Subseries was created and collected from 1992 to 1998. Banana at this time continues to collect and engage with mail art, but also was beginning to shift towards a practice which could provide her with a more stable income, therefore restricting her mail art activities to active subscribers of her various publications. During this time, the scope of the mail art network is shifting. While many influential network pioneers were dying, including Cavellini in 1991, Ray Johnson in 1995, and Partz and Zontal of General Idea in 1994, many other artists shifted their focus elsewhere, causing mail art to change. Many networkers also attempted to sell their archives or determine ways to make a living off their network of artist correspondents, which is also reflected in Banana’s mail art and correspondence activities. Significant discussions about the role (and erasure) of women in histories of mail art occur at this time, and Banana is often central to these discussions.

Items in this subseries are predominantly letters and envelopes, often decorated, but also include photographs, drawings, xerox art, found objects and small sculptural items, collage, and other visual mediums, often integrated into the letters and envelopes.

Subseries contains mail art and correspondence received and created by Banana through the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s. This period is marked by her engagement with the early Mail Art Network, including prominent artists and networkers such as her then partner Bill Gaglione (later Picasso, also known as Dadaland), Ray Johnson, Guglielmo Cavellini, Buster Cleveland, Irene Dogmatic, Pat Travenner, Art Rat (aka Gary Lee-Nova), Judy Hoffberg, General Idea, Dick Higgens and others.

Items in this subseries are predominantly letters and envelopes, often decorated, but also include photographs, drawings, xerox art, found objects and small sculptural items, collage, and other visual mediums, often integrated into the letters and envelopes.

Subseries was created and collected from 1992 to 1994. The contents differ little from that of 1990s Mail Art (Part 1), and continues to reflect Banana’s involvement in later stages of the mail art network.

Items in this subseries are predominantly letters and envelopes, often decorated, but also include photographs, drawings, xerox art, found objects and small sculptural items, collage, and other visual mediums, often integrated into the letters and envelopes.

Subseries was created from 1999-2000. While the internet had been present previously, more and more correspondence is conducted virtually during this period, with discourse occurring which questions the validity of email as “true” mail art, which is reflected in much of the material. Printing also becomes a digitally sourced endeavor, with more mail art reflecting access to stylization made available with programs like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop.

Items in this subseries are predominantly letters and envelopes, often decorated, but also include photographs, drawings, xerox art, found objects and small sculptural items, collage, and other visual mediums, often integrated into the letters and envelopes. Banana would often print out emails as well, especially those which were distinctly related to the question of mail art and its transition into a digital sphere, and received much correspondence and art obviously created through digital means.

Subseries was created between 2000 and 2003. It is made up of mail art and other correspondence received by Banana through the Mail Art Network during this time. Discussions of the validity of mail art online continue. Banana keeps fewer correspondents during this period and beyond, focusing much of her energy on maintaining existing relationships.

Items in this subseries are predominantly letters and envelopes, often decorated, but also include photographs, drawings, xerox art, found objects and small sculptural items, collage, and other visual mediums, often integrated into the letters and envelopes.

Subseries was created from 2004-2008 while Banana was living on the Sunshine Coast. It is made up of mail art and other correspondence received by Banana through the Mail Art Network during this time. A significant portion of correspondence in this series are between Banana and existing friends and colleagues who have continued to engage with the mail art network, albeit a different looking network to the one that had existed previously.

Items in this subseries are predominantly letters and envelopes, often decorated, but also include photographs, drawings, xerox art, found objects and small sculptural items, collage, and other visual mediums, often integrated into the letters and envelopes.

