The Woodstock Census

New York: The Woodstock Census, 1975. Original wraps. Very Good +. The uncommon original mid 1970s census (or questionnaire) issued by the Woodstock Census of New York after the August 1969 concert to "scientifically" measure current attitudes, likes and dislikes from the 60's Generation. This questionnaire was created by Rex Weiner and Deanne Stillman as the basis for their book titled The Woodstock Census: Nationwide Survey of the Sixties Generation, published in 1978 by The Viking Press and still regarded as an important text on the controversial decade. The "official" census, made up of 22 stapled, mimeographed pages, asks the participant to rank his or her take on hundreds of different issues, such as "Armpit hair on women", "Black light posters", "Natural body odor", "Capitalism", "Underground newspapers", etc. The census, as campy as it seems today, represented an ernest effort to gauge how attitudes inevitably shifted in the intervening 5-10 years. Folio, crisp and clean, with very light creasing along the top-edges. Although unverified, there is some thinking that New York School poet and provocateur Ted Berrigan played a role in the composition of the census. From the title page: "THIS IS THE WOODSTOCK CENSUS. With your help, throught this questionnaire, we hope to find out what "The Sixties" meant to those who were part of it, and how the 60's Generation views itself today. Although these questionnaires will be kept anonymous, we are very interested in your opinions, so please consider your answers carefully. Your own personal feelings about the things described are what we're looking for. If some parts of what you read seem playful, that's because this questionnaire, although scientifically constructed, was as much fun for us to write as it will be for you to fill out". This questionnaire was created by Rex Weiner and Deanne Stillman as the basis for their book titled The Woodstock Census: Nationwide Survey of the Sixties Generation, published in 1978 by The Viking Press and still regarded as an important text on the controversial decade.