November 9, 2022
Beat Movement: Poetry and Broadsides
The broadsides and posters in this collection document the poetic and aesthetic revolution in literature and arts in the 1950s, challenging the repressive and even censorial nature of U.S. society. Diverse in size, quality, and quantity – from mimeographs to fine letterpress print – broadsides have been important vehicles for political, social, and cultural commentary on a profusion of subjects including such diverse topics as politics, free love, the anti-war movement, environmental consciousness, civil rights, and free speech. The broadsides in this collection are critical primary research materials, artfully revealing the dynamic social movements of the 1950s and 1960s.