Skip to main content

NEWSPAPERS WITH ARTICLES BY AND ABOUT NICHOLS, 2000-2007

 File — Box: 116

Scope and Content

From the Collection: John Nichols' papers document a wide range of history and culture and personal connections in New Mexico (and elsewhere) over the last 55 years. This all-inclusive collection contains almost every draft of every manuscript Nichols has written, and every piece of correspondence that he has sent and received since the late 1950s. The collection not only documents the creation and evolution of his literary works, but precisely documents the literary process. His correspondence, speeches, and artwork chronicle contemporary political and social issues and shed light not only on John Nichols, but also illuminate the perspectives of a large array of contemporary literary, political, and everyday figures and issues in New Mexico and around the globe.

Activities, 1970-2008: These files include speeches, political organizing, trips, magazine articles, and many other projects and activities undertaken by Nichols.

Articles, 1969-2007: Contain various newspaper and magazine articles about John Nichols and his books.

Artwork, 1969-2004: Sketchbooks, drawings and cartoons by John Nichols. Significant works including a complete set of pen and ink calavera drawings, artists proofs, and etchings of calaveras done to illustrate The Magic Journey; published and unpublished political cartoons, mostly done during the 1970s for Albuquerque's alternative newspaper, Seer's Catalogue, and illustrations and cartoons done for Hamilton College's track & field newsletter The Good Scout.

Book Reviews, 1965-2007: Published reviews of John Nichols' books.

Book/Film Contracts, 1964-2012: Xerox copies of some of the main contracts Nichols has signed for book publishing, film options, and screen-writing assignments. With a few magazine and journal and audio recording pufferies thrown in.

Book/Movie/Agent Correspondence, 1963-2007: This consists of files of correspondence between Nichols and agents, editors, publishers, producers, directors, production people, and others involved with his professional life of writing books and screenplays.

Correspondence 1950s-1960s, 1950-2012: This series contains letters from Nichols' teenage years, while at Hamilton College, and then living in New York City until 1969. Later correspondence is often included, the criteria being that the letter exchanges began in the 1950s or 1960s.

Envelope Diaries, 1998-2002: Envelope diaries and field observations played a huge role in creating Nichols' literature. He kept a record of hikes on the backs of envelopes and carefully typed up these transcripts afterwards. Once he began carrying a little tape recorder that was the end of the envelope diary field notes.

Eulogies, 1980-2007: Written by John Nichols for some of his departed friends.

Fan Letters, 1969-2011: Consist mainly of letters to Nichols, mostly from strangers, commenting on his books or other projects, and of carbons of some of his typed replies to these letters from strangers.

General Correspondence, 1970-2012

Jouranl/Diary Ephemera, 1955-1966: Ephemera connected to Nichols' life between age 15-26, during prep school and college and a few years after college.

Journal/Diary Files, 1956-2007: Nichols has kept journals off and on since age fifteen.

Manuscripts, 1957-2012: This series contains nearly every draft of every title that John Nichols wrote between 1957 and 2012. Notable titles include "The Sterile Cuckoo" and the New Mexico Trilogy: "The Milagro Beanfield War," "The Magic Journey," and "The Nirvana Blues."

Memorabilia, 1968-1997: Hermes Rocket typewriter used to type Milagro, and Olympia typewriter used to type manuscripts from 1974 until 1997, when Nichols finally began using the computer.

Miscellaneous Carbons, 1964-2009: These are carbon copies of business and personal letters, typed by Nichols and not matched up with correspondence files elsewhere.

Novel Notes, 1961-2006: Notes that Nichols scribbled in notebooks and on the backs of envelopes. He often wrote dozens of variations on a theme in notebooks trying to get a handle, find a starting point.

Phone Messages, 1987-2007

Photographs, 1955-2013: This is a cross-section of photographs of Nichols, his family and friends, lots of photographs related to publicity for his books, or hiking mesas and climbing mountains.

Photography Workshops in Taos, 1988-1998: Nichols' friend sponsored the Owens Valley Photography Workshops (begun in 1975) for many years. The workshops catered to serious, and usually large-format, photographers in the mold of Ansel Adams and others of his ilk. Nichols guest lectured at the workshop for 10 summers, beginning in 1988.

Pocket Notebooks, 1980-2010: Things to do, lists, notes for novels, field notes when hiking, random thoughts, and so forth.

Publications, 1959-2007: Magazines and newspapers containing articles by or about Nichols. This includes prep school and college literary magazines, the Hamilton Spectator and New Mexico Review.

Request Letters, 1970-2012: Mostly letters from people asking John Nichols to "do stuff," like read their books, blurb their books, find them a publisher, come and speak to their class, do a workshop, contribute books for their benefit auction, etc.

Royalty Statements,1965-2011

Screenplays, 1965-2004: Includes screenplays, drafts, and edited drafts of screenplays written by Nichols, or written by others as adaptations of Nichols' works. Notable titles include "Missing" and "The Milagro Beanfield War."

