- unitid
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{"value"=>"1395", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b11868643", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 1395", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1954-2001", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1954/2001"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Jamake Highwater papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"97 boxes, 2 folders", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"54.2 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Manuscripts and Archives</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Jamake Highwater (born circa. 1930) was the director and choreographer for the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers from 1954 to 1967, and a rock music journalist and travel writer from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. From 1975 on, he was been primarily a lecturer and an author of fiction and non-fiction, dealing mostly with American Indian arts and culture, and with myth and ritual in general. Based in New York from 1967 until the mid-1980s, Highwater moved to Los Angeles in 1992 and died in 2001.The papers include writings by Highwater in published and typescript form, correspondence, photographs, slides, audio tapes, and films and videos, mostly pertaining to Highwater's work in modern dance and as a writer and public speaker."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Highwater, Jamake", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Jamake Highwater (born circa 1930) was the director and choreographer for the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers from 1954 to 1967, and a rock music journalist and travel writer from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. The year of Jamake Highwater's birth is unknown, but was probably between 1930 and 1933. (A more exact date is unavailable, as Highwater, who was adopted as a child, has evidently not had access himself to accurate information concerning the date or place of his birth.) When he was about five years old, he became the foster son of a Southern California couple, Marcia and Alexander Marks, who later adopted him.</p> <p>Known as Jack Marks or Jay Marks, Highwater grew up in the San Fernando Valley, near Los Angeles. Although his childhood was in many ways a difficult time, there were several adults from those years whom he came to credit as lasting influences in his life. Among them was one of his grammar school teachers, Alta Black, who recognized and nurtured his writing talent; the others were Frederick and Virginia Dorr and Frances Grigsby, neighbors of the Markses, who shared their extensive library and record collection with him.</p> <p>After graduating from high school in 1950, Highwater attended college in the Los Angeles area for several years. During this period, he became interested in modern dance and choreography; at the same time, he continued to work seriously at writing. He was encouraged in this latter pursuit by Anais Nin, whom he met in 1952 through his friend James Leo Herlihy, then an employee of a Hollywood bookstore. (A memorable letter from Nin to Highwater on \"why one writes\" is in Box 2, along with other correspondence from Nin.) In 1954, Highwater moved to San Francisco and found work teaching modern dance at a small neighborhood school. About six months later, he and several of his fellow instructors left to form their own dance company, the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers. By then calling himself J Marks, Highwater was the company's director and choreographer for the next twelve years. He also wrote occasional articles for dance magazines, and edited a Bay Area periodical for the performing arts, <span class=\"title\">Contemporary</span>, from 1960 to 1962.</p> <p>Frustrated by a lack of widespread critical and popular acceptance for the Contemporary Dancers in San Francisco, Highwater moved to New York in 1967. There, as part of a joint project with Karlheinz Stockhausen, whom he had known in California, Highwater began rehearsing the newly-reorganized Contemporary Dancers in a music and dance program to premiere in Europe in 1968. Although this work never came to fruition, the <span class=\"title\">Saturday Review</span> published an article by Highwater about the collaboration in its September 30, 1967 issue. \"Conversations With Stockhausen\" was the first piece of writing for which Highwater was paid; he later came to view its success as pivotal in his leaving a career in dance to write professionally.</p> <p>Through a friend, Highwater met an executive at Bantam Books who was receptive to Highwater's proposal to do a book on contemporary rock music. <span class=\"title\">Rock and Other Four Letter Words</span>, with photographs by Linda Eastman, was published in December 1968. Over the next several years, articles and music reviews by Highwater (still known at the time as J Marks) appeared in a variety of publications, including Ingenue, the <span class=\"title\">Los Angeles Free Press</span>, and the <span class=\"title\">Chicago Tribune</span>. His second book, <span class=\"title\">Mick Jagger: The Singer, Not the Song</span> a \"non-fiction novel,\" appeared in 1973.