Series is made up of correspondence and mail-art related items received and collected by Anna Banana from the late 1960’s to the 2000s. The series reflects Banana’s involvement in the Mail Art movement (through what was then called the Mail Art Network – referring to a global network of artists who communicate through the post as an act of decentralization of artistic communication among the arts community) as well as her own personal mail. Beginning in the mid 60’s, mail art was a movement inspired by the Dadaists and futurists of the early 20th century, and made popular by notable artists such as Ray Johnson, as well as artist groups such as Image Bank and the New York Correspondence School. It remains a highly collaborative and decentralized global movement, with artists like Banana sending out, receiving, and manipulating artworks through the mail. It focuses on small form artworks, including rubber stamps, artistamps, decoration and adornment of letters and envelopes, chain mail and other creative forms.

Subject matter includes mail-art received through the Mail Art Network, personal mail to friends and family, and collected invitations to participate in mail art shows, publications and magazines, as well as catalogues of artists displayed in mail art shows, publications and magazines. Media in this series varies greatly due to the nature of the mail art movement, and the lines between textual and graphic records are blurred, so that many letters, envelopes and other classically textual mediums are often decorated with the use of paints, stamps, drawings, collage and other mixed media.

The series is arranged into 11 subseries using Banana’s existing filing system: Original mail art network, 1990s Mail art (Part 1), 1990s Mail art (Part 2), Mail art Fin de Siecle 2000, 2000s Mail art (Part 1), 2000s Mail art (Part 2), Mail art final years, Personal mail, Mail art show and publication invitations and catalogues, Unfiled mail, and Envelopes.

Subseries was created from 2008-2016. It is made up of mail art and other correspondence received by Banana through the Mail Art Network during this time. This subseries contains some of Banana’s last interactions with the mail art network, and Banana’s interactions with existing friends and colleages continue to predominate its contents.

Items in this subseries are predominantly letters and envelopes, often decorated, but also include photographs, drawings, xerox art, found objects and small sculptural items, collage, and other visual mediums, often integrated into the letters and envelopes.

Subseries reflects Anna Banana’s separation of personal correspondence from her mail art network activities. Correspondence from some individuals located in this subseries can also be found elsewhere, and much of her personal correspondence might also be considered mail art. The series was created between 1967 and 2016. Much of the correspondence is made up of greeting cards from friends, letters to and from family members, as well as correspondence relating to Banana’s romantic endeavors.

The series arises out of distinctions that Banana made in her own filing system and has not been changed. It is generally made up of textual materials such as letters, cards, postcards and envelopes, but also contains graphic and photographic materials.

Subseries includes records of invitations and catalogues Banana received for various mail art shows and publication over the course of her involvement with the Mail Art Network, as well as some works which she compiled for inclusion in those shows. This includes letters of invitation directly addressed to Banana, open calls for submission, lists of participating artists, show posters and booklets, and packets of mail art sent for specific shows or publications.

Materials include show catalogues, posters, invitation letters, postcards, zines, envelopes, and graphic materials.

Subseries is made up of miscellaneous boxes of mail art and other related items which Banana collected or received but did not file over the course of her career. Many of these items were set aside in boxes for future filing, or it was noted that items were unanswered. “unanswered correspondence” (dated 1985-1986) previously had a tag line “stashed in ‘86”. “UNANSWERED MAIL ART” was noted to have been boxed in 1998.

Materials include show catalogues, posters, invitation letters, postcards, zines, envelopes, facsimiles, artistamp sheets, news articles, maps and travel guides, photographs, and graphic materials.

Subseries is made up of envelopes, collected between 1978 and 2018. While it is uncertain why envelopes were separated and maintained as a separate series, although it is likely some were used for in various shows as examples of Mail Art. Envelopes played a large part in many mail art shows and often the subject of shows themselves. They are important mediums in the proliferation of mail art in all periods.

Envelopes are often heavily decorated with artistamps, rubber stamps, paintings and drawings, and other materials.

Subseries originates with Banana’s earliest performance art while she was Victoria’s Town Fool. It consists of various certificates in bananology (including bachelors and masters degrees) which Anna would give out to individuals who had “Gone Bananas”, often after providing Anna with a piece of Banana paraphernalia or a Banana-related fact or story. This activity often took place within the context of her mail art actions, where she would mail the certificates back to networkers who had provided her with banana-related mail. However, it began while she was still Town Fool, prior to or concurrent with her entry into the mail art network.

