The Lawrence Lipton papers, 1883-2009 (bulk 1950-1975), consist of correspondence, interviews, manuscripts, typescripts, periodicals, audio recordings, motion pictures, clippings, photographs, and ephemera, created and collected by novelist, poet, and Beat Generation chronicler Lawrence Lipton. The collection documents Lipton's prolific work as a novelist, poet, and columnist through a variety of materials. Typescripts and manuscripts of his works--including Erotic Revolution, Rainbow at Midnight--and Lipton's columns for Radio Free America, Interface, and the Los Angeles Free Press showcase Lipton's writing styles and core themes. Correspondence between Lipton and members of the Beats, including Allen Ginsberg, as well as Lipton's third wife, novelist Craig Rice, reveals Lipton's central position among the Beat movement. And interviews--included as both recorded audio and, sometimes, as textual transcripts--that Lipton conducted with a variety of notable writers and musicians during the 1960s provide examples of literary and political dialogue of that era. Also included are items that Lipton collected as research material, newspapers and magazines (many of which feature Lipton's published poetry), photographs, and motion pictures. Many of Lipton's articles and poems written in the era of the Beat Movement deal with subjects pertinent to "beatnik" ideology such as anti-materialism, sexual liberation, exploration of eastern philosophy, criticism of western Christendom, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and denouncement of homophobia. Much of Lipton's poetry in this collection relates to his poetry and jazz project, as Lipton often combined these two art forms as a skilled jazz music composer.