During the school year 1946-1947, Brautigan attended Grade 6 at Lincoln Elementary School in Eugene, Oregon. This class photograph shows him in the top left, rear.

VIEW a larger image of Brautigan's Grade 6 school photograph. During the school year 1946-1947, Brautigan served as member of Junior Safety Patrol at Lincoln Elementary School in Eugene, Oregon. His Junior Safety Patrol Citation listed his name as "Richard Porterfield." Brautigan used the Porterfield surname until 1953, when he changed to "Brautigan" just prior to his high school graduation.

VIEW a larger image of Brautigan's Safety Patrol Citation. During the school year 1947-1948, Brautigan attended Grade 7 at the Junior High Week Day Church School in Eugene, Oregon. Brautigan's certificate of attendance was signed by his teacher, Mrs. Paden, who filled in his name as "Richard Porterfield." Brautigan used the Porterfield surname until 1953, when he changed to "Brautigan" just prior to his high school graduation.

VIEW a larger image of Brautigan's certificate of attendance. A self-portrait, circa 1953, the year of Brautigan's graduation from Eugene High School in Eugene, Oregon. This photograph was taken in a coin-operated photo booth.

From the collection of Craig Showalter.

VIEW a larger image of Brautigan's self-portrait. This photograph, included in a letter from Sandra Porterfield to Brautigan, shows her and Richard's half-brother, William David Folston.

See Brautigan Family Genealogy for more information about Brautigan's siblings and other family members.

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Brautigan (left) at the Co-Existence Bagel Shop, sometime in the 1950s. Copyright © Lisa Law. Used by permission.

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LEARN more at Lisa Law's website. "Which Poet?" by Caroling Lind Geary
Oil painting
1957

Brautigan arrived in San Francisco in 1956 and set about becoming a writer. This portrait, by friend and artist Caroling Lind Geary, produced in 1957 shows Brautigan and others at The Place, a popular gathering spot for poets and artists at 546 Grant Avenue. Brautigan read his poetry at the weekly "Blabbermouth Night," an opportunity for artists, poets, and others to make a statement or to entertain in hopes of winning the night's prize: a magnum of champagne. The blond-haired figure standing in the center background is Brautigan.

VIEW a larger image of this painting. "Portrait of Brautigan" by Kenn Davis
32" X 20", oil on linen
Fall 1958

This portrait, by friend and artist Kenn Davis, was produced in 1958. Brautigan kept this portrait in his North Beach and later Geary Street apartment, but returned it to Davis later saying he no longer looked this way (having grown a moustache and long hair) and did not want his fans to remember him this way.
This photograph of Brautigan was taken in 1959, by Virginia Dionne Alder, his first wife. Brautigan and Virginia met in the Fall of 1956 and were married 8 June 1957.

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Another photograh of Brautigan, taken probably at the same time as the one above, by Virginia Alder.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. During Summer 1961, Brautigan camped with Virginia and Ianthe in Idaho's Stanley Basin. During this camping trip, he began writing Trout Fishing in America. This photograph, taken by Virginia Aste during the camping trip, shows Brautigan posing atop an abandoned and rusted truck.

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Brautigan trout fishing in Idaho, during his 1961 camping trip with wife Virginia and daughter Ianthe. Photograph by Virginia Aste.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan's daughther, Ianthe Elizabeth, was born 25 March 1960. This photograph shows Brautigan and his young daughter in Washington Square Park, San Francisco, in 1962. Brautigan looks every bit the proud father.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan in San Francisco, 1963. This black and white photograph, by Erik Weber, was used full-page on the back dust jacket of Brautigan's first published novel, A Confederate General from Big Sur (New York: Grove Press, 1964). According to Weber, the negatives were lost the day after the print was made.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan and friend Ron Loewinsohn (right) on the front cover of their literary magazine Change, 1963. Only one issue was ever published. This front cover photograph shows Brautigan and Loewinsohn dressed in black, looking like serious poets, standing in front of a billboard advertising "the fastest car on Earth."

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan posed with Beat poets and artists for a photograph in front of City Lights Books in San Francisco, 1965.

The photograph, "The Last Gathering of Beat Poets & Artists, City Lights Books," was taken by photographer Larry Keenen.
Brautigan amid the swirling events of the Artists' Liberation Front Fair, early Summer 1966. The Artists' Liberation Front (ALF) sponsored a crafts fair in the Pan Handle of Golden Gate Park. Neighborhood artists and residents attended and participated in the festivities.
This image was taken from "Artists' Liberation Front Fair," a film by Reg E. (Reggae) Williams. The film by Williams shows members of the Straight Theater emerging from their theater building, walking up Haight Street, jump starting a 1930s LaSalle automobile and riding it down Haight Street to join the festivities already in progress.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan, and Emmett Grogan (left, wearing beads) attending a meeting, October 1966. Grogan was one of the founders of the Diggers. Brautigan was, until he achieved his own fame as a writer, well-connected with the Diggers and Grogan, for whom he wrote the poem "Death Is A Beautiful Car Parked Only."

