell, William Saroyan, Gary Snyder, Anne Waldman, and Philip Whalen. Audio recordings made by Saroyan include a Lew Welch interview (probably copied from someone else) and Saroyan's own tapings of talks with Joanne Kyger, Magda Cregg, Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen. The collection includes photocopies of Saroyan's periodical publications from 1975-1977, both prose and poetry, and Saroyan's manuscripts and drafts from this period including Saroyan's materials for his book on Lew Welch, including extensive excerpts from a typescript of Welch correspondence. Manuscript holdings include poetry and complete drafts of the volume O My Generation and Other Poems. Saroyan's miscellaneous personal papers can be found at the end of the collection. Original copies of newspapers and periodicals in which Saroyan's work appears were included with the donation and have been subsequently cataloged separately and added to the Archives and Special Collections’ periodicals collection. Original copies of a Rolling Stone issue featuring Richard Avedon (RS224, October 21, 1976) and a California Living newspaper supplement (San Francisco Examiner, June 12, 1977) that only briefly mentions Saroyan were removed from the collection.