Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Arsenal Pulp Press fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on source of fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
65.26 m of textual records and other material
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Established in 1971 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Scriveners Pulp Press Limited was one of several ventures in alternative arts and literature of the early 1970s. In addition to fiction, poetry and drama titles, Scriveners' issued a twice-monthly literary magazine, Three-Cent Pulp, from 1972 to 1978. In 1981 Scriveners' initiated a subscription library service, the Arsenal Collaborative Library, to serve as a central distribution point for readers, writers and publishers. Following the sale of its typesetting and printing operations in 1982, the company changed its name to Arsenal Pulp Press. Although still a literary press, Arsenal gradually began to publish literary non-fiction titles, and it continued to maintain a tradition of commitment to publications about British Columbia. In the fall of 2001, Arsenal Pulp Press celebrated its 30th anniversary.
The management and editorial team during its first decade of operation included Stephen Osborne, William Gregory Enright, D.M. Fraser, Jon Furberg, and Charles Tidler. In 1982, following the sale of its typesetting and printing operations, Pulp changed its name to Arsenal Pulp Press. In 1988 Brian Lam joined Arsenal following a co-op placement at the Press while studying creative writing at the University of Victoria. Lam became president in 1992 and co-owner with Stephen Osborne, one of the original owners and now editor of the literary magazine Geist.
Custodial history
Transferred from the offices of Pulp Press to University of British Columbia Special Collections and Archives Division in the summer of 2001. A subsequent accrual was added in July of 2011.
Scope and content
The fonds consists of the business records created and/or collected by Arsenal Pulp Press, predominately from the early 1980s to the late 2000s. These records consist of correspondence, manuscripts, proofs, reviews, catalogues, broadsheets, advertisements, flyers, clippings concerning Arsenal publications and the Press, artwork, financial and sales records, ledgers, legal records, minutes and other organizational material.
The fonds was originally divided into the following four series: Correspondence; Editorial; Administrative; and Special projects. The Correspondence series contains the following subseries: General correspondence, Editorial correspondence and Correspondent-specific correspondence. The Editorial series contains the following subseries: Early manuscripts, General literary manuscripts, Published/printed material, Artwork, and Supplementary editorial records. The Administrative series contains the following sub-series: General administrative records, History/operational records, Minutes/agendas and newsletters, Financial records, Ledgers, Legal records, Sales/service fee reports, and Marketing/distribution records. The Special projects series contains three sub-series: Three-Cent Pulp, Arsenal Collaborative Library and the 3-Day Novel Contest. A fifth series was added with the accrual made in 2011, titled Editorial and production.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
A RAD-compliant description was first prepared by project archivist Delores Signori in December, 2001 who arranged the fonds based on its existing arrangement. After a subsequent accrual was made in 2011, Sarah Hillier began working on updating the finding aid in order to include the new records acquired. Katie Sloan completed the finding aid in July, 2015
Where possible, the original arrangement of the records has been retained.
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
Further accruals expected.
General note
Throughout the abbreviation ms or mss has been used to indicate manuscript or manuscripts.
There does not appear to be a box 168. It is unclear whether this is the result of the records contained in this box being weeded out, or if there was a miscalculation when the fonds was being processed.
Physical description
Includes: ca. 1373 photographs, ca. 100 postcards, 22 drawings, 10 computer disks, 3 card files, 3 audiocassettes, and 2 videocassette