Gregory Battcock papers, 1952-circa 1980

This series contains address lists, six appointment books, Battcock's Michigan State University diploma and certificate from the Comité National des Vins de France, family history documents, passports and other IDs, interviews, resumes, Battcock's obituary and invitation to his memorial service, a file consisting of mainly correspondence while teaching at William Paterson College of New Jersey, and membership files for A.N.D. (Arts Need the Disabled), The Bronx Museum, Committee to Save the SS Cristoforo Colombo, and International Association of Art Critics.

Correspondence is with Battcock's mother, Elizabeth; friends and colleagues Peter Frank, John George, Al Goldstein, Braniff Livingston, Robert McGeehan, Julio Neri, Judith Van Baron, and others; and to art critics and artists requesting permission to edit and reprint writings for multiple book anthology projects. Other correspondence is regarding travel arrangements, real estate, and freelance work. Some of Battcock's most colorful letters are with his close friend and neighbor in New York, Ron Whyte.

Battcock's writings include a handful of personal journal entries; drafts for articles and essays on travel, art, and gossip; manuscripts for published and unpublished works including "The Story of Film" and Breaking the Sound Barrier: A Critical Anthology of the New Music; his dissertation titled "Constructivism and Minimal Art: Some Critical, Theoretical and Aesthetic Correlations"; book proposals; and lectures presented at the American Theater Academy and the University of Hartford's Art Education Today Program. Battcock's other writings include limericks, restaurant reviews, notes, and a play titled "The Ticket Counter." Writings by others include material by Jorge Glusbert and Vivienne Thaul Wechter's "Distant and Hovering Journey."

This series is arranged by type and chronologically thereafter.

Files for artists Gisela Beker, Cee Brown, Jon Carsman, Christo, Jerry Dreva, Jacques Halbert, Emil Hess, Les Levine, Naoto Nakagawa, Nam Jun Paik, Harry Partch, Lil Picard, Philip Pocock, H.A. Schult, Andy Warhol and other artists consist of primarily printed materials, with scattered writings and correspondence. The file for Salvador Dalí contains a video recording and the file for Ron Whyte contains a sketchbook that presumably belonged to Whyte.

Battcock's financial files include invoices and royalty statements for articles written for Domus magazine and for books published by his long-time publishing company E.P. Dutton and Co., Inc. Legal papers include agreements for partnerships with film companies, an agreement to loan Andy Warhol's "Self Portrait" to the Pasadena Art Museum, the estate papers of Battcock's father, contracts and statements for properties in New York and Puerto Rico, and files detailing two painting by Malcom Morley that were stolen from Battcock's residence.

Clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, flyers, post cards, magazines, and press releases are found in this series. Issues of Trylon & Perisphere, The News from Gregory Battcock press releases, and many other magazines and clippings found within the series feature Battcock's writings. A few oversized folders of Gay magazine were collected for an unrealized anthology project conceived of by Battcock and Whyte.

Clippings of Battcock's writings that appeared in the New York Free Press, New York Review of Sex and Politics, Domus, The Soho Weekly News, New York Arts Journal, Gay, Arts Magazine, and other publications are contained in ten scrapbooks.

Scrapbooks are arranged in rough chronological order. The scrapbooks were removed from binders but pages remain in their original order.

This series includes snapshots and professional photographs of Battcock with friends, at social events, appearing in Andy Warhol's film Batman Dracula, with colleagues at Arts Magazine and the International Association of Art Critics, and with the Braniff Airlines plane painted by artist Alexander Calder. Photographs of Calder, Warhol, Nam Jun Paik, Julio Neri, Rolando Peña, Stephen Varble, and Scott Burton are also in this series. Other photographs are of Battcock's travels to Europe, South America, and Puerto Rico, along with photographs of works of art from his personal collection.

This series contains several keys and a detached keychain labeled 'studio'.