Discovering A Tribe of Archivists
In the quest to preserve history, I'm far from the only one passionate about the past
Last Saturday, In the stately halls of USC’s Doheny Memorial Library, a few hundred curious souls listened to lectures. They starred intently at slide shows, mostly of black and white images from the last century. In a large hall, others browsed rows of tables stuffed with literature, books, photos, and tchotchkes.
ar·chi·vist /ˈärkəvəst,ˈärˌkīvəst/ a person who maintains and is in charge of archives.
The 18th Annual Archives Bazaar began as a place where anybody could interact with archives from institutions and private collections. Attending for the first time, it was revelatory to see so many in like-minded pursuit of preserving, exploring, and amplifying cultural histories. My trip finally let me know others shared the same obsession.
I had long accepted that my archiving mission would remain lonely. Luckily, the introvert in me doesn’t mind being holed up alone for hours doing the painstaking work of an archivist. I joke with my buddy Brian Nagato of the hip-hop magazine archive Rapzines that few people get as excited about finding the perfect archival storage envelope as we do.
This Substack was intended as a chronicle of my archiving journey and discoveries. The extracted gems from all the scanning, tagging, and decoding. Consider this blog a weekly highlight reel where the fruits of that labor surface.
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. (Wikipedia)
The rooms of the Doheny were filled with around 70 exhibitors and groups centered on preserving stories and artifacts. It would have been great to see more people of color behind the tables and as attendees. Representation in historical narratives has always mattered. However, it was inspiring to see several organizations committed to unseen and marginalized communities.
The newly launched California Puerto Rico Archive’s goal echoed other groups who wanted to ensure that a specific heritage was protected. Its mission is to tell the stories of the Puerto Rican diaspora in Los Angeles.
Originally founded in 1970, Self Help Graphics & Art “is dedicated to the production, interpretation, and distribution of prints and other art media by Chicana/o and Latinx artists.” I was familiar with their work, but it was affirming to see their commitment to preserving it.
Named after LA’s first Black mayor, Cal State University Northridge’s Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is centered on California’s Black history. Collections like the Black Power Archives and Oral History Project help to balance the public record. Resident historian and archivist Keith Rice is compiling a rich trove of work reflecting the often unseen Black experience.
It was particularly gratifying to see the UCLA Special Collections Punk Archive. I’ve long championed LA’s place in punk’s late 70s and 80s evolution. A story often missed in broader discussions of the genre. Seeing the UCLA table staffed by Gen Z students not old enough to have been around during this era showed the multigenerational relevance of the work.
In a room upstairs, I sat in on a Basement Tapes Day session. On a table were household cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, and 100-year-old phonograph cylinders. The group’s cofounder, Yuri Shimoda, encouraged everybody to come up and check out the various formats as she spoke enthusiastically about audio preservation. Of course, my mind went to my extensive collection of vintage mixtapes caught in technological purgatory. As if they could feel my pain, the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) was there to advise on digitizing. Given that archiving timelines are measured in decades, if not centuries, there’s a lot to consider in future-proofing.
The team from the USC Digital Repository had a show-stopping video display featuring an interview subject speaking to the camera. As it was explained over the din of the bustling exhibitor area, answers were assembled from actual interviews using artificial intelligence (here’s a demo). You can easily see a future where, long after subjects were originally recorded, virtual interactive conversations can take place. Add a generative AI avatar, and suddenly, you’re talking to Tupac, Hendrix, or Gandhi.
This was perhaps the boldest testament to how archives might transcend the current state of static artifacts and stories. The future of first-person, interactive storytelling will bring the past dramatically to the present for coming generations. This is not a distant reality.
Looking around, it was clear that the work of the URB Archive remains somewhat of an outlier. Not surprisingly, the culture we documented so diligently was noticeably absent in the dozens of booths I visited. By definition, our defiant underground posture made our coverage more exclusive and esoteric. The nineties and 2000s were also a transient era for analog and digital media, so plenty of the cultural evidence is locked in obsolescence, degraded, or worse. Despite these challenges, or because of them, seeing a room full of dedicated archival stewards only reaffirmed the importance of this work.
Archives are a pact with the past on behalf of the future. They’re a promise we make to culture and the people who create it. They become our longest memory. I learned I was already part of a larger community committed to these tenets. Back in my studio later that day, I suddenly didn’t feel so alone.
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Are you responsible for an archive, personal or otherwise? Maybe a set of club flyers, mixtapes, or vintage photos. Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear about your experiences and what you’ve learned.
PS: Check out American Experience: The War on Disco. Though this infamous tale has been told in numerous short docs and films, I’ll wager PBS will bring new elements to the table. Let me know what you think.
Full trailer here.
I love archiving! I started with my own collection of 200 cassettes full of song ideas and bought all the old camcorders to transfer old videotapes for myself and friends and family.