Marvin X says the University of California's Bancroft Library doesn't have enough money to acquire the Dr. Nathan Hare and Dr. Julia Hare archives. When the UCB Bancroft Library curators arrived to inspect the archives, they asked Marvin what was the asking price? The poet took his time to reply. He said, "You know America deprived Dr. Nathan Hare of a livelihood, kicking him out of a Black college, Howard University, and a white college, San Francisco State University. We feel Dr. Hare deserves a generous compensation for his contribution to Black Studies and he has the archives to prove his profound contribution.
What do you want, the curators asked again? We want two million dollars!
"Marvin, we are poor, we cannot afford that. We tried to get the Alice Walker papers, but we couldn't afford her."
Stanford University is scheduled to view the Hare's archives in a few days. The archives include nearly two hundred boxes at this point. When the poet informed the Bancroft people Dr. Hare has books with hand written notes, they expressed interest in his books with margin notes. This may expand his archives to 300 boxes. Dr. Hare informed Marvin, "All my books have margin notes!"
Stanford has VERY Big Bucks. I think you should ask Stanford for $5 million. That's what Geronimo got for 27 years, and Dr. Hare worked longer than that!
ReplyDeletePlus, didn't your son go to Stanford? You must have connections there.
My daughter graduated from Stanford Law School. She is the Senior Agent of the Community Archives Project and is agent for the Hare papers.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean she would have a conflict of interest, and couldn't do it? If so, maybe it would be easier to replace her as the agent for the Hare papers (at least for the time being) than it would be to find a library with pockets as deep as Stanford's.
DeleteI read about Stanford's bidding to establish a campus in New York, and because of their Silicon Valley connections, their financial position is unparalleled.
Here's a thought: I heard Cynthia McKinney speak last night. She is brilliant, articulate, well known, and in need of funds. Hire her to negotiate with Stanford, and give her a commission. She's raising money to publish two books, which will be very valuable. And she is also working on her Ph.D.
DeleteComment from Laurens Grant to Marvin X:
ReplyDeleteMy don't you drive a hard bargain!!
Reply from Marvin X
I used to negotiate affairs for Eldridge Cleaver after he returned from exile and went through
his phases. I negotiated with Rev. Moon's right-hand man, Col. Pak in Montego Bay. The Moonies wanted Eldridge to spread anti-commlunism throughout the world but pay him hardly nothing. Col. Pak said my counter offer was totally unacceptable. And tell tell Mr. Cleaver his speech yesterday was too radical, too radical! Cleaver had asked, to the delight of all the Jamaican hotel workers, "Why have Christians made Communists the Good Samaritans of Latin America?"
Marvin, is that the US Ambassador to North Korea with Dr. Hare? The picture's kind of fuzzy.
ReplyDelete