NEW YORK, NY.- The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has acquired the archive of Tom Verlaine musician, poet, and New York celebrity, primarily known as the frontman for the influential band Television. The archive encompasses nearly every facet of Verlaine’s working career, as well as unreleased music and unpublished poetry. Comprising approximately 40 linear feet, the materials also include photographs, ephemera, handwritten notebooks, correspondence with other influential musicians such as Richard Hell and Patti Smith, short stories, abandoned lyrics, and more. This acquisition comes at the end of an important yearlong celebration of the Library for the Performing Arts’ 60th anniversary.

Verlaine, who passed away in 2023 at 73 years old, was not only an influential figure in the world of rock music, he was a well known New York personality until the end of his life. There has been almost no significant scholarship specifically on him as yet, and his archive will undoubtedly become a key resource to begin the biographical and musical evaluation and analysis that he is due.

The Library for the Performing Arts and its Music and Recorded Sound Division is proud to serve as the home for Verlaine and his work, alongside other musicians such as Lou Reed, John Cage, Leslie Gore, Arthur Russell, Wayne Shorter, and more.

In a letter to the Library, Patti Smith wrote: “It is impossible to speak of Tom Verlaine without giving prominence to his deep relationship with books. It was through a shared passion for books that we forged an enduring friendship, collecting volumes on everything from poems of Rumi, French literature, ufology, detective novels, to mystical and spiritual literature. We spent hours in used bookstores and loved the Public Library. I well remember mounting those steps with him and whistling a hello to Patience and Fortitude, the library’s magnificent guardian lions. I cannot imagine a more fitting place for Tom’s precious papers than the New York Public Library. There he will be in the company of so many beloved writers from Virginia Woolf to William Burroughs to Lou Reed.”

The archive includes:

• Hundreds of hours of released and unreleased music with previously unknown demos, rehearsals and live recordings by the Neon Boys, Television, and Verlaine during his solo years

• audio tapes in all formats which document live performances, rehearsal, demos, and song ideas

• 145 personal notebooks and journals spanning six decades

• an early 1970s lyric drafts for “Marquee Moon,” and many other handwritten notes

“Tom Verlaine was an artist inspired by literature, and the musicians and artists around him—so, we feel that the Library for the Performing Arts is a perfect home for his archive. We look forward to welcoming the scholars, musicians, and the artists of today and tomorrow who will gain inspiration from Verlaine's life and work,” said Roberta Pereira, Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of the Library for the Performing Arts.

“We're grateful that the Music and Recorded Sound Division at the Library for the Performing Arts was selected to preserve Tom Verlaine's archive. Verlaine’s extraordinary music and its impact is worthy of wider attention and consideration. There will be much for artists and researchers to study in this wonderful collection. It is an honor to steward these materials and we can’t wait to make them widely and freely available to artists and researchers the world over,” said Kevin Parks, curator of the Music and Recorded Sound Division at the Library for the Performing Arts.

Tom Verlaine, born Thomas Joseph Miller, was an influential American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known as the frontman of the pioneering New York rock band Television. Emerging in the early 1970s, Television played at the vanguard of the emerging punk and new wave scene that centered around the legendary CBGB club.

Television's debut album, released in February 1977, Marquee Moon, is widely regarded as one of the most important and innovative records in rock history. Though Television only released two albums during their initial run, their influence extended far beyond the brief lifespan of the original run of the band, inspiring generations of indie, alternative, and post-punk musicians. Television reformed in 1992 and released a self-titled third album and toured extensively. In 2007, Lloyd left and was replaced with Jimmy Rippetoe (a.k.a. Jippy Rip) and the band continued to tour intermittently till Verlaine’s death in 2023. They recorded about 10 songs for a projected fourth album that was left unfinished.

Following Television’s initial breakup in 1978, Verlaine embarked on a solo career that further showcased his lyrical sensibility and distinctive approach to the guitar. He released several critically acclaimed albums, including his self-titled debut (1979) and Dreamtime (1981). These were followed by seven more albums under his own name including the Avant-pop landmarks Words from the Front (1982), Cover (1984) and The Wonder (1990).

While commercial success largely eluded him, he remained a revered figure in underground music circles. Artists such as R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Interpol, The Strokes, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Go-Betweens and many others have cited Verlaine as an important influence. Avowed fan David Bowie famously covered Verlaine’s "Kingdom Come" on his 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). Verlaine’s legacy is that of a quiet visionary—one of rock’s true originals.