''The Chicago Seed'' was an

underground newspaper The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group. In specific rec ...

published biweekly in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

from May 1967 to 1974; there were 121 issues published in all. It was notable for its colorful psychedelic graphics and its eclectic, non-doctrinaire

radical politics Radical politics denotes the intent to transform or replace the principles of a society or political system, often through social change, structural change, revolution or radical reform. The process of adopting radical views is termed radicali ...

. Important events covered by ''Seed'' writers and artists were the trial of the

Chicago Eight The Chicago Seven, originally the Chicago Eight and also known as the Conspiracy Eight or Conspiracy Seven, were seven defendants—Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Lee Weiner—charged b ...

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

, and the murder of

Fred Hampton Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an American activist. He came to prominence in Chicago as deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party and chair of the Illinois chapter. As a progressive African Ame ...

. At its peak, the ''Seed'' circulated between 30,000 and 40,000 copies, with national distribution.

Publication history

After attending the March 1967

Underground Press Syndicate The Underground Press Syndicate (UPS), later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate (APS), was a network of countercultural newspapers and magazines that operated from 1966 into the late 1970s. As it evolved, the Underground Press Syndicate crea ...

(UPS) gathering held in

Stinson Beach, California Stinson Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, on the west coast of the United States. Stinson Beach is located east-southeast of Bolinas, at an elevation of . The population of the Sti ...

, artist Don Lewis and Earl Segal (a.k.a. the Mole, owner of the Mole Hole, a local

head shop A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis and tobacco and items related to cannabis culture and related countercultures. They emerged from the hippie counterculture in the late 1960s, and ...

) launched the ''Seed'' and joined UPS. Peck, Abe. ''Uncovering the Sixties: The Life and Times of the Underground Press'' (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985). (The paper also later became a subscriber to the

Liberation News Service Liberation News Service (LNS) was a New Left, anti-war underground press news agency that distributed news bulletins and photographs to hundreds of subscribing underground, alternative and radical newspapers from 1967 to 1981. Considered the "Asso ...

.) Lester Dore took over the art direction when Don Lewis moved to New York to work for ''

Screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...

'' magazine. Disagreements between Lewis and Segal led to the ''Seed'''s purchase by Harry Dewar, a graphic designer, and Colin Pearlson, a photographer, who thought it had commercial potential. The ''Seed'' was edited for several years by Abe Peck, who started as a staff writer in late 1967. He became editor soon afterward, and led the paper toward the Yippies (

Youth International Party The Youth International Party (YIP), whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American youth-oriented radical and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the late 1960s. It was founded o ...

), a group that planned surrealistic-oriented events for the

1968 Democratic National Convention The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making ...

. Despite a split with

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponen ...

and

Jerry Rubin Jerry Clyde Rubin (July 14, 1938 – November 28, 1994) was an American social activist, anti-war leader, and counterculture icon during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman. He is known for being one of the ...

over tactics and transparency, Peck and other ''Seed'' staffers appeared in

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

throughout the August 1968 demonstrations. Skeets Millard, a young photographer and community organizer who was publishing the Chicago edition of ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a regular symmetrical pattern when v ...

'', joined the ''Seed'' staff in 1969, at a time when all of the original founders were gone and there was no one working on the paper who had been there more than 12 months; Mike Abrahamson was running the paper in Abe Peck's absence. Among the staff writers were Marshall Rosenthal and

Eliot Wald Eliot Wald (February 10, 1946 – July 12, 2003) was a comedy writer who worked for The Second City improv group in Chicago and for ''Saturday Night Live'' before turning to movies. He and a partner, Andrew Kurtzman, wrote scripts for the televis ...

. While supporting various movements, the ''Seed'' remained independent of organizational affiliation. "Although the paper was far left-leaning, it was known for its independence and impartiality on left-wing issues, not subscribing to a particular ideology, which was unusual for the time.” The ''Seed'' grew increasingly radical, however, and Peck left the paper in 1970.

Design aesthetic and production process

The paper was known for its colorful printing, artwork and

comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

, with

Skip Williamson Mervyn "Skip" Williamson (August 19, 1944 – March 16, 2017) was an American underground cartoonist and central figure in the underground comix movement. Williamson's art was published in the '' National Lampoon'', ''High Times'', ''the Realis ...

Jay Lynch Jay Patrick Lynch (January 7, 1945 – March 5, 2017) was an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his ''Bijou Funnies'' and other titles. He is best known for his comic strip ''Nard n' Pat'' and the r ...

Jim Roslof James Paul Roslof (November 21, 1946March 19, 2011) was an American artist who produced cover art and interior illustrations of fantasy role-playing games published by TSR, Inc. during the "golden age" of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. As Art Director ...

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

, Karl Heinz-Meschbach, Paul Zmiewski, Peter Solt, and other Sixties artists contributing to the publication's unique look: The ''Seed'', along with the ''

San Francisco Oracle ''The Oracle of the City of San Francisco'', also known as the ''San Francisco Oracle,'' was an underground newspaper published in 12 issues from September 20, 1966, to February 1968 in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of that city. Allen Cohen (p ...

'', was one of the first tabloid newspapers to use Split-fount inking on a

web press Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on ...

. It was a real

do it yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

operation: copy was set on an

IBM Selectric The IBM Selectric typewriter was a highly successful line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961. Instead of the "basket" of individual typebars that swung up to strike the ribbon and page in a typical typewriter of the period ...

and pasted up, negatives were made and

stripped Stripped may refer to: Music * "Stripped" (song), by Depeche Mode, 1986 * ''Stripped'' (Christina Aguilera album) or the title song, 2002 * ''Stripped'' (Daniel Ash album), 2014 * ''Stripped'' (Macy Gray album), 2016 * ''Stripped'' (Pretty Ma ...

up for plate-making, and inks were mixed to take to the printer. After losing its original printer in 1968, the ''Seed'' was printed for a time on the presses of liberal

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

newspaper publisher Bill Schanen, who provided printing services for a large number of Midwestern underground papers that could find no other printer. Felien, Ed. "Let a hundred Flowers Blossom, Let a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend," in Wachsberger, Ken, ed. ''Voices from the Underground: Insider Histories of the Vietnam Era Underground Press'', (Tempe, AZ: Mica's Press, 1993), p. 305-312.

References

Notes

Sources

''Chicago Seed''.
''Area Chicago''. Retrieved June 4, 2010.

External links