The Beat Generation, a group of American writers emerging in the 1950s, included influential figures like Allen Ginsberg, whose poem 'Howl' became a pivotal work that expressed the era's social and cultural upheaval. Ginsberg's confessional style vividly captured themes of alienation, love, and liberation, establishing him as a key voice for change. The Beat Museum houses a collection of over 1,000 items related to this movement, including photographs and rare books from notable figures like Jack Kerouac.

2. also known as the beat movement,
were a group of American writers who
emerged in the 1950s.

10. Allen Ginsberg's family: Hannah (Honey) Litzky, aunt; Leo Litzky, uncle; Abe Ginsberg, uncle; Anna
Ginsberg, aunt; Louis Ginsberg, father; Eugene Brooks, brother; Allen Ginsberg, poet; Anne
Brooks, niece; Peter Brooks, nephew; Connie Brooks, sister-in-law; Lyle Brooks, nephew; Eugene
Brooks; Neal Brooks, nephew; Edith Ginsberg, stepmother; Louis Ginsberg, Paterson,
New Jersey, May 3, 1970
by Richard Avedon

11. Hal Chase, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs
near the Columbia University campus in Manhattan

12. Carl Solomon

16. It was banned for obscenity.

17. I saw t he best m nds
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of m gener at i on
y
dest r oyed by
m
adness, st ar vi ng
hyst er i cal naked,
dr aggi ng t hem ves
sel
t hr ough t he negr o
st r eet s at daw l ooki ng
n
f or an angr y f i x,
angel -headed hi pst er s
bur ni ng f or t he anci ent
heavenl y connect i on t o
t he st ar r y dynam i n t he
o
m
achi ner y of ni ght ,

18. HOWL (2010)
• James Franco stars as the young Allen Ginsberg—
poet, counter-culture adventurer, and chronicler
of the Beat Generation. In his famously
confessional, leave-nothing-out style, Ginsberg
recounts the road trips, love affairs, and search
for personal liberation that led to the most

20. HOWL was 29-year-old Allen Ginsberg’s first published poem—but it instantly established him as a vital new
voice for rapidly changing times. At once gritty and tender, rife with sex and drugs, driven by equal parts
alienation and ecstasy, haunted by memories of childhood, oppression, and boyish love, and erupting in a rush
of language with the rhythmic urgency of a jazz riff, the poem was a shock to the system in the midst of the
grey flannel, Eisenhower ‘50s. In an instant, HOWL forecast the heat and fury of the ‘60s and helped to usher in
cultural shifts that are still reverberating.

25. • The Beat Museum collection includes more than 1,000 photographs, rare books,
posters and artifacts.
• Many of the items in the collection were donated, often by people who knew
the major figures of the Beat Generation, such as the writer Jack Kerouac.