2023-04-17 Guide to the Roger Jackson Correspondence with Karen Switzer and Collection of Karen Switzer Zines, 1996-2025 SPEC.RARE.0145 Finding aid prepared by Lindsay Resnick; Allison McPherson Ohio State University Libraries Special Collections
1858 Neil Avenue Columbus, OH, 43210
2023 April; 2026 May This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2026-06-01T11:46-0400 English Describing Archives: A Content Standard Roger Jackson Correspondence with Karen Switzer and Collection of Karen Switzer Zines SPEC.RARE.0145 Ohio State University Libraries Special Collections 1.6 Cubic feet 1996-2025 As of 2026, Roger Jackson is a book dealer, collector, and publisher who began collecting copies of Karen Switzer's letterpress zine Ker-bloom! in about 2000. Karen Lynn Switzer (also known as artnoose) is a letterpress artist and zine creator based in Berkeley, California, who has published the autobiographical zine Ker-bloom! six times per year since July 1996. The Roger Jackson Correspondence with Karen Switzer and Collection of Karen Switzer Zines, dated 1996-2025, contains 146 issues of Ker-bloom!, two additional published hardcover projects by Switzer, and correspondence between Jackson and Switzer. (3) 5" letter document boxes; (2) 2.5" letter document boxes English Jackson, Roger Arrangement of Materials

Materials in this collection are arranged in chronological order. If folders have identical dates, the folders within that date are arranged in alphabetical order by title.

 Acquisitions Information

Accession No. RARE.2023.0022: Roger Jackson, 2021 November; Accession No. RARE.2026.0064: Purchased, 2026 January

 Preferred Citation

[identification of item], Roger Jackson Correspondence with Karen Switzer and Collection of Karen Switzer Zines, SPEC.RARE.0145, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University

 Access to Materials

Materials in this collection are available for use, but may be used in the Thompson Library Special Collections reading room only.

 Use of Materials

Materials in this collection may be protected by copyright, and are made available for research and educational purposes. In general, the OSU Libraries do not own the copyright for materials from our collections and cannot grant copyright permissions for these materials. The user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exceptions to the law. Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and do not require permission to use.

 Processing Information

Processed by: Lindsay Resnick, 2023 April ; Allison McPherson, 2026 May; Finding aid written by: Lindsay Resnick, 2023 April; Allison McPherson, 2026 May

 Biographical Note

As of 2026, Roger Jackson is a book dealer, collector, and publisher. He owns the Roger Jackson Publishing press, based in Kansas City, Missouri. One of Jackson's collecting interests is zines; he began collecting issues of Ker-bloom! in about 2000.

Karen Lynn Switzer (born 1972) is a letterpress artist and zine creator based in Berkeley, California, as of 2026. Switzer began publishing a zine, Ker-bloom! in 1996 in Oakland, California under the pen name artnoose. In 2007, Switzer, along with her letterpress studio, relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in 2014, she returned to the Bay Area, moving her business to Berkeley. Along with writing and printing Ker-bloom!, Switzer owns and operates Deep Ink Letterpress, which creates letterpress greeting cards, wedding invitations, and other printed material.

Ker-bloom! is a letterpress zine that, as of 2026, has been printed six times per year since 1996. The zine focuses on the personal life and experiences of its author, Karen Switzer.

 Scope and Contents

The Roger Jackson Correspondence with Karen Switzer and Collection of Karen Switzer Zines, dated 1996-2025, contains 146 issues of Karen Switzer's zine, Ker-bloom!, two additional published hardcover projects by Switzer ( Domabem! and Wistfulness), and correspondence between collector Roger Jackson and Switzer about Jackson's subscription to the zine. Also included are examples of letterpress greeting cards created by Switzer. Every issue of Ker-bloom! was printed on a letterpress, and discussed Switzer's life experiences, memories, and thoughts about her life.