</p> <p>The 1969 takeover of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay by members of the American Indian Movement, and Highwater's visit in 1970 to a Pueblo Indian historic site caused him to begin to think seriously about issues pertaining to American Indians. Information he apparently received from an affidavit by his adoptive mother in 1974 led him to conclude that one or both of his biological parents had indeed had \"Indian blood,\" as he had previously believed, and that his birth name had been Jamake Highwater. During the early 1970s, while Highwater worked as a travel writer for Eugene Fodor's Modern Guides and continued to write articles on a free-lance basis, his byline evolved from J Marks to J Marks-Highwater, Jamake Mamake Highwater, and finally to Jamake Highwater. Fodor's Indian America, published in 1975, was Highwater's first book under that name.</p> <p>From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Highwater produced more than a dozen books and numerous articles dealing with different aspects of Native American art, dance, and mythology. Among his non-fiction books from this time period were <span class=\"title\">Song From the Earth: American Indian Painting</span> (1976), <span class=\"title\">Ritual of the Wind: North American Indian Ceremonies, Music and Dances</span> (1977), and <span class=\"title\">The Primal Mind: Vision and Reality in Indian America</span> (1981). His novels included <span class=\"title\">Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey</span> (1977), <span class=\"title\">The Sun, He Dies: A Novel About the End of the Aztec World</span> (1980), <span class=\"title\">Eyes of Darkness</span> (1983), and the first three volumes of his \"Ghost Horse Cycle\" quartet, <span class=\"title\">Legend Days</span> (1984), <span class=\"title\">The Ceremony of Innocence</span> (1985), and <span class=\"title\">I Wear the Morning Star</span> (1986).</p> <p>During those years, Highwater lived in New York City in Soho, which was then evolving from a warehouse district to an artists' community. From 1975 to 1979, he was the classical music editor for the <span class=\"title\">Soho Weekly News</span>, a lecturer at New York University's School of Continuing Education from 1979 through 1985, and a frequent guest speaker at numerous conferences and workshops. He also hosted several series and programs for the Public Broadcasting System, including \"Native Americans\" in 1983, and \"The Primal Mind,\" based on his book, in 1985.</p> <p>In 1984, Highwater established the Native Land Foundation, a non-profit trust for the promotion of world folk art and its influence on the visual and performing arts, through the sponsorship of lectures, documentaries, art exhibitions, and related activities. The Native Land Research Center, a conference site and resource library, was created on property purchased by the Foundation near Hampton, Connecticut. Highwater and his friend, the horticulturist John Williamson, moved there from New York in 1985. Since 1980, Highwater had been receiving an increasing number of attacks from several Indian activists who questioned his claims to Indian ancestry. Among the more unusual accusations was one put forth by Hank Adams of Seattle, who alleged that Highwater was in fact the experimental filmmaker Gregory J. Markopoulos. Adams's charges culminated in a lawsuit filed against Highwater in Seattle in 1986, asserting that Highwater had falsified his Indian identity in order to obtain federal funding for his projects. The charges were dismissed, but controversy over Highwater's ethnic identity persisted. (Documentation of the attacks on Highwater is in Boxes 34 and 84.)</p> <p>Disappointed by the failure of many Indian friends and associates to support him against the attacks of Adams and others, and feeling that in any case he had exhausted the topics of Indian art and culture, Highwater began to emphasize more general themes in his writings after 1985. His next non-fiction work was a collection of essays, mostly about artist friends and acquaintances, <span class=\"title\">Shadow Show: An Autobiographical Insinuation</span>, which was published in 1986. <span class=\"title\">Myth and Sexuality</span>, an overview of attitudes about sexuality in different times and places, appeared in 1990. It was dedicated to the memory of John Williamson, who had died at forty in 1988.</p> <p>In 1992, the administrative staff of the Native Land Foundation, including Highwater, relocated to Los Angeles. His <span class=\"title\">Kill Hole</span>, the last of the \"Ghost Horse Cycle\" novels, was published in September 1992. Highwater died in 2001.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Jamake Highwater and the Native Land Foundation gave the initial donation of Highwater's papers to the New York Public Library in 1992, shortly before the Foundation's move to Los Angeles.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Jamake Highwater Papers consist chiefly of Highwater's writings, in typescript and published form; newspaper and magazine articles about Highwater; correspondence; and items documenting his lecture tours, mass media projects, and other activities. There are also photographs, slides and films that document Highwater's work as a lecturer, his involvment with the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers, publicity pictures of Highwater himself, and his work with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Also included are numerous interviews with notable rock musicians for the book <span class=\"title\">Rock and Other Four Letter Words</span>. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1970s and 1980s, and documents Highwater's public career as a writer and lecturer. Except for some correspondence with friends and relatives, there is very little of a personal nature. Biographical information on Highwater may be found in the materials concerning his identity in Box 34, and in the multiple revisions of his memoir, <span class=\"title\">I Took the Fire</span>.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Jamake Highwater papers are arranged in thirteen series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c1552804'>I. Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1954-1990</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The correspondence in Series I dates from 1954 to ca. 1990, and consists mostly of incoming letters from fans, editors, et al. concerning Highwater's writings. There is also one folder of Highwater's correspondence with members of his adoptive family, and several folders of letters from friends, including his former teacher, Alta Black, and the neighbors who had befriended Highwater in his childhood (Box 1).</p> <p>Box 2 of this series contains 'Letters from Famous People\" (the designation is Highwater's), chiefly friends and acquaintances in the fields of literature, dance and other performing arts, and cultural anthropology. Correspondents include Joseph Campbell, Ashley Montagu, Anais Nin, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.</p> <p>Other correspondence, mostly routine letters to and from Highwater or his administrative assistant concerning such matters as Highwater's lecture tours and other public appearances, is scattered among Series III, IV, and V.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21460'>II. Writings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1955-1991</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21482'>III. Writings about Jamake Highwater</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1970-1991</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series consists mostly of articles about Highwater that have appeared in various periodicals from the 1960s through the 1990s, and biographical sketches prepared for such reference works as Contemporary Authors and the Dictionary of Literary Biography. There are also several folders of reprints of articles that seem to have been compiled for the preparation of press releases for Highwater's speaking tours (see Publicity Files, Box 25).</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21488'>IV. Lecture files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1970-1991</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series is comprised of brochures and flyers from Highwater's various speaking appearances, as well as contracts, arrangements correspondence, and scattered clippings concerning Highwater's lectures. Materials date from the mid-1970s to 1991.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21493'>V. Other materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1967-1991</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Boxes 29 and 30 of Series V contain correspondence, leaflets, programs, and other items pertaining to cultural festivals, 1982-1991, which Highwater helped to organize. The \"Media Projects\" materials in Boxes 31 and 32 include librettos and sheet music from rock musicals on which Highwater worked in the 1960s, and scripts and overviews for his Native American-related television programs of the 1970s and 1980s. Box 33 contains Highwater's notes from visits to Ireland in 1974 and Central America in 1977.</p> <p>The contents of Box 34 offer a detailed look at the charges of Highwater's inauthenticity by Hank Adams and others; materials include correspondence with lawyers and journalists, articles on Highwater, legal documents and other items produced as evidence in Adams's suit against Highwater. Finally, Box 35 holds materials on contemporary Native American art, mostly biographical sketches of artists and correspondence with artists and curators. There is also one folder of clippings on such topics as treaty violations and American Indian Movement activities, labeled \"American Indian Political.\"</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21508'>VI. Slides, photographs, and drawings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1954-1988</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The slides in the Jamake Highwater Papers (Boxes 36-39) pertain to Native American arts and handicrafts, traditional and contemporary; many were apparently compiled for use in Highwater's writings on Indian art. Similarly, about half the photographs in Series 6 (Boxes 40-45) also depict Indian art objects and artifacts. The photographs in Boxes 46-48 concern dance: there are pictures of the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers Company, and of other modern dance and ballet companies and individual dancers. Box 49 contains Linda Eastman's photographs for Rock and Other Four Letter Words, and several photos of the rock band the Doors, by an unknown photographer. Box 50 holds photographs of Highwater, apparently for use as publicity stills, probably taken in the 1970s and 1980s. Box 51 contains drawings, mock-ups for a planned children's book (apparently never published) called \"Hop, Skip, and Blow Your Mind: A Rock Book for Hip Kids.\"</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21527'>VII. Oversize materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1968-1991</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series features a wide variety of items: festival posters, dance photographs, a scrapbook on Highwater's second book, Mick Jagger, and other materials.