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Kulchur-- a little magazine focused on cultural criticism and later a small press, was an important publisher of avant-garde poets, particularly poets associated with what became known as the New York School. The Kulchur Foundation Records include administrative, financial and editorial records related to Kulchur Magazine, Kulchur Press, and the Kulchur Foundation. Additionally, it includes photographs, correspondence, artwork and manuscripts related to the Foundation or to its president-- writer, publisher, and art collector, Lita Hornick.
1991 Addition: Correspondence, manuscripts, publicity files, art work, and printed ephemera received by Lita Hornick and the Kulchur Foundation between 1979 and 1989. Also included are files related to poetry readings sponsored by the Kulchur Foundation during this period as well as correspondence relating to Lita Hornick's graduate work on Dorothy Richardson and Dylan Thomas in the 1940s and 1950s.
2000 Addition: Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, printed materials, and a video cassette.
Series I: Correspondence, 1961-1993
The correspondence series includes letters to and from Lita Hornick and Kulchur Press. Most of the correspondence in editorial or administrative in nature, though as Hornick's lists of friends and business associates overlap considerably, the letters are often social in tone.
Series II: Kulchur Magazine and Kulchur Press,, 1953-1989
This series comprises the bulk of the collection and includes the editorial, administrative, and financial records of Kulchur.
Series III: Lita Hornick Files, 1948-1994
This series includes Lita Hornick's writings that were unpublished or published by an entity other than Kulchur Press. It includes a number of poems and short essays, many written in collaboration with friends (often written as an exquisite corpse exercise), as well as manuscripts for her full length books, Kulchur Queen and the The Green Fuse. The series also includes manuscripts and research notes related to her Master's Essay and her PhD Dissertation, both from degrees she received at Columbia. The research files for her dissertation include correspondence with friends and associates of Dylan Thomas's with whom she corresponded while researching her dissertation on Thomas.
Series IV: Photographs, 1950s-1990s
The photographs series is a relatively small series that includes professionally taken portraits of Lita and her family as well as a number of snapshots and candid photos of Ms. Hornick with her family and friends. Of interest, as well, are snapshots taken at some of the parties thrown by Lita and Morton Hornick. There are also photographs of artworks sent to Ms. Hornick by art galleries so that she, an enthusiastic art collector, could preview new works.
This small series includes artwork from the collection of Lita and Morton Hornick, including several pieces by Joe Brainard. Artwork that was acquired as cover art or illustrations for a book published by Kulchur will be found in the editorial files for that publication, rather than as part of this Artwork Series.
Series VI: Publications, 1961-1993
This series is comprised of periodicals, printed books, and broadsides and includes material published by Kulchur Press, material written by Lita Hornick, and books and periodicals in Lita Hornick's Collection.
This collection is arranged in 6 series.
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.
This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Kulchur Foundation Records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Dorothy M. Richardson: the quest for selfhood. Lita Rothbard's Masters Essay
The intricate image; a study of Dylan Thomas. Lita Hornick's Dissertation
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Source of acquisition--Lita Hornick. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1987 & 1991.
Source of acquisition--Lita Hornick. Method of acquisition--Bequest; Date of acquisition--2000.
Source of acquisition--Hornick, Lita. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--06/23/1986. Accession number--M-86-06-23.
Papers: Source of acquisition--Hornick, Lita. Date of acquisition--1991. Accession number--M-1991.
Papers: Source of acquisition--Hornick, Lita. Method of acquisition--Bequest; Date of acquisition--03/21/2000. Accession number--M-03-21-00.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Papers Processed 06/20/1988
Addition Processed 08/26/1992. Processed by John McWinney 8/26/92.
Addition Processed 05/15/2000 HR. Processed by Henry Rowen 5/2000.
Papers Re-processed 10/- -/2010 Carrie Hintz
Finding Aid Written 10/--/2010 Carrie Hintz
2010-10-12 xml document instance created by Carrie Hintz.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Publishing critical essays, commentary, reviews and original artwork by writers and artists such as Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, and LeRoi Jones, Kulchur was an important vehicle for promoting American poets and cultural critics associated with the New American Poetry of the mid to late twentieth century, particularly the New York School of poets and artists.
The Kulchur Foundation, a non-profit publishing and arts organization, began as a small, literary journal in 1961. The magazine was founded by Marc Schleifer who also edited Kulchur 1 and Kulchur 2 before handing over administrative and editorial control of the magazine to Lita Hornick.
Lita Hornick, who was to become the driving force behind the magazine and Kulchr's subsequent publishing and arts patronage activities, was born Lita Rothbard in 1927 in Newark, New Jersey. She graduated from Barnard College in 1948, where she developed her taste for modern literature and avant-garde poetry. She went on to do graduate work in English at Columbia University, writing her masters thesis on feminist novelist Dorothy Richardson, and, later, her doctoral dissertation on the work of Dylan Thomas. She was married to Morton Hornick and had two sons.
When Hornick took the reigns of the magazine's third issue in 1961 she made significant changes to the publication. The first two issues of the magazine had been managed by Marc Schleifer and published annually--under Hornick's direction the magazine focused more on arts criticism and commentary rather than literary publication and increased its publication schedule to quarterly. Hornick also established Kulchur Press, Inc. as an incorporated business in 1961 (albeit one that never turned a profit and was almost entirely privately funded by her and her husband).
Though Ms. Hornick took over the administrative reigns of the magazine in 1961 with Kulchur 3, she assigned guest editors for the first few issues of the magazine that she published (Gilbert Sorrentino edited Kulchur 5, and Joel Oppenheimer guest-edited Kulchur 6). Starting with Kulchur 7, the magazine was run by Ms. Hornick as managing editor, but supported by an editorial board of LeRoi Jones, Gilbert Sorrentino, Frank O'Hara, Joseph LeSeur, and Bill Berskon. This general arrangement lasted for five issues before Hornick took over the sole editorship of the magazine starting with Kulchur 7 and lasting through the magazine's final issue, Kulchur 20.
The stress and hectic schedule of editing and publishing a quarterly wore on Hornick, so in 1966 she decided to alter the focus of Kulchur, Inc. away from periodicals and cultural commentary and towards publishing books, primarily of poetry. The first book published by Kulchur Press was the contemporary poetry anthology Poems Now, edited by Hettie Jones, though most subsequent books would veer away from the anthology format. Over the course of the Press's run, it published books by notable New York School poets such as Ted Berrigan, John Giorno, and Rochelle Owens, among a host of others. By far the venture's most successful book was Screen Tests, a book of poetry by Gerard Malanga accompanied by photographs of individuals taken by Andy Warhol. Hornick, an avid art collector, was very interested in these collaborations between visual artists and poets, and published a number of such volumes.
In 1970 the name of the organization officially changes from Kulchur Press to Kulchur Foundation to reflect its work as an arts funder and grant-giving agency as well as a publishing venture. This move also allowed the organization to obtain the tax exempt status available to it as a cultural foundation rather than a business. Though Kulchur's publishing efforts remained unchanged with this shift to foundation status, the foundation started to take on more cultural programming than it had previously, such as producing a series of poetry readings at the Museum of Modern Art starting in 1973 and co-producing theatrical productions. In 1981 Kulchur stopped publishing, though Hornick maintained foundation work in the name of Kulchur until her death in 2000.
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