Slides, 1960-2000: Most of the slides were taken between 1973 and 1995, primarily in and around Nichols' Taos home, in Taos proper, or around the immediate Taos valley and western mesas, or on some of the small streams southeast of Taos or in the mountains of Taos County.

Videos 1984-2013: This is a collection of videos include interviews or documentariesJohn Nichols has done I've done or documentaries I've done, or have been included in.

Dates

  • 2000-2007

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research, however, researchers must sign consent form prior to gaining access to materials. Calavera drawings, proofs, and etchings as well as "little diaries" (Boxes 14, 125, 126, 129, 142) are housed in high security and may require up to 24 hours for retrieval. Enlarged photocopies and typed transcriptions of "little diaries" in Box 142 are located in Box 184.

Extent

From the Collection: 184 boxes (172 cu. ft.)

General

INSIDE/OUTSIDE. January 2000. "Synopsis of My Great, Made-For-Movies, New Novel. (Voice of the Butterfly) pp. 18-21.

TEMPO (Magazine of The Taos News) - February 24, 2000. "An Avalanche of Words." Profile of JTN by Phaedra Greenwood. Cover story. p. 14-16.

THE BLOOMSBURY REVIEW - May/June 2000. Review, Dancing on the Stones. p. 20.

ALBUQUERQUE ALIBI - June 22-28, 2000. Interview with JTN. p. 33-35. Includes review of Dancing on the Stones.

CORRALES COMMENT - June 24, 2000. Commentary excerpt from my Library Convention speech in Taos on April 27, 200. p. 3-4.

THE BLOOMSBURY REVIEW - May/June 2001. "A Memory in Nature." Profile of Dave Petersen. p. 3,6.

MOUNTAIN GAZETTE 80 - May/June 2001. "Gone Fishin'," excerpt from On Top of Spoon Mountain. p.22-24.

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC (Arizona Diary section) - July 16, 2000. "On That First Trip to the West." p. F4.

THE ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE - August 25, 2000. John Nichols at 60, "A Maverick's Journey" by Andy Lenderman. p. C1, C3. Photos by Toby Jorrin.

BOOK TALK, NM Book League. October 2000. Reprint of "Read Free or Die." p. 1-5.

THE SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN - May - September, 2001. Serialization of The Voice of the Butterfly. 16 installments of "The Voice of the Butterfly" in Focus section.

BOULDER WEEKLY - July 12-18, 2001. "The Voice of John Nichols." By Amy Taylor. p. 15.

INSIDE/OUTSIDE - August 2001. Interview by John Nizalowski. With a review of An American Child Supreme. p.28-31.

MOUNTAIN GAZETTE 82 - September/October 2001. "Bloomsday in the Wilderness." p.24-27. Excerpt from On Top of Spoon Mountain.

INSIDE/OUTSIDE - January/February 2002. "A Memory in Nature." Profile of Dave Petersen. p.32-35.

THE ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE - May 10, 2002. John Nichols on Mother's Day. p. C4. Includes fotos of Brownie and Monique.

MOUNTAIN GAZETTE 88 - September/October 2002. "Old Man and the Mountain." Excerpt from On Top of Spoon Mountain. p.46-49.

INSIDE/OUTSIDE - Oct/Nov 2003. Excerpt from start of "The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn." p. 14-16.

INSIDE/OUTSIDE - July/August 2004. "High and Alone." About my mountain climbing and bighorns, etc. p.6-7.

LOS ANGELES TIMES: OUTDOOR - Sept. 14, 2004. First Person: An Unstable Relationship That He Can Count On. About climbing the mountains. p. F4

THE TAOS NEWS (AND SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN) - 2004 (or 2005? I don't have exact date.) Aamodt, Schmaamodt: Who Really Gets the Water? A 4-page newspaper pullout (undated) of speech I gave at a Pojoaque Basin Water Alliance benefit in Nambe on July 18, 2004.

MOUNTAIN GAZETTE 114 - June 2005. "Spoon Mountain." Excerpt from On Top of Spoon Mountain. pp. 24-27.

MILITANT ROGER, Vol. 1, Fall 2006. Slick magazine published by Taos group that crashed after this issue, which included works by Gioconda Belli, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Naomi Shihab Nye, Erin Currier, many others. My story was an excerpt from On Top of Spoon Mountain called, "I Have a Gun, You Bastards, and I'm Coming Out!" pp. 12-16.

NEW MEXICO MUSEUMS & MONUMENTS - 2006. Advertising supplement of Alb. Journal. "The Real Thing: Museums and Why They Matter." pp. 2-3.

HORSEFLY, VOL. 9. NO. 1 - January 15, 2007. (Monthly newspaper in Taos put out by Bill Whaley.) "He Was a Friend of Mine." (Obituary for my friend Leo Garen.)p.1, and p. 33.

HORSEFLY, VOL. 9, NO. VI - June 15, 2007. "Cookie: May 25, 2007." Eulogy for my cat. Front page. Another front page article is by my friend Taylor Streit, called "Fishing and Writing with John Nichols." About an afternoon we spent on the Rio Grande.

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451