14 June 2010

Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:00:30 -0400
Subject: website
From: William Richards <wcr5d[at]virginia.edu>
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

Would you do me a favor? Could you take down my E-mail correspondence with you from your website? It's a little...creepy.

http://cryptome.org/0001/cryptome-ud.htm

__________

Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010
Subject: website
To: William Richards <wcr5d[at]virginia.edu>
From: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

It is a customary practice of Cryptome to publish correspondence of those asking for information to be used for public purposes. Accounts of the background arrangements contribute to understanding of the published product. To be sure the solicitations for assistance are often "creepy," even misleading as some writers willingly admit when shown what they did, wrote and said to those from whom information was sought.

It is also creepy to see what writers and their publishers select from, edit, rearrange, juxtapose, interpret, and imaginatively package from information contributed.

Your final composition is artful, our email exchanges a genuine part of it as the Urban Deadline material provided to you. You chose to omit the Cryptome continuation of UD, which without the emails is rather evasive.

[The William Richards dissertation, "Revolt and Reform in Architecture’s Academy: Columbia and Yale in the 1960s," A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Art and Architectural history, University of Virginia, May 2010, is available from the author.]

20 May 2010

Cryptome Precursor Urban Deadline

The precursor for Cryptome is an initiative called Urban Deadline, originated in 1968 by students at Columbia University who occupied Avery Hall, the school of architecture building. It was set up after the student strike to provide unpaid public services as a parallel to professional careers. Cryptome was started in 1996 as part of that continuing effort.

Recently, William Richards, a Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia, completed a dissertation on student activitism in the late 1960s which features Urban Deadline as well as similar activities at Yale University. To aid Mr. Richards, a collection of documents on Urban Deadline was assembled to supplement interviews he conducted with several members of Urban Deadline. Cryptome was offered as a current example of Urban Deadline work in addition to continuing endeavors by other members.

Also recently, a writer based in New York City, Mattathias Schwartz, requested access to these Urban Deadline documents as background for a proposed story on Cryptome.

Email correspondence with Matt and William is below.

The Urban Deadline document collection has not been made public before now:

http://natsios-young.com/Urban-Deadline-Documents.zip (66MB)

It supplements the research bibliography of Deborah Natsios and John Young:

http://www.natsios-young.com/nya-bib.htm

Mattathias Schwartz

From: Mattathias Schwartz <xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:01:45 -0400
Subject: Re: Biblio Melange
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

John,

Thank you for this, and for the speedy reply. I presented eleven ideas
to my editor and this was one of the four that he sounded interested
in. Now he takes those to the next tier up, and sooner or later we
hear back.

Best,

Matt

__________

On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 9:28 AM, John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com> wrote:

> Columbia 1968 was the origin of Urban Deadline and the
> foundation and continuing lifeblood of Cryptome. The archive
> and the Biblio Melange has material on this, bibliography of
> books and articles about it, and the focus of William Richards
> dissertation.

> John

From: Mattathias Schwartz <xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:00:54 -0400
Subject: Re: Biblio Melange
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

John,

Thanks for this. I'll be sure to follow your guidelines RE the
confidentiality of the archive.

One more question that came to mind: Did you have any involvement with
the Columbia protests of 1968?

Best,

Matt

On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 7:41 AM, John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com> wrote:

> If you haven't seen it, here is a fairly comprehensive listing of Deborah's
> and my Cryptome, Urban Deadline, scholarly, architectural, and various
> other activities from 1962 to 2008:

> http://www.natsios-young.com/nya-bib.htm

> Complemented by our professional architectural work on the Natsios-Young
> site.

> John

From: Mattathias Schwartz <xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:57:34 -0400
Subject: question
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

John,

It was very good talking to you today. I'll let you know how
tomorrow's meeting goes.

There's a very obvious question which I forgot to ask you. It seems
like you've published a great deal of very sensitive confidential
government information—the names and addresses of spies and unredacted
CIA reports, to give two examples. What's kept you from being indicted
for revealing state secrets?

Best,

Matt

From: Mattathias Schwartz <xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:06:05 -0400
Subject: Re:
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

John,

I'm meeting with a xxxxxxxxxxxxxx editor on Friday. How would you feel
about my profiling you for that magazine? I wanted to run the idea by
you before floating it to them.