The subseries consists almost entirely of various certificates, as well as letters to correspondents.

Subseries consists of documents relating to an interactive art project called “But Is It Art?” that Banana carried out throughout various European cities in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Under the auspices of the Specific Research Institute, Banana (in her role as Dr. Anna Freud Banana) would ask participants to show if various (often banana related) items were, in fact, art.

Subseries contains response forms arranged into various city files where Banana conducted her research, as well as travel ephemera, reports, posters and programs, as well as exhibition documents related to the project.

Subseries arose out of an interactive project that Banana conducted out of Germany in the mid-1990s through her Specific Research Institute called “Proof Positive That Germany is Going Bananas” (often shortened to PPTGISB). Using results from what Banana called “Roar Shack Banana Peel Tests”, as well as personality inventory response forms, interviews and other tests, Banana culminated her research into a large report and exhibit of German banana related items published in 1994.

The series consists of tests, reports, press and promotional materials, as well as banana artworks and correspondence that Anna collected over the course of her travels for this project.

Subseries contains files from various small Specific Research Institute projects conducted by Anna Banana, between 1993 and 2015. Many of these were small surveys of “Banana Culture” which Banana carried out while she was staying in certain regions or cities, as well as newsletters and updates regarding SRI activities.

Files are made up of textual records, mostly newsletters or reports, as well as some posters and response forms.

With Victoria Kirby, Anna Banana created and performed “In the RED” for InterDADA ’84, a large gathering of neo-dadaists in San Francisco, and at Humbolt University in 1985. “In The BLACK” arose from this performance and was performed later on. These were scripted stage performances by Anna Banana and Victoria Kirby, that explored colour. Banana called the interDADA ’84 performance “the most DADA performance I’ve ever given in my career” in her “Excerpts From a Mail Artist’s Diary” for Lumholt Mail Art Archive.

This subseries consists of documents relating to these performances, including press, scripts, promotional materials, and various drafts and cue sheets.

Subseries captures Anna Banana and Bill Gaglione’s “Futurist Sound” performances, which were essentially performances of various Italian Futurist performance art pieces, such as Sounds by Francesco Canguillo and Colors by Fortunato De Pero . The two of them went on a number of tours with the performances, including one in Europe in 1978 and across Canada in 1981.

This series consists of mostly textual records, including itineraries, programs, posters, and planning documentation, as well as various small props used in the performance.

Subseries is made up of documents relating to the production of The WORLD SERIES, a play created by Anna Banana and Ron Brunette in 1987, and performed at Western Front. It was a scripted performance exploring issues relating to globalization and consumerism. Subseries consists of mostly textual materials, including slide information, lighting and audio cues, script development, tv production information, typesetting, photographs and other materials.

A Condensed History of Performance Art was a program put on by Anna Banana in the early 1990s as an introduction to performance art. It was performed for the Aspects of Performance Art series by the Canadian Centre of the Arts at Owen Sound in 1992. Series consists of textual records in the form of scripts and draft scripts, press clippings, research notes, as well as Anna’s initial correspondence regarding performance logistics and programs for the Aspects of Performance Art performance series.

In 2015, Anna gave away all of her banana items in an interactive event called “Regifting Bananas.” Each giveaway was accompanied by documentation of what was given away, and to whom. There was also an inventory of banana items for regifting.

Subseries consists of textual records, mainly the inventory and records of regifting.

From 1971 onwards, Banana began using interactive and performance art prominently in her artistic practice. This series captures Banana’s various projects and performances. Beginning with her Town Fool activities in Victoria, Banana would often create projects which engaged audience participation. Beginning in the 1990s, she began to create large interactive projects which engaged in research-like activities, under the aegis of the Specific Research Institute. These projects often produced a large number of response forms, which can be found throughout this series, along with reports, certificates of participation, scripts for performances, working drafts and other items. Most items in this series are textual records.

