Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. collection, circa 1992-2026 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. collection, circa 1992-2026

ID: 01/MSS00100

Primary Creator: Kennedy, Amos Paul, Jr.

Extent: 20.0 Cubic Feet

Arrangement:

The Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. collection consists of 15 series arranged by chronologically by year of accession. Series X combines unidentified pre-2011 accessions.

The collection is described at the item level. The contents of each print are transcribed in quotations, following the capitalization and wording of the prints as closely as possible.

Information contained in parentheses within the quotation marks is found at the top or bottom of the print. Often this information refers to the source of the quotation on the print or an organization involved with the event promoted on the print.

Text on the background of the prints is included in brackets within quotations. Any information in brackets outside of the quotations indicates design related characteristics of the given print to distinguish it from other prints with identical text.

Date Acquired: 00/00/1997

Subjects: Artists' Books - United States, Kuba (African people), Smoking -- Folklore, Tales -- Congo (Democratic Republic), Tales -- Nigeria, Yoruba (African people) -- Folklore

Forms of Material: African Americans - Music, American poetry, Christmas music, Miniature Books, Postcards, Proverbs, African, Spirituals (Songs)

Languages: English

This collection consists of letterpress art printed at Kennedy Prints!, Jubilee Press (also Jubalee), or elsewhere by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. (1948-), an American letterpress printer, papermaker, educator, and social activist. Formats include postcards, posters, state road maps, and hand fans. There is also some additional promotional material for events with which Kennedy was involved. Some items for this collection are individually cataloged and searchable in Primo at the link below. Many are also digitized and available to view online as part of our Digital Collections.

See Administrative/Biographical History and Administrative Information for more information.

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 1948. His father, Amos Paul Kennedy Sr., was a professor of agriculture and chemistry who taught at numerous historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) throughout his professional career. In 1972, Kennedy Jr. earned a BA in mathematics at Grambling University, and went on to pursue an MA in education.

Kennedy spent time in the Peace Corps during graduate school, which gave him the opportunity to teach mathematics in Liberia for 18 months. After contracting and recovering from malaria, he returned to the United States and settled in Gaithersburg, Maryland, taking a position with IBM as a systems programmer. He worked there for three years before moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked for various computer firms and revived his interest in graduate school—this time for library science.

In 1981, Kennedy moved to Chicago, however, which once again put his formal academic plans on hold. While working for AT&T, he studied calligraphy as a hobby and took letterpress courses at Artist's Book Works, a small non-profit papermaking studio that opened in 1983. His initial interest in the printmaking process was peaked during a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, where he saw the town’s 18th century print shop and book bindery. After six months of coursework, Kennedy came into his own press and, being gifted four cabinets of type by a seasoned printer, quickly transformed his basement into a print shop. This private press was called Idiot Press, its name changing to Kennedy and Sons Fine Printing once he shifted his focus to commercial printing, and later to Jubilee Press (also Jubalee).

In 1995, Kennedy began graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and studied graphic design under Walter Hamady (1940-2019), also taking courses on the history of African art and Vodún. At this time, he moved to Bayside, a suburb of Milwaukee, and worked out of a studio there. He graduated with an MFA in 1997, and in 1998, became the first Black faculty member in the School of Fine Arts at Indiana University.

While living in York, Alabama, in 2002, Kennedy shifted his interest from books to posters and cards. He spent much of the next decade honing his craft in a series of small Alabama towns while traveling to teach, speak, and sell his work. In 2008, he moved to Detroit, Michigan where he established his print shop, Kennedy Prints!.

Using wood type and hand presses, Kennedy produces large editions of wildly colorful, typographically driven posters on inexpensive chipboard stock. His method often involves overprinting multiple layers of text and making constant, subtle alterations to the color of the inks throughout each press run, making each print being subtly unique. He passionately addresses issues of race, freedom, and equality in his work, often incorporating proverbs and tales of the Kuba and Yoruba people of Africa, as well as the work of Black American poets, such as Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906). Kennedy has printed under a number of press names, including York Show Prints, Kennedy & Sons, Fine Printers, and Kennedy Prints!

As more and more artists seek to steer away from computer-generated art, Kennedy is often credited with the revival of the letterpress in contemporary and folk art.

