The 15th Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar- WATCH NOW
The 15th Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar was held on Saturday, October 17, 2020 and, for the first time ever, was completely virtual. Although the environment was different, it still encapsulated the spirit of showcasing L.A. archives "All Day. All in One Place." This event brought together over 70 institutions and individuals-- large and small, local and international-- offering online exhibitor booth and workshop videos; Basement Tapes Day and Home Movie Day submissions; reference room hours; online exhibits; and live presentations. Relive the day by clicking on the links below.
Download the 2020 LA Archives Bazaar postcard
Download the 2020 Archives Bazaar Schedule At-A-Glance
2020 ARCHIVES BAZAAR PROGRAM
LIVE PRESENTATIONS
8:00-8:45am Coffee with the Coordinator [Watch Video Here]
Join Liza Posas, L.A. as Subject Coordinator, on Instagram live. She'll start off the day caffeinated and ready to answer your questions about the day's events, L.A. as Subject's 25-year history, the new L.A. as Subject Directory Portal, and why archives make a difference.
9:00-10:00am 15th Annual Archives Bazaar Kick-off [Watch Video Here]
Meet the planners of this first-time virtual event; get tours of the online exhibits When I Think of Home:Images from L.A. Archives and LA as Subject: 25 Years of Highlighting Less Visible Archives; and remarks from Lost L.A. host, Nathan Masters.
10:00-11:00am In Search of Greater El Monte's Radical Past: SEMAP, La Casa, and Public History [Watch Video Here]
In 2012, the City of El Monte, located just east of East Los Angeles, celebrated its centennial anniversary as it had most years –by celebrating an all-white-pioneer past and touting itself as “The End of the Santa Fe Trail.” The South El Monte Arts Posse (SEMAP), in collaboration with La Casa de El Hijo del Ahuizote (from Mexico City), used the centennial celebration as an opportunity to work with community members to build an archive and ultimately re-write the history of El Monte and South El Monte. This project resulted in the book East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte (Rutgers Press, 2020), an unpublished digital archive, and a model for doing public history with marginalized communities. Romeo Guzmán and Carribean Fragoza, co-director of SEMAP, and Diego Flores Magón of La Casa will discuss public history, the process of building a digital archive, and screen a rare 16mm film from the unpublished “East of East” archive.
11:00am-12:00pm The Garifuna: a people, a culture, a language—and vibrant L.A. community [Watch Video Here]
Have you ever heard of the word Garifuna? Did you know that the term refers to a people, a culture, and a language? The Garinagu/Garifuna are a mixed African and indigenous (Arawak) people originally from the island of St. Vincent. Resisting enslavement, in 1797 they were exiled to the island of Roatan in Honduras. Now totaling more than 800,000 people, many from the Garifuna communities of Honduras, Belize, and Guatemala have migrated to South Los Angeles. Join Dr. Daniel E. Walker as he chats with the principals of the Garifuna Museum of Los Angeles (GaMoLa). Founded by Ruben Reyes and housed at the Blazer Learning Center (1517 West 48th Street, Los Angele, California), the museum preserves the heritage and culture of the Garinagu/Garifuna people in Central America and the U.S.
12:00-1:00pm Black History in the Archives: Black Leaders of Leisure in the West during the Struggle for Freedom during the Jim Crow Era [Watch Video Here]
Alison Rose Jefferson, a historian and heritage conservation consultant who is also a third generation Californian, reconstructs the stories of African American experience that have been left out or marginalized in the telling of American history as a tool in the struggle for social justice. In conversation with USC History Professor Bill Deverell, Dr. Jefferson will discuss her recently published book, Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era, which takes a fresh approach to looking at the practices of relaxation, community development and public spaces for all people at beaches, mountains, and other scenic locales holding a central place in the long freedom rights struggle. This conversation will focus on the process of gathering information for the book from formal archives, private collections, and oral histories.
