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"If I had to Live my Life Over Again, I would Be a Botanist": John Cage’s Mycology Collection

TWE Note Bottoms Video

Transcript of the Rita Bottoms clip:

I think that’s really relevant, that conversation because it's because of that conversation I had to go back and tell my boss what I just agreed to. That I had agreed to let this collection circulate out in the dirt. I had to go back and tell Don Clark that and have him not say “are you kidding me!” You know he went with it. The point is it was a revolutionary idea. It was revolutionary there's no special collections on the planet that would have done that and that's what we did. The point is it's very relevant to the collection. If I had said oh I'm so sorry, that can't be done–forget it. It [the collection] wouldn't be there the point is, it was totally revolutionary.

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The Whole Collection and the Whole Earth By the late 1960s Cage amassed a ton of realia. [1] He needed to simplify his living space and decided to donate a lot of his materials to universities. Afterall, Cage taught and performed in these establishments. He wrote, "without the universities I think my music would be very little known and I'm sure that's true too of Merce Cunningham's dancing.” [2] In 1971, Cage decided that his mycological collection would go to UC Santa Cruz and informed Norman O. Brown that he would personally bring the first shipment of his collection. This made Brown nervous. “Nobby” called Bottoms, “a million times” at home and at her work to make sure she was ready for this donation. [3] Cage visited the Santa Cruz campus that same year and had lunch with Brown, Bottoms, and Lee at the Whole Earth Restaurant to discuss details about his donation. [4]

The former Whole Earth Restaurant in Quarry Plaza at UC Santa Cruz.

Cage set fairly unconventional guidelines as to how the collection would be stored and managed. He requested the archive be kept in Alan Chadwick’s chalet so the students could check out the books on a good faith principle and study the materials in the open air of one of the best mycological communities in the world. Dumbfounded by Cage’s decision, Brown asked Cage if he would include his copy of the exceptionally rare Valentina and Gordon Wasson book, Mushrooms, Russia, and History (1957). This book was signed and gifted to Cage for his fiftieth birthday by his friends including Brown and his wife. [5] Cage confidently replied, “Yes Nobby, even the Wasson. The revolution has to start somewhere. Let it begin with me!!!”

The UC Santa Cruz Alan Chadwick Garden Chalet that sits at the west entrance of the Gardens.

An important letter between Rita Bottoms and Cage details the significant impression Chadwick had on Cage and his decision to donate the archive to UC Santa Cruz and reinforces the fact that he wanted the students to use the archive in a non-traditional environment so they could study where they worked–in nature:
As I told you, my decision to give the collection to the University of California at Santa Cruz was made because of my enthusiasm for the work of Mr. Alan Chadwick... I would like the books, as he would, to be in the chalet in the garden or in another chalet which he plans to make, which would take the form of a “quiet house” and which would include a collection of the writings of Rudolf Steiner and my mushroom books.
I am particularly happy about the combination of my collection with the Steiner collection because I did much of my purchasing of the books and Association with David Tudor who is himself devoted to the work of Steiner.
I wish to emphasize my desire that the books be placed in a botanical situation rather than a conventional library situation. I am delighted by the prospect of there being used by people working in the earth and a situation adjacent to their work period I do not want to have them obliged to stop work and go to another location in order to consult books.
I realize that this request is unconventional from an academic point of view but I trust that it will be followed. On the other hand, I think the material should be cataloged in a conventional manner and the cards associated with the collection should be included and the University catalog. [6]
Bottoms mentioned in my interview with her, the notion of keeping this important collection outside "in the dirt" and accessible to anyone at anytime was, “totally revolutionary.” This was indeed a unique concept as Special Collections departments are repositories that house rare books and documents that are irreplaceable.

Rita Bottoms discusses the John Cage Mycology Collection and where Cage wanted his materials stored. Interview with Rita Bottoms October 11, 2020.

After the meeting at the Whole Earth Cafe, Cage wrote a letter to Bottoms expressing his happiness with the donation of "mushroom books and mushroomiana" while disagreeing with the appraisal of the collection (refer to note 5) and items that were not evaluated such as the Morris Graves painting. As mentioned before, he reinforced his desire to have the collection stored in the garden chalet and wanted the "disposition of the books made by him [Chadwick]."

Chadwick was fired from UC Santa Cruz in early 1972 which seems politically motivated and remains a sore topic at the university. [7] Bottoms had custodial rights of the collection and in the amidst the confusion, Cage's collection was stored in the library. This is exactly where Cage did not want his materials placed. In fact he wrote a letter to Bottom's and carbon copied the Chancellor of University on December 26, 1972. He mentioned that he was in contact with Chadwick and suggested that the books from his collection should be with Chadwick if the university was willing to allow this.

Cage was upset that his wishes were not realized and that the materials he donated were only available, "six hours a day five days a week." The Special Collections department improved access to Cage's collection and his books are easily accessible. In a personal letter to Bottoms Cage apologized for his previous communication:
I wanted you to know that I love you all and didn't want to make you miserable with my last letter. But yesterday a good letter from David Arora about the changes in the availability of the books made me happy. Will shorty send you a box of materials and also the recently finished portfolio of lithographs.

Cordially,

John Cage

The mycologist David Arora was a student at UC Santa Cruz and is one of the leading mycologists in the United States. He remembers the influence of the collection on his early career:

The study and practice of mycology was central to Cage's artistic output and creative endeavors– a topic that joins his interest in Norman O. Brown, Buckminster Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, D.T. Suzuki, Henry David Thoreau, and Zen Buddhism. But it was nature and these terrestrial specimens that regularly occupied the composer’s thoughts.

Cage sought refuge and found inspiration in nature and in mushrooms. This is an important motivation as to why he donated his mycology collection to UC, Santa Cruz. In the 1960s, Santa Cruz represented a place of transformation and renewal. It was a new university full of novel ideas whether it be in education, organic farming or foraging. Cage's engagement with mycology is a topic that, until recently, has not received much scholarly attention.

References:
Bottoms, Rita. Riffs and Ecstasies: True Stories. Venice, Italy: Damocle Edizioni.

Bottoms, Rita, and Irene Reti. “Rita Bottoms: John Cage.” In Rita Bottoms: Polyartist Librarian, 64–172. Santa Cruz, CA: The University of California, 2005.

Lee, Paul. There Is a Garden in the Mind: A Memoir of Alan Chadwick and the Organic Movement in California. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2013.

Sharon Cadwallader, Judi Ohr, Paul Lee, and Anita Walker, Whole Earth Cookbook: Access to Natural Cooking (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1972.

Silverman, Kenneth. Begin Again: A Biography of John Cage. New York: Knopf, 2010.