John F. Turner research material on Howard Finster, circa 1928-2015, bulk 1978-1990

The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters to John Turner from Howard and Pauline Finster, their daughter Beverly, Alan Jabbour, Clay Lancaster, Andy Nasisse, and others. There is one folder of miscellaneous correspondence addressed to Howard Finster.

There are 47 sound cassettes and one partial transcript of interviews with and about Howard Finster, most conducted by John Turner. Interviewees include family members, such as Pauline and Beverly Finster, as well as artists, curators, collectors, gallery owners, and dealers, such as Jeffrey Camp, Eleanor Dickinson, Allen Ginsberg, Lynda Hartigan, Herbert Waide Hemphill, Alan Jabbour, Phyllis Kind, Art and Margo Rosenbaum, and others.

Writings consist of John Turner's research notes and drafts for his book Howard Finster: Man of Visions. There are ten spiral-bound notebooks, a typescript draft, and a published copy of the book, along with some curator's statements by John Turner. The only material possibly written by others is one folder of miscellaneous notes that were originally scattered throughout the collection.

Research files include material compiled by John Turner on various folk artists and assorted subjects such as California folk art and "Roadside America." Most of the files contain printed material such as exhibition catalogs, clippings, and announcements mixed with some artist resumes and limited correspondence. There are also selected bibliographies about Howard Finster.

This series consists of primary source materials created by Howard Finster files. There are handwritten notes, exhibitions files, drawings, a ledger, posters, and album cover designs. The bulk of the series consists of video cassette recordings related to exhibitions and sound recordings of Finster talking at public events, delivering sermons, and private talks.

Printed material consists of clippings about Howard Finster, exhibition catalogs, announcements, magazines, and art periodicals. There are also 2 videocassettes of commercially released material such as television appearances, music videos, and news programs about Howard Finster.

Photographic material includes photographs, slides, negatives, and transparencies of Howard Finster and his artwork. There are images of Finster and his family, artwork, Paradise Garden, exhibitions, openings, and events. Some of the images are annotated by Finster. Also found here are photographs for Turner's book.

The material in this series are primarily arranged by subject with the photographs of Howard Finster at the beginning, followed by images or artwork, then images used in John Turner's book Howard Finster: Man of Visions. However, prior to the collection's arrival at the archives, the material in this series was roughly grouped by type of medium - such as photographs, slides, and contact sheets - and this manner of arrangement was preserved when it was not possible to sort the images by subject, as was the case when there were large numbers of unsorted slides and negatives.