November 27, 1997
 

Dear Dean:

 I am writing to everyone who has supported or shown interest in my work on
Jack Kerouac and my critical biography of Kerouac, Memory Babe.
 The huge amount of research I did on Kerouac's life during the years
1977-1981, including 300 hundred taped interviews and many thousands of
pages of letters and other documents, is in grave danger of being lost
forever.  Let me explain.
 In 1987, for the very modest fee of $7,500, I placed the entire Memory Babe
Archive on deposit at the University of Lowell (now called the University of
Massachusetts, Lowell).  Since Lowell is Jack Kerouac's hometown, I assumed
the archive would receive maximum exposure there to scholars, writers, and
others interested in studying Kerouac's life and writings.  In fact, when I
placed the Memory Babe archive at the university, it was done with the
stipulation that it be made available to the public for scholarly study.  I
also stipulated that the materials, especially the tapes, be properly cared for.
 The unique and precious quality of this material cannot be overemphasized.
Of the 300 people I taped who knew Kerouac, over 100 are now dead.  Many of the dead interviewees are major American writers, such as Allen Ginsberg,
William Burroughs, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan, Bob Kaufman, Ted
Berrigan, John Clellon Holmes, Paul Carroll, Seymour Krim, Malcolm Cowley,
Herbert Huncke, and Jan Kerouac.  Other dead interviewees include Kerouac's
first two wives, Edie Parker and Joan Haverty, and close boyhood friends.
These interviews can NEVER BE REPLACED.
 The University of Lowell has never copied these tapes on to fresh cassettes
or made any other effort to preserve them, such as digitalization, despite
my complaints about their obvious deterioration over time.  Then, in June,
1995, I received a post card from scholar/professor James Jones that the
entire archive was closed to the public.  Mr. Jones wrote: "I just tried to
look at the papers you donated to the University of Lowell, and the
librarian in the Mogan Center told me your collection is closed to the
public until the lawsuit is resolved."
 I called Martha Mayo, the librarian, to ask what was going on, and why Jan
Kerouac's lawsuit against the Sampas family, to recover her father's papers,
should have anything to do with my archive.  Ms. Mayo informed me that John Sampas, the literary executor for Jack Kerouac materials inherited from his sister Stella, had complained about people having access to my collection
without his permission.

Mr. Sampas lives in Lowell and has a great deal of influence there.  The
library agreed to shut my collection, even though Mr. Sampas has never
demonstrated that he has the legal authority to keep people from using any
of the Memory Babe materials for study.  (Legally, he has the right only to
keep people from publishing or broadcasting Jack Kerouac's writings without
his permission.)
 I threatened to make a public issue of the illegal closing of my archive,
and was then told--deceptively--by the librarian that the collection was
still open, that she had only restricted the xeroxing of Jack Kerouac
letters.  (There are also 2,000 Jack Kerouac letters in xerox in my
collection, more Jack Kerouac letters than in any other spot on earth.)
Several months later, however, I began getting more letters and calls from
scholars who had been turned away from the entire collection.  The
university then admitted the collection was indeed closed.
 In effect, this enormous archive of study material on the life of Jack
Kerouac has been permanently buried--and consigned to imminent destruction, since the life of many of the tapes is at most only a few more years.
 Other libraries, such as the Bancroft in Berkeley and the University of
Texas at Austin, have already expressed their interest in acquiring the
Memory Babe archive, for the purpose of making it available for study.  But
the University of Massachusetts at Lowell will not divest itself of the
archive, even if paid back in full the purchasing price.  The University of
Massachusetts, Lowell, will not sell the Memory Babe archive, will not
properly care for it, and will not show it to anyone.  This is a situation
in which everyone is the loser, and most especially the future generations
of scholars and writers who seek access to a wealth of primary source
material on Jack Kerouac.
 The University of Massachusetts, Lowell, has left me no choice but to file
a breach of contract suit against them, to recover the MEMORY BABE archive
so that it can be placed in another institution, where it can be made freely
available to the public.  An institution not under the direct influence of
Mr. John Sampas.  For two years I tried and failed to put together a pro
bono legal team to carry out this suit, but was unable to do so.  I have,
however, found a Boston attorney who will take the case at a considerably
reduced rate.  But I still need to come up with a $20,000 retainer, which
will also cover filing fees, depositions, and so forth.
 Action must be taken now, or the chance to act will be lost forever.  A
statute of limitation is running on fraud and breach of contract--three
years in Massachusetts.  That statute will be up in June of 1998.  If I do
not take action before then, I will lose forever the legal right to recover
the MEMORY BABE archive.
 I am asking people to donate as much as they possibly can.  I do not intend
to make any money from this legal action whatsoever.  My only goal is to
save this huge archive of study materials for posterity.  Every person who
donates will receive a receipt for their donation and an accounting every 6
months of how the money is being spent.

 We hope that negative publicity will cause the University of Massachusetts
to settle quickly, to accept payment for the archive and transfer it
directly to me or to another university that offers to purchase it.  If
indeed we have to go the distance in trial court and appellate court, there
is still a good chance, if we win, of recouping legal expenses from the
university and/or from the resale of the archive to another university.
 Once this happens, once we win and resell the archive to another
university, all remaining funds, plus any earned, will be returned to the
donors with the aim of fullest possible reimbursement.  For example, if a
total of $20,000 was donated, and $20,000 is recovered, everyone will get
100% of their donation back.  If only $10,000 is recovered (if, for example,
legal fees are not repaid, but we earn $10,000 reselling the archive), then
every donor will receive back 50% of his donation.
 The MEMORY BABE archive is the largest archive of study materials
concerning Jack Kerouac's life and work anywhere in the world.  It can be
saved only with your help.  I appeal to you now, with the coming generations
of scholars and writers in mind.
 Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for listening and for helping.

      Yours truly,
      Gerald Nicosia

        Thanks for your support.
        Best always, Gerry

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