Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection

For nearly three decades, I've been a zealous fan of Bruce Springsteen. Like many devout Springsteen fans, I'm a subscriber to Backstreets, the Boss Magazine. I have every issue of Backstreets since issue #8 (published in 1984). While reading the most recent issue (#86), I came across a classified ad that mentioned a very interesting collection of ephemera--The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection. With the help of Bob Crane, the Executive Director of Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection, I arranged the following interview with Christopher Phillips, the editor and publisher of Backstreets Magazine, webmaster of Backstreets.com, and President of the Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection.

[Pictured above: Springsteen's freshman class photo from The Log, the yearbook for the 1963-64 school year at Freehold Regional High School. Pictured below: A page from the program for the Freehold Regional High School graduation in 1967. Bruce's name is on the bottom of the second column. He skipped the ceremony and picked up his diploma later. Click to enlarge.]

ephemera: Before we begin, Chris, I want to say that as a Springsteen fan, it's a thrill to view this ephemera. To this day, Springsteen's work continues to be the soundtrack of my life, and having the ability to view this ephemera provides a richer understanding of how that soundtrack came to be. Please tell us about the creation of the Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection.

Phillips: Time waits for no one, and the written history of Bruce Springsteen is now entering its crinkly paper phase. Worse, much of it is ridiculously hard to find. First of all, prior to the super-saturation of the '80s, we're talking about a musician from small-town New Jersey with little more than a cult following-- though a very passionate one--for a good number of years. Many of the early stories on Springsteen were published on 1970s newsprint or even mimeographed and handed fan-to-fan. And global super stardom brought its own set of challenges for gathering Springsteen ephemera: the sheer volume, for one thing, and then the fact that compelling publications were coming from far-flung corners of the world. So, finding and preserving this rich body of work became the passion of a small group of Springsteen fans six years ago under the auspice of Backstreets Magazine. Since then, we've formalized ourselves as The Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Collection, preserved the entire Collection in archival materials, and, under a current grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, are microfilming the oldest and most endangered documents. Most impressive has been the response of our donors. By numbers, we now hold more than 5,300 books, magazines, fanzines, tour books, songbooks, academic journals and papers, printouts of Internet articles and comic books published in 40 countries. The size of our holdings will soar when we post our first list of donated newspaper articles later this year. Knowing there will come a day when Springsteen studies take on the prominence of those now focused on John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, and other American icons, we're developing the Special Collection as a one-stop location for authors, scholars, and fans who are interested in all the essential works in the written history of Bruce and his bands.

ephemera: Where is the collection housed?

Phillips: The Special Collection exists to serve the research and informational needs of anyone with a serious interest in Springsteen's life and career. It is housed in the Public Library at 500 First Avenue, Asbury Park, New Jersey, in the community that inspired and shaped much of Springsteen's early career. Our partnership with the library reflects our deep ties to Asbury Park and our belief that music heritage can be a strong force in the community's future.

ephemera: What are some of the more interesting ephemera items included in the collection?

Phillips: We started by 'seeding' the collection with our own donation of books and magazines; from there, a call to Springsteen fans around the world resulted in an outpouring of generosity--from fanzine editors and other collectors--that has been helping fill in gaps ever since.

A chance meeting recently at the Collingswood, N.J., Flea Market illustrates in part how the Special Collection has come together. One of our members, Carl Beams, happened upon a table where Joe Hurley of Wall, N.J., was selling magazines. They got to talking, discovered a mutual love for Bruce's music, and after Carl explained his connection to the Special Collection, Joe Hurley donated a box of newspaper articles--local, national and international, many dating to the early 1970s. Hurley's donation is a treasure trove.

Springsteen fans tend to keep newspaper and magazines articles documenting favorite shows, and we've received many of those publications from generous donors here and abroad. In other instances, the Friends have made direct purchases when extremely rare items reached the market, thanks to the financial support of our members. Joe Hurley's big box of clippings included crinkly pages of a Rutgers University student newspaper reviewing the Oct. 12, 1976, show on campus in far more detail than is included in most known accounts. Many documents in the Collection go back further, including Springsteen's birth notice--in which the family last name is misspelled--in The Asbury Park Evening News from Sept. 24, 1949; the premier issue of MOD magazine (1966) containing the first published photo of Springsteen as a member of an early band The Castiles; the January of 1969 literary magazine of Ocean County College, containing Springsteen's first two published works--again, his last name was misspelled!; and, the four yearbooks from Springsteen's high school days in Freehold, N.J.

ephemera: It's a remarkable collection--something that will send shivers down the spine of any long-time Springsteen devotee. How can Springsteen fans view the collection, and what are the long-term plans for it?

Phillips: The Special Collection is available by appointment [call Patty LaSala at the Asbury Park Public Library 732.774.4221]. For security reasons, it is not part of the library's browseable and circulating collection. However, fans can visit the library without an appointment and review several hundred highlights from the Collection presented in five binders, held at the library's main desk. By mid-to-late November 2007, more than a fifth of the Collection will be available on microfilm without an appointment. First up in our long-term planning are two areas of expansion: newspaper articles, and a section on special printed items...for instance, press releases, contracts, and a real novelty--the menu from Childe Harold restaurant in Washington D.C. where a specialty sandwich was named after Bruce following his performances there in 1973. Next year we hope to microfilm our world-class collection of Springsteen fanzines, and then begin translating many of the non-English publications, especially reviews and interviews.

I would be remiss to not mention that fans are invited to visit the Friends as well as the online presentation of the Collection, and to contact Bob Crane, our executive director, if you have crinkly paper that should be in the Special Collection.

ephemera: This really has been a special treat for me, Chris. It's hard to express how much Springsteen means to me personally, and how much of a thrill it is to feature items from the Special Collection on my blog. I know anyone who shares my passion for Springsteen will be interested in this wonderful collection. Thank you very much for your time. And thank you for your work in making this collection available to future generations of Springsteen scholars and fans.