With titles like Thought Bombs, who wouldn’t be tempted to take a peek and turn a few pages? For those of you interested in taking a walk on the wild side, the Anthony Rayson Zine Collection serves up a bit of contemporary anarchy, a healthy political rant or two, and an impressive collection of writings and artwork created by incarcerated persons from all over the United States. All of these zines are published and distributed by Rayson through his South Chicago ABC Zine Distro. By one of those fabulous twists of fate, the most radical materials in this library now reside side-by-side with all of those very serious rare old books in the Special Collections and Archives, Room 314.

Thought Bombs, Rayson’s personal zine, blends a generous dose of rebellion into articles on every conceivable topic from the Iraq War to racism to the prison system to the safety of toll booth operators (Rayson’s day job) with covers illustrated by his children. Best of all, he is married to a librarian. His devotion to free speech and education drives his mission to distribute materials to prisoners and to support their creative efforts through publication.

As an active collection, we here in the Special Collections department are always surprised by the content and format of materials we continue to receive in this collection. Rayson, well-known for his crop circle protests against the Peotone Airport expansion, immediately took a copy of the finding aid we created for his collection and turned it into a zine. How’s that for a marketing initiative?

To view the Anthony Rayson Collection finding aid: http://library.depaul.edu/Collections/spcaPDF/RaysonAnthonyFA.pdf