 Related Materials COVID-19 Zines artnoose Jackson, Roger Autobiography--Women authors--20th century Autobiography--Women authors--21st century Collectors and collecting--United States--20th century Collectors and collecting--United States--21st century Correspondence Fanzines Ker-bloom! (Zine) Printmakers--United States--20th century Printmakers--United States--21st century Ker-bloom!: Issue 1 1 1 1996 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 2: "On Death & Dyar" 1 2 1996 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 3: "Preaching to the Converted" 1 3 1996 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 4: "Asks the following Question: Are You a Luddite?" 1 4 1997 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 5: "The Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, March 29, 1997" 1 5 1997 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 6: "The Rich Giveth; The Rich Taketh Away. Or, Tyranny & Where You Might Find It" 1 6 1997 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 7: "Critical Mass" 1 7 1997 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 8: "Make Them Weep, Then" 1 8 1997 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 9: "Hell" 1 9 1997 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 10: "Typewriters, Tools, & Open-heart Surgeries" 1 10 1998 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 11: "In Which artnoose Says: 'I scream. You scream. We all scream.'" 1 11 1998 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 13: "Pretty Pitchers" 1 12 1998 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 14: "14 Hours, or 'Take it to the Bridge!'" 1 13 1998 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 15: "The World-Wide Cob-Web" 1 14 1998 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 16: "Parents as activists, Activists as parents" 1 15 1999 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 17: "Deepest·Darkest" 1 16 1999 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 18: "20,000 Gun Salute" 1 17 1999 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 19: "Printing Tour: Part I" 1 18 1999 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 20: "Printing Tour '99, Part Two" 1 19 1999 September-October Correspondence between Roger Jackson and artnoose 1 20 1999 October Ker-bloom!: Issue 21: "Printing Tour Part 3: 'Looking Back'" 1 21 1999 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 22: "N3O-Y2K" 1 22 2000 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 23: "Leap Day" 1 23 2000 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 24: "Census Working Overtime" 1 24 2000 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 25: "Heaven, Hell, and Points in Between (and how they all managed to be in Ohio)" 1 25 2000 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 26: "A Zine Grows in Brooklyn" 1 26 2000 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 27: "Bomb in my Head" 1 27 2000 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 28: "A Zine Love Story" 1 28 2001 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 29: "Be Nice, or Don't be an Anarchist at All" 1 29 2001 March-April Photograph postcard from Karen Switzer to Roger Jackson 1 30 2001 April 24 Ker-bloom!: Issue 30: "Head Scars" 1 31 2001 May-June Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune article: "Underground Press Surfaces at Event" 1 32 2001 June 26 Ker-bloom!: Issue 31: "'I Went Back to Ohio' or, 'Dude, Where's my Airport?'" 1 33 2001 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 32: "Posse of One" 1 34 2001 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 33: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil" 1 35 2001 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 34: "When it Rains Indoors" 1 36 2002 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 35: "Some Things Take So Long" 1 37 2002 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 36: "Rip Currents" 1 38 2002 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 37: "No more drama" 1 39 2002 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 38: "'Love and Marriage' or: 'All of my Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down'" 1 40 2002 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 39: "Comfort Foods" 1 41 2002 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 40: "There's No Gim in Gimchi" 1 42 2003 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 41: "Failure to Disperse" 1 43 2003 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 42: "The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" 1 44 2003 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 43: "Aim for the Head" 1 45 2003 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 44: "Book Stork" 1 46 2003 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 45: "Reconnaissance By Fire" 1 47 2003 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 46: "Howdy, Partner" 1 48 2004 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 47: "Dance Dance Revolution, or Shake it like a Polaroid picture" 2 1 2004 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 48: "Waiter, There's a Heart on my Sleeve!" 2 2 2004 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 49: "Sheer Perfection" 2 3 2004 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 50: "Love Like the Yeti" 2 4 2004 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 51: "Anti-Capitalist Business Ethics" 2 5 2004 November-December Domabem! 2 6 2005 Ker-bloom!: Issue 52: "The Anarcho-Snugglist Platform" 2 7 2005 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 53: "I Something You" 2 8 2005 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 54: "Butterfly Landing" 2 9 2005 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 55: "How I Became Artnoose" 2 10 2005 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 56: "The Blackberry Bloc, or What I did on My Summer Vacation" 2 11 2005 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 57: "The Pop-up Issue" 2 12 2005 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issues 12, 14, 22, 23, 41: "Protests" 2 13 2006 Wistfulness 2 14 2006 Ker-bloom!: Issue 58: "Superhero: Organ Donor" 2 15 2006 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 59: "The Gray Ribbon Award" 2 16 2006 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 60: "A Decade Later" 2 17 2006 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 61: "Biting the Hand that Feeds Me" 2 18 2006 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 62: "Atari" 2 19 2006 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 63: "Forgiveness" 2 20 2006 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 64: "Project Treadmill" 2 21 2007 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 65: "Pacific NW Zine Tour" 2 22 2007 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 66: "The Aaron Issue" 2 23 2007 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 67: "Why I Love the Bay Area..." 2 24 2007 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 68: "...and