RRFA 01 - Interviews with Hopps, Walter and Ginsburg, Sue - Personal Interview, 1975

Aug 26, 2026

RRFA 01 contains a personal interview transcript from 1975 involving Robert Rauschenberg, Walter Hopps, and Sue Ginsburg. The conversation focuses on live animals and pet-like specimens, including a chickadee and various insects, discussing how they were acquired, cared for, and fed. It also references seeking guidance from the Museum of Natural History and describes Rauschenberg’s earlier experience collecting animals as a shy person, including keeping creatures in jars and maintaining animal collections at home.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time1 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

Interviews: Hopps, Walter and Ginsburg, Sue

Chickadee and animal encounters

Museum guidance and feeding practices

Early animal collecting in Texas

Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Archives 381 Lafayette Street New York, New York 10003 RRFA 01: Robert Rauschenberg papers Interviews: Hopps, Walter and Ginsburg, Sue / Personal Interview, 1975 RR: But he couldn't use his usual style which is to start off with some kind of poem or something. He never got funny. SG: Is that bird a new addition? You see the bird in there? WH: Oh, flying around in the room. SG: He's not flying. He's standing there on the window sill. WH: Oh, that's terrific. What kind of bird is that? RR: Chickadee, or something like that. WH: Was it a gift? RR: Sort of, yeah. SG: How nice. WH: What is a chickadee or something like that? RR: From China. WH: China. RR: And they eat them there. SG: They eat a lot of things. RR: They sell them down in Chinatown. SG: For food? RR: Yeah. And Bernie and Sue saw one escape and two days later Bernie was going by to do something with Bob Whitman, and the bird was sitting in the middle of the street. So Bernie stopped the car and got out and picked him up and they road around in the car for a couple of days, and Bernie didn't know what to do with him. He offered him to Bob Whitman but Bob Whitman's dog had just gotten killed, and they're sort of off live animals for awhile and so I want to take him to Florida but now I have a problem. Copyright restrictions apply. FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT DUPLICATE OR PUBLISH WITHOUT PERMISSION. Contact archives@rauschenbergfoundation.org for reproduction requests 2 I don't--I think it's very unkind for there to be only one sort of something somewhere. So now I have the problem of whether I'm going to get another one or not to release. And if so, what sex should it be, or which one is this? Great Jones and Fourth Street. WH: Between Great Jones and Fourth Street. Between Great Jones and Fourth Street RR: And ask the cab driver to ring the doorbell. WH: G-r-e-a-t. Great.Yeah, Great Jones and Fourth Street. SG: Can't you get someone who would know about what sex it is? RR: Maybe I should just take him up on the roof. SG: Make his own wings? RR: Maybe he would get along with kittens. Be beautiful to take a new species down in Captiva. A lot ofour animals have been brought just like a lot ofour trees. SG: You call--I mean I used to call the Museum of Natural History when I had a problem. WH: That's good. Better than the zoo, even. RR: Before it's stuffed. SG: No, they'll tell you about them. WH: 'Cause they know. SG: No, they'll tell you about them, if they can live in that kind of habitat. They'll tell you what to feed them. They tell you all kinds of things like that. WH: That's a good idea. SG: When I got the spider I called the man at the Museum of Natural History. He told me what to feed them. RR: Do you give them someone's name or just anyone? Copyright restrictions apply. FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT DUPLICATE OR PUBLISH WITHOUT PERMISSION. Contact archives@rauschenbergfoundation.org for reproduction requests 3 SG: I asked for the spider man. RR: Spider man. Birdman? SG: I called the spider man a number of times you know about some spider--not on purpose, in a crate. It was running by the New York Culture Center and so we saved it ina jar. So I called the spider man to ask what to feed it. Live worms. It lived for awhile. It was a strange spider. RR: It's hard to imagine that a spider would live off of live worms. I've never seen any digging for worms. SG: Flies (not clear) that kind of things. WH: Once they're caught keep in a jar so maybe it doesn't do its web and catch flies. SG: It wasn't a web-spinning spider. WH: Oh. RR: Just your everyday museum, art-loving spider. SG: I described it and he knew what kind it was and what to feed it and (not clear) . RR: Call now. Maybe he'd rather be in Los Angeles. SG: He also will tell you if they're rare or things like that. RR: They can't be too rare if they're sellin

FAQs

Who are the interview participants in RRFA 01 (1975)?

The transcript includes Robert Rauschenberg, Walter Hopps, and Sue Ginsburg.

What example of an animal does the conversation discuss in detail?

The interview discusses a chickadee, including how it was obtained, where it was seen, and what was done with it afterward.

What resource is mentioned for advice on feeding animals and insects?

The Museum of Natural History is referenced as a place to call for feeding guidance and habitat-related information.

Aug 26, 2026

Upload by River Wang