Best,

Matt

William Richards

Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 15:33:51 -0400
Subject: Re: Urban Deadline
From: William Richards <wcr5d[at]virginia.edu>
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

Dear John,

1. I'm happy to send you all a digital copy. The dissertation will never be public in, I think, the way that one might expect, save for its availability on microfilm via University Microfilms and a copy at the University of Virginia library.

2. Revisions to the dissertation are no longer possible, as it's been turned in. Sorry. But, if something more comes of this project, I'd be happy to receive feedback.

3 + 4 + 5. The committee meeting (my "defense") occurred last month. It was a pretty dull defense, in the sense that there were six people in attendance and we were finished in about 45 minutes, so I'm not sure it would have been worth the time and expense to come. But, thanks for your interest.

If you think the group would be interested in reading the dissertation, then send me everyone's contact information and I'll make it available to them.

Thanks, John.

Bill

PS: you may call me Bill, if you'd like. Not even my grandmother calls me William...

__________

On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 2:10 PM, John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com> wrote:

Dear William,

After further discussion among Urban Deadliners about your
disseration these questions have arisen, with acknowledgement
of your scholarly independence:

1. Can the disseration be reviewed by Urban Deadline before
it is made public?

2. If there are concerns about its Urban Deadline material can revisions
be made?

3. Can Urban Deadliners attend your presentation to the dissertation
committee?

4. If attendance is possible could you provide a date, time and place?

5. If allowed to attend the presentation can Urban Deadliners respond
during it?

Depending on your response to these questions there may be
others.

Sincerely,

John Young

Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:41:44 -0400
Subject: Re: UD Inquiry
From: William Richards <wcr5d[at]virginia.edu>
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

Sounds like a plan, John.

Thanks.

__________

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 8:31 PM, John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com> wrote:

Good. The writer is Mattathias "Matt' Schwartz, based in NYC.
I have passed along your receptivity. He is to pitch the article
tomorrow to The New Yorker, and if that does not work out,
then Harper's magazine for which he has written. The main
focus is on Cryptome.org -- me and mate Deborah Natsios --
with UD as precursor.

This remains quiet if you don't mind until ready for openness.

I have asked Matt to not make UD material public until my
colleagues agree. I have passed around to them your message
on the dissertation status but nothing about Matt's article.

Regards,

John

Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:48:56 -0400
Subject: Re: UD Inquiry
From: William Richards <wcr5d[at]virginia.edu>
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

Hi, John.

I'd be happy to, sure.

Thanks for asking.

Bill

__________

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 6:00 PM, John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com> wrote:

William,

A writer is considering an article for a national journal
on my current work and its background with Urban Deadline.
Are you open to speaking with him about your dissertation
or do you wish to remain uninvolved? You have not been
identified.

Regards,

John

Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:04:47 -0400
Subject: Re: Urban Deadline
From: William Richards <wcr5d[at]virginia.edu>
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

Dear John,

Your timing is impeccable. I am copy-editing a final version for the university's binding service this week.

How it's gone: rough sledding, I'd say, but entirely rewarding. You can imagine the difficulty in creating a narrative based on what you've learned, what others have told you, and what, in turn, those accounts reveal about larger trends.

This project began with Alain's story about Avery and Urban Deadline in 2003, which was a completely accidental conversation---spontaneous and, therefore, entirely appropriate, given his admiration for the Situationists. In trying to find a context for that story, of course, my research world became much larger: student protests, campus expansion, post-war economic trends, urban renewal, race and civil rights, educational reform, curricula, university imperialism, so-called "studentification," practice vs. the academy, professionalization in architecture, the Beaux-Arts, the Bauhaus, Brutalism, advocacy planning and architecture, design-build, and on, and on.

I managed to contain my interests within two case studies that drew together all of the above influences: Yale's and Columbia. Each school revealed itself in a different way, but both were urban institutions that faced similar issues and both had design programs whose students were actively engaged in critiquing outmoded pedagogies and ideals FAR more actively than in other schools.