Series is arranged into ten subseries: Bananology and other certificates, Specific Research Institute – But Is It Art?, Specific Research Institute – Proof Positive That Germany Is Going Bananas, Specific Research Institute – Miscellaneous, In the RED/In the BLACK, Futurist Sounds, The WORLD SERIES, A Condensed History of Performance Art, Regifting Bananas, Miscellaneous Projects and Performances.

Subseries contains records of numerous small performances by Banana from the 1970s to the late 2010s. Banana saved only the planning documents, promotional materials or press from these art pieces, which often only hint at what was performed or produced. Some examples include her Town Fool activities, Going Bananas Fashion Contest and First Female Pope performance.

Subseries contains mostly flyers, notes and letters, photocopies, posters, and other printed matter, as well as a fruit hat used in an unknown performance.

Series is made up of the various periodicals, books and textual items which Banana published over the course of her career. Most of these were published under the aegis of Banana Productions, a company first created while Anna was living in San Francisco. Project files contain magazines, newsletters, and artistamp editions; documents related to the creation of these publications, press and promotional materials; books and binders.

Series is arranged into seven subseries: VILE Magazine, Encyclopedia Bananica, Banana Rag, OOK (One Of a Kind) Books, Artistamp News, International Art Post, and Other publications.

Subseries is made up of Anna Banana’s VILE Magazine and related items, notably two copies of each magazine, as well as related press, ads and promotional materials. VILE Magazine was a response to FILE Magazine (published by General Idea) and it’s movement away from the mail art scene towards more mainstream artistic practice. VILE ran somewhat irregularly from 1974 to 1983, culminating in a retrospective magazine titled “About VILE”. Like FILE, VILE was an artistic parody of LIFE magazine, but often covered challenging subjects, and pushed beyond the sensibilities of conventional thinking. Banana was aided by her then-partner Bill Gaglione, who edited 3 of the 7 editions.

Files contain all issues of the magazine, as well as various press clippings, ads, promotional materials and invitations to participate.

Subseries contains some parts of Anna Banana’s Encyclopedia Bananica, which was made up of Anna’s collection of banana related stories and factoids, which were collected over the course of her activities as Anna Banana. Many of the banana related items were given away in the “Regifting Banana” event which Banana held in 2015, but the files in this series were retained, and are likely mere samples of what was once a much larger collection of information.

Items in this subseries include binders with specific stories or projects, and files with other artworks and compiled banana information.

This subseries is made up of Banana’s long running Banana Rag newsletter, which she began in 1971 to provide the general public with information about her activities as Victoria Town Fool. Over the years, it became a means for her to provide information about her mail art activities, and the newsletter itself became a central part of her network presence. It also provided subscribers with information about other mail art opportunities, trends, or exhibitions.

This subseries contains copies of the newsletters, as well as an inventory of the newsletters, some original markups and pasteups, and information about subscribers.

Subseries is made up of various “One of a Kind Books”, which are small artist books, published between 2006 and 2008. Also included in this series are small edition books authored and published by Anna Banana between 1986 and 2012, as these were filed alongside the “One Of a Kind Books”. Project files include handmade books, binders, and tiny published books.

Between 1991 and 1995, Anna Banana published Artistamp News, a newsletter which provided information about artistamp production, artists, and networks. There were 8 editions in total. Files contain all of the artistamp news, an inventory of artistamp news, and originals (paste ups) of some volumes.

Subseries documents International Art Post, an artistamp publication. Anna Banana published International Art Post (IAP) from the late 1980s to the early 2010s. The International Art Post was made up of periodically published artistamp editions, which were funded by contributing artists. Artists would provide Banana with small scale artworks to be transferred in full colour to perforated gum-paper. These stamps were then given back to the artists for their own use. Files contain predominantly artistamps, but also include advertising materials and preparatory documentation and sketches.