Artists' Books - United States
Kuba (African people)
Smoking -- Folklore
Tales -- Congo (Democratic Republic)
Tales -- Nigeria
Yoruba (African people) -- Folklore

Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Access Restrictions: Open to researchers.

Use Restrictions:

The RBML reproductions policies can be found here:

http://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/ReproductionServices.htm

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would damage materials or involve violation of copyright law.

Related Materials:

Amos Kennedy Digital Collection

Interview with Amos Kennedy (University of Wisconsin, Madison Library)

Amos Kennedy print collection (Library of Congress)

Processing Information: https://wiki.cites.uiuc.edu/wiki/display/librare/Home

Finding Aid Revision History: Revised 03/05/2026.

URL: https://go.library.illinois.edu/AmosPaulKennedyJrCatalog

Box and Folder Listing

Series 2: 2012 Accessions

Sub-series 1: Small prints

Box 2

Folder 28

Item 1: “A Hollywood Fringe 2011 Production !D40FT!”, 2011

“!DEATH 40-FEET TALL! Two best friends. Their geek life. Giant Robots… Exclusively at ComedySportz (hollywoodfringe.org)” on back.

Item 2: “A Hollywood Fringe 2011 Production: DEATH 40-FEET TALL”, 2011

“!DEATH 40-FEET TALL! Two best friends. Their geek life. Giant Robots… Exclusively at ComedySportz (hollywoodfringe.org)” on back.

Folder 29: “BUY ART Southside Gallery (Oxford, Mississippi)”, 2011

Folder 30: “JUDGE FRANK JOHNSON ‘gave true meaning to the word JUSTICE’ (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)”, 2011

“Dedication of the Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Collection, May 20, 2011, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama” on back.

Folder 31: “Merry Christmas”, 2011

Folder 32: “READ Square Books (Oxford, Mississippi) [a good cookbook]”, 2011

Folder 33: “2012 TANTI AUGURI”, 2012

Folder 34: “GOLDEN-ROD FRYING CHICKENS PACKED BY GOLDEN-ROD BROILERS (GREENSBORO, AL)”, undated

Sub-series 2: Publications and promotional materials

Box 2

Folder 35: “Concerts, exhibits, TV shows highlight Black History Month” newspaper article by unknown author from Post-Tribune, 1991

Article promotes the exhibit “Joy-Filled Words: African-American Spirituals in Print” by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. at the DuBois branch of the Gary Public Library.

Folder 36: “Gary Public Library exhibits/displays at DuBois” newspaper article by unknown author from The Crusader, 1991

Article promotes the exhibit “Joy-Filled Words: African-American Spirituals in Print” by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. at the DuBois branch of the Gary Public Library.

Folder 37: Journal Times Community Page with photograph of Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. demonstrating letterpress art to kids, 1993

Folder 38: Mailer for “MEMORIALS by three book artists” at the Cardinal Stritch College Layton Honor Gallery, 1994

Includes collaboration on an installation work by Caren Heft and Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. The work commemorates children murdered in Wisconsin and Illinois in 1993.

Folder 39: Caxtonian newsletter, 1994

Folder 40: Mailer for “Sensual Soul Spirituality: Sex, Race, and Religion” exhibition and special events at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, 1996

Exhibit includes work by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.

Folder 41: “Mapping Wisconsin Book Artists: Your Official Guide to the ‘I Build Books!’ Exhibition” brochure, 1996

Includes Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. as a Wisconsin book artist.

Folder 42: Sign of the Windmill: A Magazine for Printers, 1997

Includes “Printer does things the old-fashioned way” article about Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. by Heather Larson Poyner of Kenosha News.

Folder 43: Mailer for “Books Made By At-Risk Children” exhibition at Cardinal Stritch College, 1997

The exhibition consisted of books made by children under the direction of artist bookmakers including Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.

Folder 44: Program for Martin Luther King Library Renovation Celebration, 1997

Back of program describes a book created by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. with quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in celebration of the renovation. Program encloses a leaflet with quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Folder 45: Mailer for “Beyond the Fold, Artists’ Books: Traditional to Cutting Edge” exhibition at The Gallery of South Orange in New Jersey, 1999

This item is sealed.

