The Bosse BullSheet was a mimeographed underground paper co-produced by then-high-schooler Luke Hauser (aka George Franklin Hawkins) from 1971-72, along with Fritz Elmendorf, Larry Seits, John Munger, Tom Trent, Danny Elkins, and others.
Skim down for links to PDFs of the issues.
About the BullSheet (issues below)
Based at Evansville, Indiana’s Bosse High School (mascot = Bulldogs), the BullSheet lasted for 15 issues, including a short-lived collaboration with a couple of other high schools (Harrison and North) called the City Bloc.
The paper began in May 1971, toward the end of most of our Junior years, and continued until the “yearbook” issue in Spring 1972.
The era was rich in underground and alternative rags and tabloids – the original Village Voice and Rolling Stone among them. The BullSheet was probably one of the longer-lived mimeographed publications, and a rare survival from the period.
Fritz Elmendorf archived the back issues, and George Franklin Hawkins aka Luke Hauser did the scanning. Their writings appear throughout the issues, often under pseudonyms. Other contributors = Larry Seits, John Munger, Tom Trent, and artist Danny Elkins, plus an assortment of letter-writers, reviewers, and cultural critics.
For reasons no one will ever understand, the Bosse High and Evansville School District administrators loathed the Bullsheet and kept threatening to expel us – hence the endlessly changing pseudonyms. Bosse Journalism teacher Mr Staggs was quietly supportive, as was Social Studies teacher Mrs Downing. Thank you!
Issue #3 below is colorful. Issue #4 opens with a bit of background on how we produced the paper. We printed about 150 copies per issue (the limit of mimeo technology – the masters wore out!), sold it for a nickel per copy, and eventually paid off the mimeo machine and raised a surplus of several hundred dollars, which was used to throw a graduation party.
Issue 15 is our “yearbook” – a 24-page extravaganza that closed out our run.
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The BullSheet: Back Issues
Issue 01 – May 1971 (aka Volume I, Issue 1)
Issue 02 – May 1971 (aka Volume I, Issue 2)
Issue 03 – Sept 1971 (aka Volume II, Issue 1)
Issue 04 – Oct 1972 (aka Volume II, Issue 2)
Issue 05 – October 1971 (aka Volume II, Issue 3)
Issue 06 – October 1971 (entitled What The Sheet Issue 01)
Issue 06b – November 1971 (entitled The Sheet Issue 02)
Issue 07 – (numbered 06 on first page)
Issue 08 – Christmas Issue
Issue 09 – Late January 1972 (entitled The City Bloc)
Issue 10 – March 1972
Issue 11 – we don’t have this issue – perhaps never existed, considering dates?
Issue 12 – Early April 1972
Issue 13 – Late April 1972
Issue 14 – May 1972
Issue 15 – June 1972 (aka The Yearbook)
Misc Pages – half-dozen loose pages – anyone who can date these?
BullSheet Issue 03 – Fall 1971
