Anthony Rayson zine collection
Scope and Contents
This collection contains zines and other materials mostly created and/or distributed by Anthony Rayson through his South Chicago ABC Zine Distro. Most zines, artwork, and other materials in the collection contain political, anarchist, and/or social justice-related commentary and imagery.
Dates
- 1970-2020
- Majority of material found within 1998-2020
Creator
- Rayson, Anthony (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research use.
Biographical / Historical
Anthony Rayson (b. 1954) is a writer, political activist, and self-described anarchist. Rayson authored the zine Thought Bombs, creates and contributes to numerous other zines, and assists incarcerated people with the publication and distribution of their own zines. Rayson operates South Chicago ABC Zine Distro, a distribution network that provides zines to incarcerated people free-of-charge.
Extent
17 Linear Feet (36 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Spanish; Castilian
Arrangement
This collection is organized into 20 series: 1. Biographical; 2. Anarchism; 3. Art; 4. Catalogs, Directories, and Resource Lists; 5. Comics; 6. DIY and How-to; 7. Feminism; 8. Health; 9. Literary; 10. Music; 11. Personal; 12. Poetry; 13. Police; 14. Political; 15. Prison; 16. Queer; 17. Race and Ethnicity; 18. Religion and Spirituality; 19. Zines about Zines; 20. Oversized.
The first series contains biographical materials related to Anthony Rayson, followed by series in alphabetical order representing different zine genres or formats. Whenever possible, individual file titles include information about the author/creator (example: Thought Bombs #1 [Anthony Rayson]). The collection was almost entirely rearranged and redescribed in 2021, creating new and different series based on more commonly understood zine genres.
Throughout this finding aid, people held in prisons and jails are referred to as prisoners or incarcerated people based on the most widely accepted terminology used by prison activist and abolitionist groups. Additionally, many of the authors featured in this collection are self-described political prisoners.
Physical Location
4/4/I
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession 2008.04; 2013.002; 2014.142; 2015.128; 2017.007; 2018.005; 2019.019; 2020.035
Processing Information
M. McCoy 2008; J. Mann 2016; D. Potts 2018, 2019
- Anarchism in art--Archival resources Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Anarchist artists--Illinois--Archives Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Fan magazines--Archival resources Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Press and politics--Archival resources--United States Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Prisoners as artists--Archival resources Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Rayson, Anthony
- Underground periodicals--Archival resources Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Underground press publications--Archival resources--United States Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Zines--Archival resources Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Title
- Guide to Anthony Rayson zine collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- M. McCoy 2008; J. Mann 2016; D. Potts 2018, 2019, 2021
- Date
- 2017
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English
Repository Details
Part of the DePaul Special Collections and Archives Repository
John T. Richardson Library
2350 N. Kenmore Ave.
Room 314
Chicago Illinois 60614
773-325-7864
spca@depaul.libanswers.com