Collection Information
Size: 2 Linear feet
Summary: The John Bernard Myers papers span the period circa 1940s to 1987, bulk 1970-1987. The collection measures 2.0 linear feet and documents Myers's work as a writer, editor, and gallery director, and includes correspondence, writings, printed material, and photographs.
Biographical/Historical Note
During his youth in Buffalo, New York, John Bernard Myers developed life-long interests in poetry, puppets, and painting. As a teenager, he wrote poetry and established his own marionette theater. He first learned about modern art and became especially interested in Surrealism through reading European magazines and exhibition catalogs in the library of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Through helping to edit Upstate , an avant garde literary magazine, he met many like-minded friends. Myers was deemed unqualified for military service due to ruptured eardrums, so instead went to work in an airplane factory. But his membership in the Young Communist League and participation in efforts led by a Socialist Workers party colleague to upgrade job assignments and pay for qualified minorities created problems and Myers soon departed. His final two years in Buffalo were spent working in a bookstore.
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Provenance
The collection was a gift of the Estate of Ricky Dale Horton, 1990.
Related Materials
Other material relating to John Bernard Myers in the Archives of American Art includes an interview with Myers conducted by Barbara Rose, circa 1969.
Language Note
English .