Fonds MsC-12 - bp Nichol fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

bp Nichol fonds

General material designation

  • Textual records
  • Photographic materials

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Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

MsC-12

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1960-1987 (Creation)
    Creator
    Nichol, bp (Barrie Phillip)

Physical description area

Physical description

19 m of textual records and other material

Publisher's series area

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1944-1988)

Biographical history

Barrie Philip Nichol (September 30, 1944 September 25, 1988), who often went by his lower-case initials and last name, with no spaces (bp Nichol), was a prolific Canadian poet and also a language artist, editor and publisher. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and became widely known for his concrete poetry while living there in the 1960s. He received his elementary teaching certificate from the University of British Columbia in 1963, but he only worked briefly as a teacher before dedicating himself to writing. His best-known published work is probably The Martyrology, a long poem encompassing 9 books in 6 volumes. Nichol also worked in a wide variety of other genres, including musical theatre, children's books, collage/assemblage, pamphlets, spoken word, computer texts, fiction, and television. In 1970, he began to collaborate with fellow poets Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, and Steve McCaffery, forming the sound-poetry group The Four Horsemen. He was also active with Coach House Press and Open Letter, with his own presses, grOnk and Ganglia, and in the therapeutic community, Therafields, for a number of years. Nicol was married in 1980 to Eleanor Hiebert.

Custodial history

Scope and content

The fonds consists of correspondence, poems (including concrete, experimental and sound poem drafts), manuscripts (including drafts), notebooks, and journals of bp Nichol. Fonds includes records (1964-1987) of Nichol's presses, Ganglia and grOnk, consisting of manuscript files, correspondence files, mockups, business and reference files, computer discs, the authors poetry and comic book collections, photographs, television scripts, etc. Correspondents and contributors include Bill Bissett, Gerry Gilbert, Margaret Avison, Earle Birney, David Harris, David Phillips, David McFadden and others.

Notes area

Physical condition

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    Script of material

      Location of originals

      Availability of other formats

      Restrictions on access

      Prospective researchers must first query the Nichol Estate, represented by Ellie Nichol, for permission to access the fonds. Please contact scrb@sfu.ca for assistance.

      Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

      Finding aids

      Printed inventories available with item level descriptions.

      Finding aid

      Associated materials

      Related materials

      Accruals

      Alpha-numeric designations

      BCAUL control number: SFL--2281

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      Standard number

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      Description record identifier

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      Rules or conventions

      Rules for Archival Description

      Status

      Published

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      Created May 13, 2014 LZ

      Language of description

      • English

      Script of description

        Sources

        Accession area