Felix Dennis OZ Magazine Archive

The Felix Dennis OZ archive spans a broad range of material relating to OZ magazine, the OZ obscenity trial and Dennis' other projects including 'cOZmic Comics' and part of his personal library relating to OZ and counterculture.

The first three series relate to the production and running of the magazine and include correspondence, articles, subscription records, fan mail, business and legal papers. There is also documentation relating to the fall out after the School Kids issue and the resulting OZ trial which ultimately led to the winding down of the magazine in 1973.

The OZ mock up boards and artwork series contains original artwork with annotated printing instructions, collages and mock ups, process camera artwork and other ephemera.

The OZ obscenity trial series contains witness statements, legal papers, criminal department reports, photographs from the trial and the protests surrounding it, letters from the public and press cuttings. There are items relating to public protest such as stickers and flyers which were distributed and seen on the streets of London.

The archive also includes personal papers relating to Felix Dennis including correspondence, diaries and press cuttings.

OZ magazine was an underground magazine published in London between 1967 and 1973 under the general editorship of Richard Neville and later also Jim Anderson and Felix Dennis. OZ was renowned for its psychedelic covers by artist Martin Sharp, cartoons by Robert Crumb and controversial content including feminist manifestos by Germaine Greer. The magazine was visually dazzling, making use of new fluorescent inks and the offset printing system which allowed freedom of layout. The magazine regularly angered the British Establishment with its left-field editorials discussing drugs, contentious political stories, sex and alternatives lifestyles. OZ became infamous in the UK through its obscenity trial in 1971 surrounding the 'Schoolkids' issues which was edited by 20 teenagers and featured a sexually explicit montage of Rupert Bear, resulting in the three editors being charged with 'conspiracy to corrupt public morals.' The six week trial is arguably the most important censorship trial of the decade. OZ magazine published 48 issues in total and they continue to offer invaluable insight into Sixties counterculture. In 1973 OZ disbanded and Felix Dennis went on to found his own successful publishing company and released several poetry books he had written.

The collection is arranged as follows:

THM/497/1 Editorial Files

THM/497/2 Editorial Correspondence

THM/497/3 Financial and Business Files

THM/497/4 Press Cuttings

THM/497/5 OZ Trial Material

THM/497/6 OZ Obscenity Fund

THM/497/7 OZ Trial 20th Anniversary

THM/497/8 Felix Dennis Personal Material 1974 – 2014

THM/497/9 Hippie Hippie Shake Film

THM/497/10 Photographs

THM/497/11 Full run of OZ magazine

THM/497/12 OZ Mock-up Boards and Artwork

THM/497/13 Posters

THM/497/14 Ink Magazine

THM/497/15 cOZmic Comics

THM/497/16 AV Material

This archive collection is available for consultation in the V&A Blythe House Archive and Library Study Room by appointment only. Full details of access arrangements may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/

Access to some of the material may be restricted. These are noted in the catalogue where relevant.

Purchase, 2017. Acquired with Art Fund support.

The following items have been separated from the archive and integrated into the Theatre and Performance Collections:

David Hockney OZ Obscenity Fund Lithograph S.930-2017

Caroline Coon The OZ Trio Painting S.25-2018

Feliks Topolski OZ Trial Painting S.929-2017

Robert Crumb Honey Bunch Kaminski Cut Out S.928-2017

OZ t-shirt light blue vest S.30-2018

OZ t-shirt orange long sleeve S.29-2018

OZ badge 'Guaranteed OZ Beautiful !Freak!' S.26-2018

OZ badge 'OZ Not So Much A Magazine' S.27-2018

OZ badge 'OZ Conspirator' S.28-2018

Martin Sharp Tea towel S.31-2018

Information on copying and commercial reproduction may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/

This collection was appraised in line with collection management policy.

No further accruals are expected.

See also the core collections of the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance. Material relating to counterculture in general may be found in several collections, including the biographical, productions, company and photographs files.

Please ask for details.