Between C & D Archive
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Abstract
Between C & D was one of the most influential literary magazines of the New York downtown scene in the 1980s, founded by Joel Rose and Catherine Texier in 1983. Taking its name from the location of Rose and Texier's apartment where it was produced--on East 7th Street between Avenues C & D on Manhattan's Lower East Side--the magazine provided one of the major downtown venues for "new fiction" of both established and emerging writers like Patrick McGrath, Dennis Cooper, Gary Indiana, Kathy Acker, Lynne Tillman, and David Wojnarowicz, to name only a few. Rose and Texier's vision for Between C & D was to support writing that deviated from conventional norms and questioned accepted standards of literature. The magazine stopped publication in 1990. The collection contains the editorial correspondence, manuscripts, and copies of Between C & D, and various related materials.
Historical Note
Between C & D was started in 1983 by co-editors Joel Rose and Catherine Texier. Taking its name from the location of Rose and Texier's apartment where it was produced--on East Seventh Street between Avenues C and D on Manhattan's Lower East Side--the magazine provided one of the major downtown venues for new fiction of both established and emerging writers like Patrick McGrath, Dennis Cooper, Gary Indiana, Kathy Acker, Lynne Tillman, and David Wojnarowicz, to name only a few. Rose and Texier are themselves important writers of the downtown scene. Rose has written two novels: Kill the Poor and Kill Kill Faster Faster; Texier is the author of novels Chloe l'Atlantique, written in her native French, and Love Me Tender, in English. As the cover of Between C & D illustrates, sex, drugs, violence, danger and computers were recurring motifs throughout the life of the magazine. Rose and Texier utilized the computer technology available to them in the production of the magazine. Not only were the layouts done on an Epson computer, but each issue was individually printed in their apartment on dot-matrix printers. Each issue was then individually packed into a Ziploc bag reminiscent of those used to sell drugs in the neighborhood. Rose and Texier's vision for Between C & D was to support writing that deviated from conventional norms and questioned accepted standards of literature. Thus, much of the writing featured in Between C & D focuses on the gritty underside of urban living; often shock value is employed, and the safety of middle-class standards are attacked for their underlying hypocrisy. In 1988, Penguin published an anthology of Between C & D for its Contemporary American Fiction series that included twenty-five writers chosen by Rose and Texier to represent the magazine's scope and content. The magazine stopped publication in 1990.
Arrangement
Folders are arranged alphabetically by subject/author heading within the correspondence and manuscript series. In other series, folders are essentially alphabetically arranged with some anomalies to accommodate the various material types contained therein. The series containing issues of the magazine are arranged chronologically.
The files are grouped into six series and further subdivided into subseries for oversized materials.
- Series I: Correspondence and Business Files
- Series II: Productions Files
- Series III: Joel's Copy with All Variants
- Series IV: Anthology
- Series V: Ephemera
- Series VI: Printed Material
Scope and Content Note
The Between C & D Archive was acquired via purchase from Joel Rose and Catherine Texier in July of 1996. The collection included a complete set of Joel's copy of the magazine with all variants, correspondence, manuscripts, posters, business files, ephemera, including the computer used for the production of the magazine, and miscellaneous printed materials. The collection was built by the editors of Between C & D, Joel Rose and Catherine Texier, themselves established writers and longtime members of the New York literary scene. The collection was sorted by Marvin J. Taylor once it arrived at NYU. Printed materials were removed and catalogued in the Downtown Collection and are listed in BobCat. A special subject heading "Downtown Writers" was given to all materials in the collection as a means of retrieving all works about downtown New York. Archival materials were sorted into series and processed later. Oversized archival materials from the various series are located in an oversize box at the end of the collection.
The Between C & D Archive comprises incoming and outgoing correspondence and business files for both the magazine and the anthology; production files for the magazine; a complete run of the magazine with all variants; manuscripts, posters, and original art; ephemera, including the computer used in the production of the magazine; disks containing the print files for the magazine, outgoing correspondence, and other related data for both the magazine and anthology; and miscellaneous printed materials. The scope of the archive is comprehensive in that it contains all records and files of the magazine and anthology kept by Joel Rose and Catherine Texier, editors of the magazine. As much as possible, the editors' original organization of the material was preserved.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS:
Series I: Correspondence and Business Files
Series I contains three boxes of business and correspondence related materials, including administrative and financial records, manuscripts and cover art, arranged alphabetically in keeping with the original order of the files as received.
Series II: Production Files
Series II contains three boxes of production related materials for Between C & D.
Series III: Complete set of Between C & D
Series III contains two boxes of Joel's copy of the complete set of Between C & D with all variants.
Series IV: Anthology
Series IV contains one box of materials relating to the Between C & D anthology, including manuscripts, the galley, author biographies, permissions, publicity, correspondence and contracts.
Series V: Ephemera
Series V contains three boxes of Epson computer components, including the keyboard and monitor, and one box containing the floppy disks on which are located the print files for the magazine and anthology as well as back-up mailing lists, administrative forms, outgoing editorial correspondence and author biographies for the anthology, as well as two small gray boxes of stamp art used in the production of the magazine.
Series VI: Printed Material
Series VI contains one box of miscellaneous printed materials arranged alphabetically. Included are various little magazines contemporaneous with Between C & D and often containing fiction by authors that appear in Between C & D.
Oversize: A flat oversize box at the end of the collection contains oversize materials from Series I, II and IV.
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Access Restrictions
Materials are open for research. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); collection name; MSS number; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
Purchased from Joel Rose and Catherine Texier in July of 1996, the printed materials were removed and cataloged in the Downtown Collection and are listed in BobCat (a special subject heading "Downtown Writers" was given to all materials in the collection as a means of retrieving all works about downtown New York). Archival materials were sorted into series and processed later. As much as possible, the editors' original organization of the material was preserved.
Separated Material
Printed materials were removed and catalogued in the Downtown Collection. These items are listed in Bobcat. A local subject heading "Downtown Writers" was given to all materials in the collection as a means of retrieving all works about downtown New York
About this Guide
Processing Information
In March 2016, boxes from Series II-Series VI and one oversize box were renumbered to numerically follow boxes in Series I. Researchers with citations to previous box numbers may contact fales.library@nyu.edu for assistance with identifying box numbers.
In August 2017, three items were prepared to be moved to offsite art storage in September 2017.
