An accruing collection of works from the San Francisco based press of Zephyrus Image.

This collection represents the broad range of the press’s activism from Watergate to Kent State. In early May 1970, in response to Nixon’s announcement that more troupes were to be sent to support the Vietnam war, masses of students at many universities protested. At Kent State University in Ohio, nine National Guardsmen opened fire and killed four students. The Kent State Creative Arts Festival was first organised in 1973 as a result of the killings and Zephyrus Image supported it by printing a folder of nine poetry broadsides. One of those broadsides, The Waltz, by the band Devo, which had formed at Kent State the year before, could well be the first of their lyrics to appear in print. Ed Dorn was teaching at Kent State at the time and helped to organise the event which is probably why Zephyrus became involved.

The collection also includes some of the work Zephyrus Image produced with poets and writers, including their unique collaborations with Tom Raworth and Ed Dorn, and with the avant-garde film-maker Stan Brakhage.

The collection is very much a work in progress and will be added to over time.