New York Public Library buys Timothy Leary papers

[June 18, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Public Library has acquired the papers of LSD guru Timothy Leary, who coined the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out."

The library announced Thursday that it purchased 335 boxes of papers, videotapes, photographs and other items from the estate of Leary, who died in 1996.

Leary was a Harvard professor who became notorious for advocating the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs. President Richard Nixon called Leary "the most dangerous man in America."

A trustee of Leary's estate tells The New York Times that the library paid $900,000 for the collection. Some of the money will be donated back to pay for the processing of the materials.

The collection includes letters from figures such as Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, G. Gordon Liddy and Cary Grant.

[Associated Press; By KAREN MATTHEWS]

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