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Roger Levenson and the Tamalpais Press Archive

 Collection
Identifier: Press coll-Archives-Tamalpais

Scope and Content

This collection contains materials associated with the Tamalpais Press, including proofs for books, printed matter, and correspondence to and from the owner of the press, Roger Levenson, covering the years 1953 until 1994.

The collection is organized into the following series:

  • Series 1. Proofs, 1955/1994
  • Series 2. Correspondence, 1960-1984
  • Series 2. Roger Levenson Files, 1956/1964
  • Series 3. Roger Levenson Files, 1955/1964
  • Series 4. Miscellany, Circa 1955/1994
  • Series 5. The Clark Library Collection, Circa 1955/1976

Dates

  • Creation: 1955-1994

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Biographical Note

The Tamalpais Press, founded by Roger Levenson, was a fine printing press located in Berkeley, California that was in operation from circa 1955 until 1976. Printing was done on an 1857 Albion handpress as well as a seventeenth century press (both of which were donated to the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley). The Tamalpais Press printed a wide range of materials from books to event posters and programs to business cards and invitations. The books printed by the press focused mostly on California history subjects.

Roger Levenson was born in Bangor, Maine on 10 October 1914 and learned printing while an undergraduate at the University of Maine. After serving in Hawaii during World War II, Roger settled in the San Francisco Bay Area where he spent the rest of his life. He founded and operated the Tamalpais Press from circa 1955 until 1976 when he retired. In addition to running the Tamalpais Press, Roger was a teacher and lecturer, most notably at the University of California, Berekeley where he taught a course for twelve years on "The History of the Book." He died of cancer on 29 May 1994.

Extent

6.5 Linear Feet (12 boxes)

Language of Materials

Undetermined

Abstract

Papers of Tamalpais Press and its founder Roger Levenson, dating from 1955-1994, including correspondence, job files, proofs and related ephemera.

Physical Location

This collection is stored at the Southern Regional Library Facility. Please contact Clark Library staff at least 2 weeks in advance if you would like to view the materials in this collection.

Acquisition Information

The Tamalpais Press/Roger Levenson Archive was purchased from Sidney Berger, an associate of Roger Levenson's. Some materials were collected independentlyby the Clark Library as a part of their collection of California fine press materials..

Title
Finding Aid to the Roger Levenson and the Tamalpais Press Archive, 1955-1994
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Jeffrey Thompson.
Date
©2009
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in: English.

Repository Details

Part of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library Repository

Contact:
2520 Cimarron Street
Los Angeles 90018 USA us
(310) 794-5155