Series I contains materials related to John Suiter’s early work documenting and photo-graphing the “literary landscapes” of Jack Kerouac in Lowell, Massachusetts, and Mexico.

Series II contains materials collected and produced by John Suiter for his book Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen and Jack Kerouac in the Cascades , published in 2002 by Counterpoint Press. Primary research materials in this series include Suiter’s correspondence with various persons, including his editors and publisher at Counterpoint; his working notebooks and journals from the period; audiotapes and typed transcripts of interviews with persons of interest to the work, including poets Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Michael McClure, Philip Lamantia, and Joanne Kyger; drafts and proofs of the book, many with marginal notes by Gary Snyder and other poets; post-publication reviews, and events promoting the book. Also included are related articles and photographs by John Suiter in various periodicals during the period of working on Poets on the Peaks.

In the Special Collections and Archives at Reed College in 2007, during the course of his research on Gary Snyder’s life, Mr. Suiter identified a previously unknown 1956 recording of Allen Ginsberg reading his iconic poem, “Howl.” Seven other early Ginsberg poems are on the tape. In 2008, Mr. Suiter published an article on his discovery in Reed magazine, providing evidence that the audiotape contained the earliest-known recording of Ginsberg reading “Howl.” Later that year, Suiter published another article on a previously missing companion audiotape of Gary Snyder reading his poems on the same night. That audiotape surfaced in Portland, Oregon, after news reports of the “Howl” discovery. The Snyder tape is the earliest known recording of Gary Snyder reading, and contains 46 poems. Box 1, Folders 1-6 contain correspondence related to the Reed magazine articles on Ginsberg and Snyder. Also included are Suiter’s detailed reports on each poem on the tapes, indicating variations between the sound recordings and published versions of both Ginsberg’s and Snyder’s poems.