In the end, I find myself back at the beginning: in complete admiration of Avery and Urban Deadline. What you people did is remarkable and the conviction and dedication to the cause, whatever it was at the time, continues to hold my interest. Could I have been more critical in my "professional," historical methods? Perhaps, but it wasn't from lack of trying. Could it have been a expansive account? Sure, but, I think thats what the post-dissertation manuscript phase is for.

I need to keep plugging away on my punctuation and footnotes, but I want to get back in touch with you when it's all over. Thanks for checking in, though!

I still hope to meet you one of these days, John.

Take care,

Bill

__________

On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 5:26 PM, John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com> wrote:

William,

Can you share the status of your research? Eager to hear how it has gone. Very well, I presume.

Regards,

John

Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:34:37 -0500
Subject: Re: Urban Deadline Documents
From: William Richards <wcr5d[at]virginia.edu>
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

Dear John,

This is unbelievably generous, thank you. But, the breadth and depth of Urban Deadline's work is finally coming into focus. And, those mustaches! I'm going to take some time and review everything here and, as is my mantra lately, I'll have some questions for you about them, I'm sure.

I will credit all of the printed material that already ran in other publications accordingly, but for the photographs and renderings, how shall I credit those? Courtesy John Young? Or, Courtesy Natsios Young Architects?

Again, I can't thank you enough. My interest in Urban Deadline extends beyond my dissertation project and its history is something that I want to work more on. Having Alain as a studio instructor, meeting with Tony, and talking with some of the other (former) members has renewed my interest in architecture, which is something that had been waning after nearly 10 years of school. Urban Deadline and its members, in my mind, posses an authenticity and a sincerity that's real and meaningful. I'm sure this cache of documents is just the tip of the iceberg, and I'm looking forward to learning as much as I can.

Let's keep the conversation going.

Talk to you soon.

Bill

__________

On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 9:49 AM, John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com> wrote:

William,

We have scanned a collection of Urban Deadline and Urban Deadline
Architects documents dating from 1968 to 1977:

http://natsios-young.com/Urban-Deadline-Documents.zip (65MB)

You might find some of them of interest. Several have not been made
public as far as I know.

I have asked several Urban Deadline members to review the set for
any objection to release of the material and none have objected.

Not in the material is the article on Urban Deadline by Alain Salomon which
I assume you have seen or have library access:

Salomon, Alain." The Interstitial Experience: Urban Deadline." Architecture
D'Aujourd'hui Paris, May/Juin 1975: 50-57.

In addition to the book by Richard Rosencranz, there is a bit of material
on the Avery occupation in:

Confrontation On Campus - The Columbia Pattern for the New Protest,
by Joanne Grant, c. 1969.

For a bibliography of my work including that with Urban Deadline, and
what is still occurring in the spirit of Urban Deadline:

http://www.natsios-young.com/nya-bib.htm

Best regards,

John

Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:56:09 -0500
Subject: Re: Questions, at last
From: William Richards <wcr5d[at]virginia.edu>
To: John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com>

John,

Thank you so much for these responses. I have been absorbing them over the last couple of days and I will probably have some follow-up questions for you---if you're interested. Stay tuned.

As for your last response, I'm thrilled that you'd be willing to share some of those materials. All I have of period-specific images of Urban Deadline's projects is the photo spread in L'Architecture d'aujourdhui (1975?), and so I'm really eager to see more.

Are they things you have scanned already?

If not, I would be happy to scan them for you (and return them promptly). My address is: xxxxxxxxxxxx.

Of course, I'd be happy to drop by and shoot them with my digital camera next month. My wife and I will be in the city for a couple of days and, seeing as you're probably quite busy, I could make it a quick visit.

Thanks, again, John.

Talk to you soon.

Bill

__________

On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 7:36 PM, John Young <jya[at]pipeline.com> wrote:

Bill,

Sorry for this delayed response.

John

1. When did you enter the graduate program in architecture at Columbia? Why did you choose to attend Columbia in the first place?

1967. Wanted to live in NYC, wanted to do graduate study in an unconventional
architectural program, the preservation program was just getting underway,
I knew co-director Charles Peterson from his preservation work in Texas.
Fitch I knew and admired from his inspiring books on architecture and culture
which went against the professional grain.

2. I understand that James Marston Fitch, and the new historic preservation program, was an important influence for some students in Avery. What attracted you to historic preservation?

See 1.