Subseries is made up of items published by Anna Banana which were not related to one of her primary publications, but which were published or written by her over the course of her career. It includes drafts and markups, letters and posters on Banana Productions letterhead, some originals and logos for reference, as well as planners and some essays written by Banana but published in other places.

In the late 1990s, Artists began using the small 2.5-inch by 3.5-inch trading card templates as the basis for a new way to share small format artworks. In the early 2000s, Anna Banana began to create and trade her own cards, amassing a fairly large collection, and producing a significant number of her own card editions. This series is made up of her own creations, as well as cards collected from artists at the trading events which she attended.

This series is mostly made up of trading cards in binders or folders, with some information relating to the development of this art form in the file called “ARTIST TRADING CARDS: The Story.” Banana compiled cards into binders either by year or by significance, and kept her own separate from those which she received from others.

Anna Banana drew, created collage, painted and printed from the early 1970s up until the late 2010s and beyond. This subseries contains the working drafts, final works, and copies of her visual art. This subseries consists mostly of graphical materials, including drawings, watercolour paintings, xerox art, photocopies of Anna’s original artwork, and postcards.

As well as her performance art, artistamps and various publishing endeavors, Anna was also a visual artist and collector of visual art. This series is a compilation of the various artworks which were created by Anna and various colleagues. It contains xerox art, drawing and watercolours, collage, rubber stamps, as well as a number of photocopies of different artworks.

Anna Banana was given and collected much art over the years, much of it related to her own performance and mail art activities, such as large drawings, rubber stamps from Darlene Altschul, The Sticker Dude and others, various stamp art, etc. Items include rubber stamp sheets, large drawings, collage, a binder of collected works, and graphic prints.

In the mid-1980s, Anna Banana began to seriously consider ways that she might be able to create income outside of performance art. Using skills she learned while working at printers and publishers in San Francisco and Vancouver, Banana began to create and sell artistamps, and collected multiple artistamps created by others. Artistamps are a kind of Cinderella stamp used often in mail art, which differ from forgeries or other illegal stamps in that they do not intent do defraud authorities or stamp collectors, but rather are created with the intent to be art. They make up an important aspect of the mail art genre. Banana’s activities often included the production and use of artistamps, especially after she gained access to perforation machines and colour printing in the 1980s.

This series is made up of many of her artistamp sheets, as well as various sketches, final drawings, and printer transparencies created during the process of artistamp production, as well as stamps collected from others.

This series is made up of flyers, exhibition books, reviews and documentation regarding various exhibitions which Anna Banana was involved in creating or curating, such as 20 Years of Fooling Around With A. Banana, The Popular Art of Postal Parody, 45 Years of Fooling Around With A. Banana, and the Color Show. Records were created in the course of the curation of each exhibition, and include letters of introduction, originals and drafts of flyers and exhibition booklets, posters, name tags, and reviews or press of these exhibitions. A number of these exhibitions were retrospectives of Anna’s career, while other were curated to show various elements of mail art or performance.

Series was collected and produced over the course of Anna’s career. It is made up of a number of binders and collections of photographs. The five binders mainly show events which Anna organized, or record her artworks, performances or costumes, such as the Banana Olympics of 1975, Columbus Day Parades in San Francisco in the 1970s, and her 1978-9 European Tour with Bill Gaglione. Other files include collected photographs from various mail art network connections and friends, although most are not labeled and so specific individuals are difficult to ascertain. Identifiable people and photographers include Genesis P. Orridge, Montana Rose, Mat Matthews, Mike Slattery, J.A.N Galligan, Irene Dogmatic and others. Photographs are mostly black and white and colour prints, black and white negatives and colour positive slides.

As soon as Banana began her performance life as Anna Banana in 1971, she began to collect and distribute information about herself and her events. This series reflects those activities, and includes press releases and posters produced by Banana for her various shows, events and performances, as well as newspaper clippings, photocopies of news stories, magazine articles, and gallery schedules which made mention of her and her activities.

The series is arranged semi-chronologically, with certain events, such as the Banana Olympics or her 1978 Futurist Sound tour with Bill Gaglione meriting their own files.