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21535'>VIII. Audiovisual Material</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1958-1994, n.d.</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The audiovisual material consists of Highwater's interviews with rock musicians, including members of the Grateful Dead, the Who, and Moby Grape; lectures by and interviews with Highwater on American Indian music, art, and culture; and performances of Highwater's choreography. There are also a number of tapes of what appear to be experimental music performances by Highwater and friends. Material produced by the Native Land Foundation cover presentations from Festival Mythos and films derived from Highwater's books. Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) productions are of Highwater's show \"Native Americans\" and his appearances on other PBS shows. Miscellaneous material includes Highwater's renaming ceremony by Ed Calf Robe, footage of Highwater in Japan, and various other items.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21637'>IX . 1993 Additions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1965-1993</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains material that Jamake Highwater and the Native Land Foundation added to the Highwater Papers in increments during 1993. These materials, which have been kept together in the groups in which they were received, include fan letters from readers, clippings of articles that mention Highwater, and a few press releases. There are also an undergraduate thesis on Highwater by an anthropology student, notes from Highwater's work as a consultant to Star Trek: Voyager, and a typescript, The Language of Vision and an updated draft of Highwater's memoir I Took the Fire. Items date from 1965 to 1993, with the bulk of them originating in the early 1990s.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21647'>X. 1994 Additions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1986-1994</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series X. includes fan letters, as well as some items of personal correspondence; press releases and flyers; and a typescript of Athletes of the Gods (1986), as well as published copies of books. Box 56 contains a musical score by Lucia Dlugoszewski.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21654'>XI. 1995 Additions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1967-1995</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>These additions include some correspondence, mostly from readers; typescripts, including four versions of Athletes of the Gods; and printed matter. The bulk of Series XII. dates from the 1990s.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21670'>XII. 1995-1997 Additions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1985-1997</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series, like the others, includes fan letters, many from children; personal and professional correspondence, typescripts, and printed matter. Of note are a small number of photographs of two of the adults who befriended Jamake Highwater when he was a child, Virginia Dorr and Frances Grigsby (Box 79). Finally, Box 80 contains Highwaters first and most candid version of his memoir I Took the Fire previously closed to researchers.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1395#c21691'>XIII. 2007 Additions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1960-2001</div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Jamake Highwater and the Native Land Foundation, donated in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2007.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Laura K. O'Keefe; revised by Susan Malsbury.</p> <p>The arrangement of these materials basically reflects their original order at the Native Land Foundation. In most cases, the folder titles are Highwater's own.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Audio tapes, videos, films, and filmstrips are unavailable to researchers pending further processing.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donors retain copyright to all works by Highwater, including writings, recordings and photographs. Contact: Native Land Foundation, 8491 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90069</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p><span class=\"archref\">Researchers should note that the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center houses a number of films, photographs, books, and articles donated by Highwater, mostly pertaining to his work with the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers. (A print-out that lists these items is filed in NYPL's Rare Books and Manuscripts Reading Room with a copy of this inventory.) For further information, researchers should contact the curator of the dance collection at the following address: Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498, dance@nypl.org.</span></p>"}
- date_start
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1954
- keydate
-
1954
- date_end
-
2001
- date_inclusive_start
-
1954
- date_inclusive_end
-
2001
- extent_statement
-
54.2 linear feet (97 boxes, 2 folders)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Jamake Highwater papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library"}