Scope and Contents

The Cage Correspondence collection is comprised of correspondence and ephemera including letters, cards, clippings, catalogs, photographs, negatives, cassette tapes, music scores, and art.  Early materials focus on family correspondence and newspaper clippings and are interspersed with Cage's own notes and manuscripts.  Later correspondence is enhanced through Cage's use of "Note-o-Grams" which provides carbon copies of his sent messages.

Abstract

This is correspondence that is related to John Cage but was not given to Northwestern by the composer. Letters are between Cage and the person in the folder's title unless otherwise indicated in the container list. Of particular interest are letters from John and Xenia Cage to friends in California that relate their experiences while living in Chicago in the early 1940s.

Abstract

The John Cage Ephemera Collection is wide-ranging in scope and includes correspondence, photographs, writings, programs, scores, books, artworks, artifacts, and audio and audiovisual recordings. Most of the collection is not Cage's own work, except for materials advertising his work being performed or exhibited, and some scores, writings, performance materials, and correspondence.

Abstract John Cage was already established as an influential American composer and important leader of post-World War II avant-garde music when he began his Notations project in the mid-1960s. In 1965 the Notations project was born. Cage sent letters to hundreds of composers, visual artists, and writers soliciting manuscripts for possible inclusion in a book to benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. Some sent Cage recent creations while others contributed older works. Cage...

Abstract

The John Cage Scrapbooks are comprised of 9 scrapbooks constructed by John Cage's mother, Lucretia Cage, spanning the years 1916-1954. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, programs, ticket stubs, correspondence, and a few photographs. They document Cage's early life, mostly in photographs, and his early to mid career.