Folder 46: Program for “Alberto Casiragi, Games of the Flea: A Small Italian Publisher in America” exhibition at the School of Fine Arts Gallery at Indiana University, 2000

Curator Ben Pond thanks Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. for “his efforts to make this exhibit possible.” NAPPY – negroes in ART! is also given credit for helping make the exhibition possible on back.

Folder 47: Mailer for “Unique Editions: Text, Structure & Performance” exhibition at the Suburban Fine Arts Center in Highland Park, Illinois, 2002

Includes Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. as an exhibiting artist.

Folder 48: Mailer for “The First 100 Days” event at Austin Peay State University, 2009

Text reads: “In commemoration of President Barack Obama’s 100th day in office, the Goldsmith Press & Rare Type Collection @ Austin Peay State University printed the president’s inaugural address on 100 T-shirts. Each T-shirt contained roughly 25 words of the 2383 word speech. On April 30, 2009 100 students and faculty wore the T-shirts on a silent walk through the APSU campus.”

Box 17

Folder 4: Art Muscle magazine, 1994

Folder 5: Shepherd Express newspaper, 1998

Folder 6: ids WEEKEND publication, 2000

Includes “The Optimistic Cynic,” about Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. by Aline Mendelsohn.

Sub-series 3: Handheld fans

Box 11

Folder 1: “Celebrating the tenth annual Okra Festival (Burkeville, AL)”, 2010

Folder 2: “I am a FAN of GORDO BASEBALL”, 2010

Sub-series 4: Posters—General

Box 20

Folder 1: “Mississippi State University College of Architecture, Art, and Design HARRISON LECTURE SERIES fall 2008”, 2008

Printed by Mark Wise.

Folder 2: “MONDAY MOVIES (Mississippi State University)”, 2009

Folder 3: “SWEET HOME ALAOBAMA”, 2009

Folder 4: “SWEET HOME ALAOBAMA” [stars], 2009

Folder 5: “!DEATH 40 FEET TALL! A Hollywood Fringe 2011 Production (hollywoodfringe.org)”, 2011

Folder 6: “1971, 2011, THE 40th ANNUAL KENTUCK FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS (NORTHPORT, ALABAMA)”, 2011

Folder 7: “2011 Grand Festival of ART S & B OOK S (Fairhope, Alabama) (esartcenter.com, pageandpalette.com)”, 2011

Folder 8: “A GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED”, 2011

Folder 9: “ALABAMA Democrats Hall of Fame Dinner”, 2011

Folder 10: “ALWAYS CHOOSE HAPPY”, 2011

Folder 11: “ART, You’re not gonna get RICH, So you might as well get HAPPY (MTSU Printer’s Proof)”, 2011

Folder 12: “BE KIND, Everyone you meet is fighting a GREAT BATTLE. (Philo of Alexandria)”, 2011

Folder 13: “BE NICE AND CARE”, 2011

Folder 14: “BE NICE AND HELP”, 2011

Folder 15: “BE NICE AND SHARE”, 2011

Folder 16: “BE NICE, CLEAN UP (LILLSTREET PRINTING)”, 2011

Folder 17: “BIKER’s NIGHT OUT IN BLUES ALLEY (HOLLY SPRINGS, MS)”, 2011

Folder 18: “BIKERS’ NIGHT OUT IN BLUES ALLEY (HOLLY SPRINGS, MS)”, 2011

Folder 19: “COURAGE IS THE FORCE THAT CREATES HISTORY (Daisaku Ikeda)”, 2011

Printed by Kim Ransdell at The Collective Press.

Folder 20: “DON’T MAKE ME UPSTAGE YOU! (National Community Theatre Festival, Rochester, New York, aactfest11.org)”, 2011

Folder 21: “Frontal NUDITY is OVERRATED! (National Community Theatre Festival, Rochester New York, aactfest11.org)”, 2011

Folder 22: “GET OUT OF MY LIGHT. (National Community Theatre Festival, Rochester, New York, aactfest11.org)”, 2011

Folder 23: “I DON’T HAVE A DIRECTOR. THE AUDIENCE DIRECTS ME. (Hal Holbrook) (National Community Theatre Festival, Rochester New York, aactfest11.org)”, 2011

Folder 24: “I UPHOLSTER EVERYTHING IN RED VELVET (National Community Theatre Festival, Rochester, New York, aactfest11.org)”, 2011

Folder 25: “UNDERSTUDIES ARE FOR PUSSIES. (National Community Theatre Festival, Rochester, New York, aactfest11.org)”, 2011

Folder 26: “GIVE ME HUmOR OR GIVE ME DEATH”, 2011

Folder 27: “Hand Line Press SYMPOSIUM a gathering of letterpress fanatics”, 2011

Printed by unknown printer F.

