Diego Cortez Mudd Club Collection, circa 1977-1979.
Collection Number: 8117
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Diego Cortez Mudd Club Collection, circa 1977-1979.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
8117
Abstract:
The collection features material focused on Cortez's activities as co-founder and
manager of the Mudd Club, 1977-1979, with items by or relating to artists with whom
he collaborated, such as Jimmy de Sana, Arto Lindsay, Kathy Acker, James Nares and
Boris Policeband, and Diego's original artwork for the seminal "No New York" (1978)
LP. There are 7 black and white photographs (5x7) by Digne Meller Marcovicz taken
around Diego's film "Grutzi Elvis" shot in Germany (1978), 11 black and white silver
gelatin photographs by Jimmy de Sana, 8 Polaroids by Diego Cortez, two notebooks relating
to the band Boris Policeband, 26 flyers and zines (including some original paste-ups)
and 3, 7" 45rpm records in picture sleeves for the bands DNA, Teenage Jesus & the
Jerks, and Boris Policeband.
Creator:
Cortez, Diego
Quanitities:
.1 cubic feet.
Language:
Collection material in English
Born James Allen Curtis in Geneva, Illinois in 1946, Curtis moved to New York City
in 1973 and assumed the name Diego Cortez. He became well-known as an artist, club
manager, promoter, and independent curator, co-founding the influential NYC nightspot
The Mudd Club, which offered an eclectic mix of art, music and cultural events that
combined both modernist and punk aesthetics. The Mudd Club operated at 77 White Street
in downtown Manhattan between 1978 and 1983. In 1981, Cortez curated the groundbreaking
exhibition "New York, No Wave" at a defunct elementary school in Long Island City,
Queens called P.S. 1. The exhibition featured the work of David Byrne, Keith Haring,
Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kenny Scharf, among many others.
The collection features material focused on Cortez's activities as co-founder and
manager of the Mudd Club, 1977-1979, with items by or relating to artists with whom
he collaborated, such as Jimmy de Sana, Arto Lindsay, Kathy Acker, James Nares and
Boris Policeband, and Diego's original artwork for the seminal "No New York" (1978)
LP. There are 7 black and white photographs (5x7) by Digne Meller Marcovicz taken
around Diego's film "Grutzi Elvis" shot in Germany (1978), 11 black and white silver
gelatin photographs by Jimmy de Sana, 8 Polaroids by Diego Cortez, two notebooks relating
to the band Boris Policeband, 26 flyers and zines (including some original paste-ups)
and 3, 7" 45rpm records in picture sleeves for the bands DNA, Teenage Jesus & the
Jerks, and Boris Policeband.
Due to the fragility and potential degradation of moving image and sound recordings,
viewing and listening is limited to items that have been digitized. If an item is
in another media format, you may request to have the item digitized for access. Information
on ordering access copies may be found on our Reproductions and Permissions page.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Diego Cortez Mudd Club Collection, #8117. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections,
Cornell University Library.
Sound recordings may be viewed but not played.
Names:
Acker, Kathy, 1948-1997
De Sana, Jimmy.
Subjects:
Punk rock music.
Punk culture.
Nightlife.
Nightclubs.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Series I. Photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Digne Meller Marcovicz photographs
|
1978 |
Creator: Marcovicz, Digne Meller
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Taken around filming of "Grutzi Elvis" in Munich and Darmstadt, Germany
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Jack Smith, film maker
|
1970's |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Diego Cortez
|
1979 |
Creator: Resnick, Marcia
|
|||
Scope and Contents
After an incident outside of a Tribeca night club where Cortez was punched and had
his nose bloodied
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Diego Cortez
|
1977-1979 |
Scope and Contents
Still from "Grutzi Elvis"
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Diego Cortez and Anya Phillips
|
1977-1979 |
Scope and Contents
Publicity still from "Grutzi Elvis"
|
|||
Jimmy de Sana photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
David Byrne
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Backstage at The Bottom Line, NYC
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Debbie Harry and Diego Cortez
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Richard Hell and Anya Phillips
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
At Micky Ruskin's Lower Manhattan Ocean Club
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
James Nares and Diego Cortez
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Chinatown, NYC
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Patti Smith
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
On stage with guitar
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Patti Smith
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
In performance, hands on stomach
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Richard Hell
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Smoking backstage
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Julia Heyward
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
At home
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Seth Tillett
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
David Byrne
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Headshot, singing, microphone
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
David Byrne
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: de Sana, Jimmy
|
|||
Scope and Contents
At Jimmy de Sana's loft.
