Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Ownership and Custodial History

The Anna Banana Collection was compiled by a former VCU Special Collections and Archives intern, Rebecca Dobyns, in 2004. The stamps in the collection are also a gift sent directly from Anna Banana.The papers were collected by Dobyns as part of a book art project called To and From: Davi Det Hompson Correspondents. Her research was included in her master's thesis entitled "The Postcard Art Project."

Preferred Citation

Anna Banana Collection, Collection Number M 385, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Rebecca Dobyns.

Biographical / Historical

Anna Banana (b. 1940), formerly Anne Lee Long, is a visual and performance artist from Canada. Since the 1970s, she has been a major contributor and innovator of mail art. For over 30 years, she has been part of the International Mail Art Network (IMAN), an art exchange program that involves artists from all over the world. She has also published extensively on art related topics, including a newsletter called Banana Rag (1971-1991), which she converted into Artistamp News (1991-1996). In addition to her work with mail art, Anna Banana is also a performance artist. Her stage performances have included Dada and Futurist scripts as well as conceptual performances.

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of one box of thirty-one folders, which contains Anna Banana's extensive curriculum vitae, bibliographic materials, stamp designs from 1988-2002, selected newsletters from Banana Rag and Artistamp News, as well as reviews from various artists.

Arrangement

The collection has been divided into three groups: artist's bibliographic materials, newsletters, and published articles on Anna Banana.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Artists -- Archives -- Canada
• Banana, Anna, 1940-
• Mail art.