Folder 28: “HAPPY HOLIDAYS”, 2011

Folder 29: “I AM AS SOUTHERN AS COLLARD GREENS”, 2011

Folder 30: “i MAKE ART 5x a day INcLUDINg SNAckS”, 2011

Printed by Sarah Khan at The Food Culture Crossroads Press (tastingcultures.org).

Folder 31: “LIFE, You’re not gonna get RICH, So you might as well get HAPPY”, 2011

Folder 32: “MERRY CHRISTMAS”, 2011

Folder 33: “NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED”, 2011

Folder 34: “OKRA THE PEOPLE’S VEGETABLE”, 2011

Folder 35: “PIMENTO IS A VEGETABLE NOT A CHEESE (Emily Wallace AUTHOR, Nicole Lang FILMMAKER)”, 2011

Folder 36: “PRAISE TASTING CULTURES ATTAIN SALIvation”, 2011

Printed by Sarah Khan at The Food Culture Crossroads Press (tastingcultures.org).

Folder 37: “RAISE THE ROOF Piece by Piece, Fundraising a sustainable home for a Lakota family on the reservation, ONE NATION WALKING TOGETHER (onenationwt.org)”, 2011

Folder 38: “REALTREE CELEBRATING 25 YEARS”, 2011

Folder 39: “REALTREE, CELEBRATING 25 YEARS”, 2011

Folder 40: “Celebrating 25 years, REALTREE, THANK YOU”, 2011

Folder 41: Tree bark, 2011

Folder 42: “RURAL STUDIO FILM FESTIVAL: HANd MADE MOVIES (NFWBERN, ALABAMA)”, 2011

Printed by Mark Wise.

Folder 43: “RURAL FILM LAB PRESENTS RURAL STUDIO FILM SERIES (MORRISETTE)”, 2011

Printed by Mark Wise.

Folder 44: “SFA, THE CULTIVATED SOUTH, the fourteenth Southern Foodways Symposium (OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI)”, 2011

Folder 45: “the CREATINES are CONNELY FARR and DANIEL SPLAINGARD UP YOUR ALLEY (STARKVILLE, MS)”, 2011

Folder 46: “THE PEOPLE’S VEGETABLE, OKRA FESTIVAL (BURKVILLE, AL)”, 2011

Folder 47: “THE SOUTH CAROLINA BROADCASTERS Live at THE CAPRI THEATRE (capritheatre.org, scbroadcaster.com)”, 2011

Folder 48: “WITHOUT PURPOSE, ABUSE IS INEVITABLE. (Murithii Muriuki Wamae)”, 2011

Folder 49: “YELLOW DOG DEMOCRAT”, 2011

Folder 50: “MORE LOVE, MORE LIFE, PROSPERITY, THE WORLD IS SICK, WE NEED THERAPY (EKUNDAYO)”, 2011

Printed by sistersai (Sairah Razza).

Folder 51: “TRUTH is a language so foreign that only a few can speak it (KALONJI CHANGA)”, 2011

Folder 52: “TuRN YouR REVOLUTION ON (STAHHR)”, 2011

Printed by sistersai (Sairah Razza).

Flat File 1

Item 1: “BLOODY SUNDAY, 7 MARCH 1965”, 2011

22.5 x 17.5 in.

Item 2: “FREEDOM OF RELIGION”, 2011

22.25 x 15.25 in.

Item 3: “FREEDOM OF SPEECH”, 2011

22.25 x 15.25 in.

Item 4: “JIMMIE LEE JACKSON, MURDEREED IN ALABAMA, 26 February 1965”, 2011

22.5 x 17.5 in.

Item 5: “REV. JAMES REEB, MURDERED IN ALABAMA, 11 March 1965”, 2011

22.5 x 17.5 in.

Item 6: “THE STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHT TO VOTE [THE SELMA TO MONTGOMERY MARCH]”, 2011

22.5 x 17.5 in.