why I'm Leaving" 2 25 2007 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 69: "The Sex Issue" 2 26 2007 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 70: "Yinzville Comix" 2 27 2008 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 71: "Bet the Farm: A Dialog with Italic" 2 28 2008 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 72: "The Zine that Never Was" 2 29 2008 May-June Letter from Karen Switzer to Roger Jackson 2 30 2008 June 3 Postcard from Karen Switzer to Roger Jackson 2 31 2008 June 10 Ker-bloom!: Issue 73: "The Marathon Tour" 2 32 2008 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 74: "The Pittsburgh Relocation Project" 2 33 2008 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 75: "Diamonds are Forever, Home is a Place to Leave" 2 34 2008 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 76: "A Zine for Scott" 2 35 2009 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 77: "The Bad Daughters" 3 1 2009 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 78: "Extra Extra" 3 2 2009 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 79: "Sweet Right Hook" 3 3 2009 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 80: "xkerbloomx" 3 4 2009 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 81: "Artnoose and the Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Year" 3 5 2009 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 82: "Jumping the Gap" 3 6 2010 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 83: "Rhinovirus Challenge" 3 7 2010 March-April Postcard from Karen Switzer to Roger Jackson 3 8 2010 May Ker-bloom!: Issue 84: "The Shred Everywhere Tour" 3 9 2010 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 85: "Enough of their Lies" 3 10 2010 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 86: "Insurgent Summer" 3 11 2010 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 87: "When I Grow Up" 3 12 2010 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 88: "First Kisses" 3 13 2011 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 89: "Mad Libs" 3 14 2011 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 90: "Who Taught Me What" 3 15 2011 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 91: "lowercase s" 3 16 2011 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 92: "Orange Kitty" 3 17 2011 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 93: "Is This Trash?" 3 18 2011 November-December "Peace on Earth" linocut 3 19 2011 December Ker-bloom!: Issue 94: "The Long Pause" 3 20 2012 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 95: "It's Positive" 3 21 2012 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 96: "A Great Day for a Birthday" 3 22 2012 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 97: "A Letter to My Son" 3 23 2012 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 98: "The Cyberpunk Apocalypse" 3 24 2012 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 99: "Fellowship Day" 3 25 2012 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 100: "Century Centurion" 3 26 2013 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 101: "At First Look" 3 27 2013 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 102: "How to Buy a $10,000 House in Six Easy Steps (This Will Take You Four Years.)" 3 28 2013 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 103: "Girls Rock Pittsburgh" 3 29 2013 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 104: "The Last Letterpress Alliance" 3 30 2013 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 105: "Letterpress Aweigh" 3 31 2013 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 106: "Polar Vortices" 3 32 2014 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 107: "So Many Books, So Little Time" 3 33 2014 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 108: "To Be Whole is To Be Part" 3 34 2014 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 109: "And Back Again" 3 35 2014 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 110: "True Voyage is Return" 3 36 2014 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 111: "Birthday Week" 3 37 2014 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 112: "Definitely Unexpected, Bordering on Eucatastrophic" 3 38 2015 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 113: "Terrible Twos" 3 39 2015 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 114: "Kristen" 3 40 2015 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 115: "File Cabinet" 3 41 2015 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 116: "The Cat Who Flew" 3 42 2015 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 117: "It's Just a Rash" 4 1 2015 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 118: "The Long, Slow Climb" 4 2 2016 January-February Postcard from artnoose to Roger Jackson 4 3 2016 January 28 Ker-bloom!: Issue 119: "Finish Line Ribbon" 4 4 2016 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 120: "Twenty Years" 4 5 2016 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 121: "Moloka'i" 4 6 2016 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 122: "Dan, Always" 4 7 2016 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 123: "Bigwigs and Pipkins" 4 8 2016 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 124: "Spectral Vessel" 4 9 2017 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 125: "Dream Vacations" 4 10 2017 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 126: "Like an Octopus" 4 11 2017 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 127: "Outer Space" 4 12 2017 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 128: "Cargo Bike" 4 13 2017 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 129: "About a Boy" 4 14 2017 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 130: "The Greatest Teacher" 4 15 2018 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 131: "Starstruck" 4 16 2018 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 132: "If This is How it Starts" 4 17 2018 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 133: "Kalaupapa" 4 18 2018 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 134: "Junior High" 4 19 2018 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 135: "The Girl Who Was" 4 20 2018 November-December Ker-bloom!: Issue 136: "Just Walk With Me" 4 21 2019 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 137: "Franklin and Orange Kitty" 4 22 2019 March-April Ker-bloom!: Issue 138: "We Wear Pants" 4 23 2019 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 139: "Champions" 4 24 2019 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 140: "Molar Trouble" 4 25 2019 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 172: "Get Your Finger Out of the Picture" 5 1 2025 January-February Ker-bloom!: Issue 173: "Mint Chocolate Chip" 5 2 2025 March-May Ker-bloom!: Issue 174: "Be Careful Around Stairs" 5 3 2025 May-June Ker-bloom!: Issue 175: "Tuolumne Family Camp" 5 4 2025 July-August Ker-bloom!: Issue 176: "Queen Tiger" 5 5 2025 September-October Ker-bloom!: Issue 177: "School Dances" 5 6 2025 November-December