Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Gregory S MacAyeal <>]

I’ve heard this story of Cage and the boxes from a few people close to Cage including Laura Kuhn. And, as curator of the Cage collections at Northwestern University, I can verify we did in fact receive boxes of material occasionally from Cage beginning in the mid-70s to his death in 1992. It’s my understanding Cage sent mushroom related material to UC Santa Cruz and this is the bulk of the John Cage Mycology Collection. He sent material specific to his book publications, lectures and other writings to Wesleyan University which is now part of the John Cage Papers archive. The rest, which was substantial, he sent to Northwestern University. The material contained in the boxes is now part of the John Cage Ephemera collection. It complements the JC Correspondence and the Notations Projects collections, also held at Northwestern.

 

Here is our one page to rule them all.

 

https://www.library.northwestern.edu/libraries-collections/music/collection/john-cage.html

 

 

 

Greg MacAyeal

Curator of the Music Library

Northwestern University Libraries

Northwestern University

1970 Campus Drive

Evanston, IL 60208

www.library.northwestern.edu

847.491.4233

 

 

 

 

 

From: <> On Behalf Of Eric Theise
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2023 9:34 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [silence] John Cage and storage

 

Who am I, but I have never heard such a story in conjunction with Cage. It would have stuck with me.

 

The story fits Warhol, who kept storage spaces in New Jersey and did exactly as you describe. The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh has a glassed-off room where all the boxes are on display, and each month the contents of a different box are turned out into a vitrine for public viewing.

 

https://www.warhol.org/research/archives-study-center/

 

 

On Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 7:28 AM Dionysis Boukouvalas <> wrote:

Depends. Did the boxes contain trivia, all just "useful" stuff?

Did you group the objects per type per box, somehow, and send each box/group/type to a specific University?

Because this is what I remember.

But memory is a very tricky thing.

 

Dionysis

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From: AHF <>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2023 5:15 PM
To: Dionysis Boukouvalas <>
Cc: <>
Subject: Re: [silence] John Cage and storage

 

You might be thinking of the boxes I used to pack and ship to various universities over the years. Others on this list will be able to fill in the details better than I.

 

I never knew of any rented storage spaces, and I almost certainly would have.

 

Andrew Culver

 

On Sep 18, 2023, at 9:59 AM, Dionysis Boukouvalas <> wrote:

 

I don't know where I came across this, years ago.

I remember reading that, from one point on, Cage did not throw anything away. Instead he stored them in specially rented spaces.

Does that ring a bell?

Do I remember correctly? Or did I misunderstood what I have read, or even make it up?..

 

This idea has fascinated me ever since. I discover time and again the value of things, even trivial ones, that I miss years later, for one reason or another (if not for themselves, for their relation to other things, events etc).

 

Dionysis