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Gil Ott papers
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Gil Ott, born February 27, 1950, is a widely published essayist and poet. He is the publisher of Singing Horse Press, a literary press, which has produced over twenty-five titles by emerging poets and writers in the past twenty-seven years. The journal Paper Air, which the Press published from 1976 through 1990, was the recipient of an Editors' Fellowship from the Council of Literary Magazines and presses in 1985.
According to Ott, "there are a lot of writers who are not getting national exposure"; consequently he founded the Philadelphia Publishing Project, which addresses this problem by printing one book by a Philly poet each year. For this project, Ott looks for people who are "stepping outside the accepted notions of language and have a willingness to take risks with the materials itself."
Ott's own writing has won several awards, including fellowships from the Headlands Center for the Arts (California), and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Gil Ott has written thirteen books of poetry and prose, including The Yellow Floor (Sun & Moon, 1985), Within Range (Burning Deck, 1987), Public Domain (Potes & Poets, 1989), The Whole Note (Zasterle, Canary Islands, Spain, 1996), Traffic (Chax Press, 2001), and his final book, The Amputated Toe (Cuneiform Press, 2005). Essays focusing on the role of the arts in social change have appeared in American Poetry Review, High Performance, American News Service, M/E/A/N/I/N/G, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Cultural Democracy, and other sources.
Ott has several poems and songs on the Frequency Audio Journal.
In 2004, Ott turned the press over to Paul Naylor.
Ott is a fund-raising professional with decades of experience in cultural and community-based nonprofit management. From 1981 through 1995, he worked at Philadelphia's Painted Bride Art Center, first conducting a capital campaign, then creating an extensive network of community-based arts and educational collaborations. He served as the first Director of Development for Liberty Resources, a consumer-run organization, which advocates for the rights of people with disabilities. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the Community Education Center and Point Breeze Performing Arts Center.
He lived in Philadelphia with his wife, poet and educator Julia Blumenreich and their daughter Willa. Gil Ott died in 2004.
The papers of Gil Ott at the University of Pennsylvania Library consist of his correspondence, as well as his personal writings. Also included are Ott's submissions, journal/notebooks, press clippings and even an audio tape of Ott telling stories. The papers also comprise Ott's grant and financial records, and his computer files and computer hard-drive.
Purchased from Gil Ott, 2003.
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- Patricia D. Hopkins
- Finding Aid Date
- May 2006
- Access Restrictions
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The bulk of this collection is open for research use, however, use of original audiocassettes in Series II. Writings and 3.5 inch floppy disks, ZIP disks, and internal hard drive in Series V. Computer media and files is restricted. The computer files originally stored on the 3.5 inch floppy disks and internal hard drive have been processed and are available for research use (see items described as "Digital Content (Reading Room Access Only)" along the right-hand side in the Collection Inventory). These computer files are reading-room access only on a dedicated computer in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.