Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library ephemera collection
Overview
Contains printed and visual ephemera related to drugs, drug use, sex, and counterculture collected by the Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1816-2009
Language of Materials
English, French, German, Spanish.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research. A portion of this collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
11.6 linear feet (16 boxes and 1 volume)Contains printed and visual ephemera related to drugs, drug use, sex, and counterculture collected by the Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library. Print ephemera materials (Series I) is made up of a vast array of textual materials relating to drugs, sex, and counterculture in the United States and beyond, mainly throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. Included in this are significant amounts of counter-cultural organizations ephemera and records, as well as articles, publication, television and film scripts, interviews, and more on drug- and counterculture-related topics. Further print ephemera includes pamphlets, brochures, flyers, and promotional materials relating to drug use, drug education and anti-drug causes, legalization and decriminalization of various drugs, counterculture events and museums, and more. Additional materials relate to the writing and publication of poetry, mainly in the latter half of the twentieth century. Visual ephemera (Series II) contains a broad array of materials related to drugs, sex, and counterculture movements, including political movements and causes mainly in the latter half of the twentieth century. This includes calendars and agendas, greeting and post cards, stamps and LSD blotter papers, book covers, stickers, badges, and magnets, tickets, advertisements, and much more. Materials in this series relate to drug crimes, legalization, and drug culture, and there are items of politically-based ephemera as well, relating to the Vietnam War, George W. Bush’s presidency, Mao Tse Dong’s leadership of China, the 1968 workers’ strike in France, socialism in Germany, and more.
Biographical / Historical
The Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library is the world’s largest private collection of material on altered states of mind. The collection was formed by Julio Mario Santo Domingo Jr. (1957–2009), an investment advisor who resigned his business interests to devote himself to collecting.
Arrangement
Arranged into two series: I. Print ephemera materials, and II. Visual ephemera materials.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2015M-85. Deposited by Julio Mario Santo Domingo III; received: 2012 April. Forms part of the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection.
Processing Information
Processed by Betts Coup, 2019.
- Title
- Santo Domingo, Julio Mario, collector. Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library ephemera collection, circa 1816-2009 (MS Am 3276): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2018 April 9
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou03147
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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