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan and Michael McClure (right), circa 1967, in San Francisco. Brautigan is dressed in a surplus Navy jacket, black jeans, a vest adorned with many pins and buttons, and soft, high-crowned, uncreased tan cowboy hat, a look made famous on the front cover of Trout Fishing in America, first published in 1967.

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This photograph, by Ianthe Brautigan, circa 1967, appeared on the front cover of Downstream from Trout Fishing in America: A Memoir of Richard Brautigan by Keith Abbott (1989).

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan and Valerie Estes (left) at Kirkwood Meadows, Highway 89, California, August 1968. Photograph by Michael Dorrow. (Photograph © Copyright 2006 by Micheal Dorrow. Used by permission.)

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Michael McClure (left) and Brautigan on Haight Street, San Francisco, 1968. Photograph by McClure's cousin, Rhyder, 1968.

This photograph was used on front cover of Transit, Spring 2002, which featured "Richard Brautigan: A Memoir" by John Thomas, as well as work by McClure.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan and V. Vale (left) celebrating their mutual birthdays, 30 January 1969, in the apartment of Valerie Estes, 1429 Kearny Street, San Francisco, California. Photograph by John Doss.
(Photograph © Copyright 2007 by John Doss. Used by permission.)

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. An article about Brautigan appeared in the 14 August 1970 issue of LIFE magazine ("Gentle Poet of the Young: A Cult Grows around Richard Brautigan" by John Stickney). This photograph shows Brautigan by the side of a swollen California creek.

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Another photograph from the same LIFE magazine story shows Brautigan and ten-year old daughter Ianthe strolling the streets of North Beach.

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Another photograph from the same LIFE magazine story shows Brautigan in front of the Trout Fishing in America school with students and faculty. The communal free school in Cambridge, Massachussetts, was named after Brautigan's second published novel, Trout Fishing in America.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan standing on Geary Street, San Francisco, 1971. Photograph by Ianthe Brautigan.

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Brautigan in his Bolinas, California, house, 1971. Brautigan bought the three story, wood shingled house in January. Photograph by Ianthe Brautigan.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan in the kitchen of his 2546 Geary Street apartment, San Francisco, 1972. Photograph by Ianthe Brautigan.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan and Jan Erik Vold in front of Brautigan's 2546 Geary Street apartment, 1974. Vold, a Norwegian poet, studied language and literature at the University of California Santa Barbara in the 1960s. Vold's work represents an important contribution to the renewal of interest in Norwegian literary works and culture.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (right). Photograph by photojournalist Robert Altman. Ferlinghetti, a poet, editor, and publisher, started City Lights Books in 1953. The bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue at Broadway, in San Francisco's North Beach district, remains an icon today.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. (L-R) Curt Gentry, Don Carpenter, Brautigan, and Enrico Banducci, owner of Enrico's Cafe, a popular gathering spot at Broadway and Kearney, near City Lights Books. This photograph by Roger Ressmeyer accompanied Cheryl McCall's article "A Happy But Footsore Writer Celebrates His Driver's Block" (People Weekly 8 June 1981: 113, 116, 120).

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. This photograph of Brautigan, apparently an outtake from an article about Brautigan in the 14 August 1970 issue of LIFE magazine ("Gentle Poet of the Young: A Cult Grows around Richard Brautigan" by John Stickney) was used in a boxed trivia game titled "LIFE Magazine Remembers" issued by Time Life in 1985 (printed by Selchow & Righter). The game featured a set of 702 playing cards, each with a popular and/or famous photograph from the archives of LIFE magazine. Each card had a series of questions about the subject on the back side. The 3" x 5" Brautigan card was number 34 from the set.

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Brautigan with some of The Montana Gang at Tom McGuane's ranch during his first trip to Montana in 1973. (L to R) an uknown person, Jim Harrison, Brautigan, Tom McGuane, Bill Roecker, Becky McGuane, and Dink Bruce. During his visit, Brautigan wrote The Hawkline Monster. This photograph, by Erik Weber, appeared on the back cover of Keith Abbott's Downstream From Trout Fishing in America.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. This photograph by Michael Abramson, 1980, shows Brautigan and daughter Ianthe at Brautigan's 42-acre ranch in Pine Creek, Montana. The window of Brautigan's writing room is visible at the top of the barn behind he and Ianthe. This photograph appeared on the front cover of Ianthe's book You Can't Catch Death, a memoir of the life and death of her father. A similiar photograph, taken at the same time, accompanied James Seymore's eulogy "Author Richard Brautigan Apparently Takes His Own Life, But He Leaves a Rich Legacy" (People Weekly 12 November 1984: 40-41).