3. How would you characterize your architectural education at Columbia?

The preservation program, which admitted mostly non-architects, was an
excellent antidote to conventional architectural education which was then
and now way too heavily weighted toward professional practice. To be
sure, since then professional preservation has become as hidebound
and lock-jawed and conceited in its self-interest as architectural practice,
as with all professsions (spit).

4. In your daily work, did either of the dominant pedagogies of the time --- the Bauhaus and the Beaux-Arts --- mean anything to you as a student?

Yes, as pedagogies to be learned and to be wary of as indoctrinative
ideologies.

5. Alain mentioned that Fitch was prone to ranting about urban renewal. Was urban renewal something that you thought about as a student? How was urban renewal regarded among the architecture students there at the time?

Urban renewal was loathed, near universally, beloved only by
those who hope to exploit its financial rewards by screwing the
populace. Fitch never ranted, he delivered superb philosophy
and guidance for leading a responsible life.

6. What does urban renewal mean to you now, as a practicing architect?

Awful, irreponsible behavior, as hard to kill as cockroches.

7. Lastly, which members of the architecture faculty at Columbia were memorable?

Fitch before the student strike and after, Bond, Guirgola and Kouzmanoff after the
strike. Preservation students were isolated within the school, praise Allah
for that. Most of the program's faculty were based outside Columbia

_________

Avery Commune (April 23-30, 1968)

1. I understand that the first day of the general occupation of Avery was the middle of charette. Does that sound right? Do you remember what you were working on that semester?

The architecture students in the preservation program were finishing up
master's thesis design projects, mine focused on Paterson, NJ.

Before the student strike, the preservation students did not commingle
with the other architecture students, nor with students in other parts of the
architecture school -- this isolation was a complaint, by the way.

2. The Morningside Park gymnasium was a hotly contested issue, but the Columbia building occupations seemed to be about more than encroachment or imperialist practices of the university. How did the motives of students in Avery fit within the larger spectrum of motives that informed the other building occupiers?

I suggest you discuss this with other contributors who were more
actively engaged with other building occupiers: Alan Feigenberg and
Bruce Dale, pre-eminently, who served as the premier Avery liaison
with other buildings.

3. As an explicit architectural symbol, how much of a catalyst was the gymnasium for architecture students? For faculty?

See 2.

4. Why do you think Columbia officially divested its significant interests in government or military funding by the spring of 1968? Did student pressure have anything to do with that?

See 2 and discuss with Alain and Katia.

5. Was the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) or the RAND Corporation popular targets for architecture students? R.O.T.C.?

See 2 and 3.

6. What role did SDS play in your experience as an architecture student?

See 2 and 3.

7. What would faculty involvement have changed the outcome of the gym debacle if they had been part of the its design proposal and process beginning around 1960?

Don't know.

8. What was the scene like inside of Avery during the occupation? I understand a lot of time was spent on debate --- but what, exactly, were you all debating?

For this see the book by Richard Rosenkranz, Across the Barricades.

_________ 

Urban Deadline

1. Your exit from the Avery Commune led directly to Urban Deadline. How did you, Alain, Tyler, Katia and the others organize yourselves?

No organization, lots of inspired discussion.

2. As an interdisciplinary group—drawing members from architecture, planning, law, journalism, and other areas—how did you find a common design language?

Design was not an ambition of the group as a whole.

3. I understand that different members of the group approached projects that suited their particular talents. What projects did you work on?

About half of some dozen projects.

4. How did Urban Deadline compare, in your mind, to other activist groups like the Architect's Renewal Committee for Harlem (and Max Bond) or The Architect's Resistance?

Puny but feisty compared to ARCH, which was an inspiration. I don't know much abour TAR.

5. Paterson, New Jersey comes up again and again among former members of Urban Deadline as one of the group's proudest achievements. What drew you to Paterson? Can you describe the project and its challenges?

Charles Peterson and Fitch proposed the location as my master thesis topic.
Peterson had done consulting work there. I wanted to study types of
buildings not usually considered by preservationists -- at that time most
industrial buildings were not seen as worth preserving.

6. Lastly, would you be wiling to share images of Urban Deadline's early work? Plans, sections, photographs --- if they exist?

There are a few, be happy to share.