Item 7: “VIOLA GREGG LIUZZO, MURDERED IN ALABAMA, 25 March 1965”, 2011

22.5 x 17.5 in.

Item 8: “VOTE”, 2011

22.5 x 17.5 in.

Item 9: “VRI JHEID VAN MENINGSUITING”, 2011

22.25 x 15.25 in.

Item 10: “VRIJWARING VAN ANGST”, 2011

22.25 x 15.25 in.

Item 11: “ONE MAN ONE VOTE”, 2011

22.5 x 17.5 in.

Sub-series 5: Posters—“THE FIRST 100 DAYS”

Box 21

Folder 1

Item 1: Letter from Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. explaining the significance of the prints, 2011

Item 2: Print 1, 2009

Item 3: Print 2, 2009

Item 4: Print 3, 2009

Item 5: Print 4, 2009

Item 6: Print 5, 2009

Item 7: Print 6, 2009

Item 8: Print 7, 2009

Item 9: Print 8, 2009

Item 10: Print 9, 2009

Item 11: Print 10, 2009

Folder 2

Item 1: Print 11, 2009

Item 2: Print 12, 2009

Item 3: Print 13, 2009

Item 4: Print 14, 2009

Item 5: Print 15, 2009

Item 6: Print 16, 2009

Item 7: Print 17, 2009

Item 8: Print 18, 2009

Item 9: Print 19, 2009

Item 10: Print 20, 2009

Folder 3

Item 1: Print 21, 2009

Item 2: Print 22, 2009

Item 3: Print 23, 2009

Item 4: Print 24, 2009

Item 5: Print 25, 2009

Item 6: Print 26, 2009

Item 7: Print 27, 2009

Item 8: Print 28, 2009

Item 9: Print 29, 2009

Item 10: Print 30, 2009

Folder 4

Item 1: Print 31, 2009

Item 2: Print 32, 2009

Item 3: Print 33, 2009

Item 4: Print 34, 2009

Item 5: Print 35, 2009

Item 6: Print 36, 2009

Item 7: Print 37, 2009

Item 8: Print 38, 2009

Item 9: Print 39, 2009

Item 10: Print 40, 2009

Folder 5

Item 1: Print 41, 2009

Item 2: Print 42, 2009

Item 3: Print 43, 2009

Item 4: Print 44, 2009

Item 5: Print 45, 2009

Item 6: Print 46, 2009

Item 7: Print 47, 2009

Item 8: Print 48, 2009

Item 9: Print 49, 2009

Item 10: Print 50, 2009

Folder 6

Item 1: Print 51, 2009

Item 2: Print 52, 2009

Item 3: Print 53, 2009

Item 4: Print 54, 2009

Item 5: Print 55, 2009

Item 6: Print 56, 2009

Item 7: Print 57, 2009

Item 8: Print 58, 2009

Item 9: Print 59, 2009

Item 10: Print 60, 2009

Folder 7

Item 1: Print 61, 2009

Item 2: Print 62, 2009

Item 3: Print 63, 2009

Item 4: Print 64, 2009

Item 5: Print 65, 2009

Item 6: Print 66, 2009

Item 7: Print 67, 2009

Item 8: Print 68, 2009

Item 9: Print 69, 2009

Item 10: Print 70, 2009

Folder 8

Item 1: Print 71, 2009

Item 2: Print 72, 2009

Item 3: Print 73, 2009

Item 4: Print 74, 2009

Item 5: Print 75, 2009

Item 6: Print 76, 2009

Item 7: Print 77, 2009

Item 8: Print 78, 2009

Item 9: Print 79, 2009

Item 10: Print 80, 2009

Folder 9

Item 1: Print 81, 2009

Item 2: Print 82, 2009

Item 3: Print 83, 2009

Item 4: Print 84, 2009

Item 5: Print 85, 2009

Item 6: Print 86, 2009

Item 7: Print 87, 2009

Item 8: Print 88, 2009

Item 9: Print 89, 2009

Item 10: Print 90, 2009

Folder 10

Item 1: Print 91, 2009

Item 2: Print 92, 2009

Item 3: Print 93, 2009

Item 4: Print 94, 2009

Item 5: Print 95, 2009

Item 6: Print 96, 2009

Item 7: Print 97, 2009

Item 8: Print 98, 2009

Item 9: Print 99, 2009

Item 10: Print 100, 2009