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan with Greg Keeler (left) at Montana State University, Bozeman, Monana, Spring 1982. Brautigan taught a creative writing course at Montana State University during the spring quarter, April-June 1982. Keeler, Professor of English at Montana State and author of Waltzing with the Captain: Remembering Richard Brautigan, was instrumental in arranging for Brautigan to teach this course.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. (L-R) Jennifer Dunbar Dorn, Brad Donovan, Edward Dorn, and Brautigan. The Dorn's son, Kidd, is center front. Their daughter, Maya, is center middle. This photograph, by Georgia Donovan, July 1982, documents a fishing trip on the banks of the Gallatin River, near Bozeman, Montana.

Jennifer Dorn described the fishing trip in her memoir of Brautigan, "The Perfect American" (The Denver Post Empire Magazine May 19, 1985: 23, 31).

Edward Dorn wrote "In Memoriam: Richard Brautigan" (The Denver Post Empire Magazine May 19, 1985: 22-23, 25, 27), a memoir and "There's only one natural death, and even that's Bedcide: For the post-mortem amusement of Richard Brautigan" (Abhorrences: A Chronicle of the Eighties. Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow Press, 1990. 50), a tribute.

Brad Donovan wrote "Food Stamps for the Stars" (Firestarter June 1996: 4-5), a memoir; "Brautigan & The Eagles" (Rolling Stock (9) 1985: 4, 6), a tribute; and, with Brautigan, Trailer, a screenplay.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan fishing with painter and writer Russell Chatham (left) in Armstrong Spring Creek, Montana. Russell's memoir "Dust to Dust" (Dark Waters. Livingston, MT: Clark City Press, 1988. 28-34) recounts Brautigan as fragile and sensitive, not a macho hunter. This photograph accompanied Russell's memoir.

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Brautigan in San Francisco, 1963. This black and white photograph, by Erik Weber, was used full-page on the back dust jacket of Brautigan's first published novel, A Confederate General from Big Sur (New York: Grove Press, 1964). According to Weber, the negatives were lost the day after the print was made.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan in San Francisco, 1967. Photograph by Baron Wolman accompanied the Lawrence Wright memoir "The Life and Death of Richard Brautigan" (Rolling Stone (445) 11 April 1985: 29, 31, 34, 36, 38, 40, 59, 61).

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Brautigan in San Francisco, 1967. Photograph apparently taken by Baron Wolman at the same time as the one above, but this one not used in the Lawrence Wright Rolling Stone article.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan reading from his poetry collection, Rommel Drives On Deep into Egypt, Fresno State College, California, circa 1970. This book was Brautigan's sixth published poetry collection; his eighth poetry book publication.

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. Brautigan signing books following a reading in Boulder, Colorado, 1980. Photograph by Mark Billingsley.

Brautigan spent six weeks with Edward Dorn, author of "In Memoriam: Richard Brautigan" (The Denver Post Empire Magazine May 19, 1985: 22-23, 25, 27) and his wife Jennifer Dunbar Dorn author of "The Perfect American" (The Denver Post Empire Magazine May 19, 1985: 23, 31).

VIEW a larger image of this photograph. (L-R) Curt Gentry, Don Carpenter, Brautigan, and Enrico Banducci, owner of Enrico's Cafe, a popular gathering spot at Broadway and Kearney, near City Lights Books. This photograph by Roger Ressmeyer accompanied Cheryl McCall's article "A Happy But Footsore Writer Celebrates His Driver's Block" (People Weekly 8 June 1981: 113, 116, 120).

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Another photograph of Brautigan by Roger Ressmeyer that accompanied Cheryl McCall's article "A Happy But Footsore Writer Celebrates His Driver's Block" (People Weekly 8 June 1981: 113, 116, 120).

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Another photograph of Brautigan by Roger Ressmeyer that accompanied Cheryl McCall's article "A Happy But Footsore Writer Celebrates His Driver's Block" (People Weekly 8 June 1981: 113, 116, 120). Brautigan's rickshaw driver is Dwain Cox.

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Brautigan, in Hawaii, holding a fighting cock. Photograph by Eunice Kittagawa.

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