|
|||
Diego Cortez polaroids
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Glenn Mercer (4)
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: Cortez, Diego
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Lead vocalist and guitarist of The Feelies
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Anna Sui
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: Cortez, Diego
|
|||
Scope and Contents
At CBGB's
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Michael Cooper, Jimmy DeSana and Ray Johnson
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: Cortez, Diego
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Unidentified (2)
|
1978-1979 |
Creator: Cortez, Diego
|
|||
Series II. Notebooks
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Boris Policeband notebook I
|
1979-03-11 |
Creator: Cortez, Diego
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Outlining performance at The Mudd Club, annotations in Cortez's hand
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Boris Policeband notebook II
|
1979-30-1979-05 |
Creator: Cortez, Diego
|
|||
Scope and Contents
New York performances and others, annotations in Cortez's hand
|
|||
Series III. Flyers/Posters/Zines
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Postcard announcing "The Batman Show"
|
1979-01-06, 1979-01-13 |
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Zerox & Blood
|
Undated |
Scope and Contents
Exhibition at The Whitney Museum Art Resources Center
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
DNA (2)
|
1979 |
Scope and Contents
Live at Max's Kansas City
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
DNA
|
Undated |
Scope and Contents
Live at CBGB
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
MARS/DNA
|
Undated |
Scope and Contents
Live at Max's Kansas City
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
James Chance and The Contortions
|
Undated |
Scope and Contents
Live at Max's Kansas City, includes annotations by Diego Cortez
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Policeband
|
1979-03-11 |
Scope and Contents
At the Mudd Club with opening act Suzuki Class
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Tuesday Night
|
1977-09-20 |
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Tuesday Night #5
|
1977-09-27 |
Scope and Contents
Includes reviews of shows
|
|||
Xerox zine
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Tuesday Night
|
1977-10-04 |
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Teenage Jesus and The Jerks (2)
|
Undated |
Scope and Contents
At CBGB's
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Flyer announcing reading of "Blood and Guts in High School" by Kathy Acker, with Diego
Cortez
|
Undated |
Scope and Contents
At The Kitchen
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Flyer announcing various events
|
1977Summer 1977 |
Scope and Contents
At The Kitchen; stapled with additional list on yellow paper
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Paste-up of flyer announcing various Diego Cortez events
|
1977-01-25-1977-01-31 |
Scope and Contents
At Anthology Film Archives, NYC
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Flyer, "Medical Records"
|
Undated |
Scope and Contents
Original text scribbled over with pen
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Flyer, "Studies for Grutzi Elvis"
|
Undated |
Scope and Contents
Original mockup
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Flyer, "Studies for Grutzi Elvis"
|
Undated |
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Flyer, Richard Lloyd Jam/video/Diego Cortez
|
1978-06 |
Scope and Contents
Max's
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Image of Hans Magnus Enzensberger
|
Undated |
Manuscript Box 92 |
An Evening Commemorating Zanu's
|
1979-05-17 | |
Scope and Contents
Flyer advertising performance by Policeband and Beirut Slump at the Mudd Club
|
|||
Xerox flyer
|
|||
Manuscript Box 92 |
Yellow flyer, "No New York"
|
1978Spring 1978 | |
Manuscript Box 92 |
Mockup of soundtrack album cover
|
Undated | |
Manuscript Box 92 |
Flyer, "Television Talking Heads"
|
Undated | |
Scope and Contents
At CBGB's
|
|||
Manuscript Box 92 |
Poster announcing "Bands at Artists Space"
|
Undated | |
Manuscript Box 92 |
X Magazine
|
Undated | |
Scope and Contents
Volume 2, issue 4-6
|
|||
Series IV. Records
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
"Orphans b/w Less of Me"
SR-20357 |
1978 |
Creator: Teenage Jesus & The Jerks
|
|||
Conditions Governing Use
Must use digitized AV instead of original.
|
|||
45 rpm
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
"You & You blw Little Ants"
SR-20358 |
1978 |
Creator: DNA
|
|||
Conditions Governing Use
Must use digitized AV instead of original.
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Back cover photo by Diego Cortez
|
|||
45 rpm
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
"Stereo/Mono"
SR-20359 |
1979 |
Creator: Policeband
|
|||
Conditions Governing Use
Must use digitized AV instead of original.
|
|||
Scope and Contents
Accompanied Boris Policeband notebook I; inscribed on front and back cover by Diego
Cortez
|
|||
45 rpm
|