Elizabeth Smart, “A Little Book of Private Information on a Collection of Friends by Anon,” 1940. Raymond Danowski Collection, 1904-2013.

In 1940, Elizabeth Smart hand crafted a guide to San Franciscan Beats for her then friend and future lover George Barker. In it she gives an accounting of some of the people she recommends Barker connect with once he arrives in California. From “kind, alive, and civilized” to simply “over 60,” Smart details both the colorful and the less colorful aspects of her friends in order to paint a full picture of her network for Barker. In addition to her own opinions, Smart includes remarks from two of her friends Yvonne and Adrian. Through creating this collection of both her own and her friends’ remarks, Smart adds to the idea that the Beat Generation — and the definition of the word “beat” itself — was subject to the perceptions of others. By presenting Barker with this book, Smart has chosen who she and her friends should consider to be “beat,” ultimately taking part in the definition hunt that has continued for decades.