Alan Levy Papers, 1950-2007

Summary Information

Description

Summary

Correspondence, writings, photographs, posters of Alan Levy, founder of the Prague Post newspaper.

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

Material is unprocessed. Please contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Alan Levy Papers; Box and Folder; Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2007.2008.M044 and 2015.2016.M069: Source of acquisition--Valerie Levy. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1/11/2008.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Collection-level record describing unprocessed material made public in summer 2018 as part of the Hidden Collections initiative.

Revision Description

07/10/2020 Biographical note was written by Tanya Chebotarev; added to the record by Katia Shraga

Biographical / Historical

Alan Levy (1932-2004), American journalist and writer, was born in New York. He received his undergraduate degree in Brown University and master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1953. He reported for The Louisville Courier-Journal until 1960, then moved back to New York and worked as a reporter and freelance writer. In 1967, he relocated to Prague where he witnessed the Prague Spring uprising in 1968 and then the invasion by the Soviet tanks.

In 1971, the Communist authorities in Prague declared him persona non grata and ordered his family out of the country. Banished to Vienna, he lived there for 20 years, writing for The International Herald Tribune, Cosmopolitan and other publications.

Returning to Prague in 1990, he was asked to help start The Prague Post, which first appeared in 1991 and became a staple for English-speaking visitors. His weekly column, ''Prague Profile,'' appeared 549 times and was among the paper's most popular features. He was the Post editor in chief for more than ten years.

Mr. Levy wrote biographies of Jan Peerce, the tenor (''The Bluebird of Happiness,'' 1976), and Sophia Loren, the actress (1979). He was also an author of ''Ezra Pound: The Voice of Silence'' (1983), ''W. H. Auden: In the Autumn of the Age of Anxiety'' (1983) and ''Vladimir Nabokov: The Velvet Butterfly'' (1984) (all published by Permanent Press) and ''The Wiesenthal File'' (Constable, London; 1993) and contributed to many other books.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

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Name
Levy, Alan	CLIO Catalog	ArchiveGRID