Series is made up of published materials collected by Anna Banana. Series was collected between 1970 and 2019, from before Anna’s beginnings in the mail art network up until the donation of the fonds to UBC.

Many items were created out of mail art collaborations, while others were collected because of reference to Anna’s work, reference to the mail art network as a whole, because the creators were friends or colleagues of hers or because the items held personal interest. Banana loosely divided this series into a number of different categories, which were the basis of the subseries found here: Zines, Periodicals, Books, Exhibit Catalogs, and “Best Examples of how Mail Art Evolved.” Items which do not fit into these specific categories have been set aside into a subseries labeled “Ephemera”.

Subseries includes items published in small batches, which might have been created using technologies such as Xerox photocopying, and at home binding techniques including staples and sewing, and which are most often in small (i.e. smaller than A4size) formats, or items which Anna defined as zines. Items are often self-published, or published through small collectives.

This subseries can be differentiated from other subseries as a result of the format and the content of the files. For example, it excludes exhibit catalogues, as Banana distinguished in her own filing system between the two, so small, zine-like exhibit catalogue are not included. Files are distinguished by the names of zines or zine collections. It includes one-off booklets, handmade artists poetry books, handmade or custom zines, some handmade “one of a kind books,” and regularly published small format zines and newsletters.

Subseries was created between the late 1960s and 2016, and is made up of collected books. These include published books about various artists, art movements, and collections of essays, as well as artist books, some chap books, self published books of poetry and other small edition books. There is no clear focus to the collection, although mail art, performance art, artist books, and concrete poetry make up a significant portion.

Books are separated into files by name.

Subseries was collected between the early 1970s and 2014, and contains more than 250 titles, which mostly relate to the arts or contain references or writings related to Anna Banana or her friends and colleagues, as well as long running mail art or “network” publications. Some periodicals were collected for the course of the publication’s entire lifespan, and others were collected for a specific issue’s relevance to Annas work or to the mail art network.

Subseries files are predominantly magazines, journals, regularly published zines, and newsletters. Publications of the same title are filed together.

This subseries is made up of any items which do not fit into the other categories noted elsewhere in this series, but which were stored among the various collected publications in this series. It is mostly made up of published materials, albeit often unconventional ones.

This subseries includes posters, pamphlets or flyers relating to shows or events, printed essays, calendars, travel guides, invitations to exhibitions, playing cards, assembling boxes, various notebooks written in by Anna Banana, artworks and other miscellaneous materials.

Subseries is made up of publications collected by Anna Banana, especially books and catalogs, pertaining to exhibitions and collections of artists’ work. Banana’s involvement with the Mail Art Network often included showing her own work all over Europe and North America, by sending mail art, artistamps, drawings and other works to invitational shows and exhibits. Most of those shows in which she partook are noted with small bookmarks, often in yellow, showing those pages where her work is referenced, although not all of the files in this series pertain to her, or even the mail art network. This subseries spans across genres.

Subseries includes exhibition catalogues, publications relating to specific exhibitions, catalogues by artists, product catalogues, directories, some mail art projects which resulted in an exhibit or show, books published in tandem with an exhibit, as well as documentation about invitational shows or competitions. Banana did not distinguish between any of these items and generally categorized them under “Exhibit Catalogs,” “Mail Art Catalogs” or “Artist Catalogs.” The distinction between the items in this subseries and those of Books or Zines often seem superfluous and depend greatly on the whims of Banana’s own boxing system.

Anna Banana set this subseries aside in two boxes titled “Best Examples of How Mail Art Evolved,” evidently showing the ways that mail art expanded from its initial scope in the 1960s and 1970s. The bulk of the items in this subseries are dated after the year 2000, detailing some of the latest innovations in the mail art network, as well as various compendiums or encyclopedias of mail artists and their work.

The subseries contains mostly books about mail art, as well as some newspapers, mail art projects, zines, posters and other published material.