1:00-2:00pm More than an Architectural Icon: The Collections of Central Library [Watch Video Here]
Central Library, the Los Angeles Public Library's flagship location is known around the world for its unique architecture and artwork, but there's so much more! Inside the hallowed walls of this icon are deep collections that librarians have been building for nearly 150 years. Bring your questions and join us as staff from each of Central Library's eleven Subject Departments come together to reveal the treasures found in these collections. For the two weeks leading up to the Archives Bazaar, the library's released a daily video from each department, watch all videos here.
2:00-3:00pm The Los Angeles Preservation Network (LAPNet) Presents: An Introduction to Book Structure, Handling, Assessment, and Care for your Personal Collections [Watch video here]
Join library preservation professionals Ron Matteson from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and Wil Lin from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for a virtual discussion about book structure and handling, and how to assess and care for your book collections at home. We will discuss how to handle and store your books to extend their life, and the different types of uses, functions, and value the books in your collection may have, using examples from our own collections! Based on those uses and values, we will make some observations about what types of preservation measures you may (or may not) want to take. The presentation will end with time for audience questions about your book collections.
3:00-4:00pm Archives Bazaar: From the Southland to the Southwest [Watch video here]
2020 marks the 15th annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar. Taking advantage of this celebratory year and virtual platform- this presentation will bring together all the Archives Bazaars! Held on November 4, 2006 at the Huntington Library and Gardens, the first ever Archives Bazaar created one exhibit hall that connected the public with the many archives about Los Angeles. Its success solidified it as L.A. as Subject’s marquee annual event and grew in exhibitor space, programming, and popularity. Soon other Archives Bazaars followed also suit: Austin, Houston, Orange County (CA), El Paso, Dallas Fort Worth, Las Cruces, and Oklahoma City. Hear from coordinators from each city and reasons why they Bazaar and how they added their regional flair to this popular event. Presenters include Liza Posas (Los Angeles Archives Bazaar); Daniel Alonzo (Austin Archives Bazaar); James Williamson (DFW Archives Bazaar); Abbie H Weiser (Border Archives Bazaar); Jennifer Green (Oklahoma Archives Bazaar); and Patrisia Prestinary & Krystal L. Tribbett (Orange County, CA Archives Bazaar).
INTERACTIVE SESSIONS
10:00am-3:00pm Basement Tapes Day
Basement Tapes Day provides the public with access to vintage audio playback devices so they can listen to the home recordings on open-reel tapes, cassettes, and micro-cassettes that have been sitting in their attics or basements for years. The annual event is staffed by volunteers from Los Angeles’ audio preservation community — archivists, engineers, collectors, restoration experts, conservators, and graduate students from UCLA’s Media Archival Studies program. Attendees can hear and publicly share their tapes, while learning about the history of recorded sound, common deterioration issues with magnetic audio formats, and how to best store and care for their collections. In addition to tape listening sessions, this year’s event features presentations from Library of Congress audio preservation engineers, the British Library, and more, as well as live segments with Basement Tapes Day event organizers in Toronto and Montreal. Full schedule and RSVP info here.
For more details on how to submit open reel, cassette, or microcassette home recordings email basementtapesday@gmail.com.
10:00am-12:00pm, 1:00-2:00pm, and 3:00-4:00pm Reference Room
Chat live with L.A. as Subject members and Archives Bazaar exhibitors. They will be on hand to answer your questions about all things Archives Bazaar; Los Angeles history; and the awesome world of archives. Click here to visit the Reference Room and see the day's schedule.
5:00-8:00pm Home Movie Day Los Angeles
Organized annually by local archivists since 2003, Home Movie Day Los Angeles makes it possible for individuals to watch and reconnect with their own family films by providing access to equipment and discussing how best to care for collections at home. This year's Home Movie Day will be online for the first time as part of the Virtual Archives Bazaar, presenting a program of materials curated from a diverse array of Los Angeles cultural institutions, as well as reels collected from Angelenos and digitized in advance. Please join us in the chat with any comments and/or questions. We'll also be hosting Home Movie Day Bingo, where you'll be able to follow along and potentially win some great prizes! Read more about HMD here and join the stream on the Home Movie Day LA YouTube channel.
ON DEMAND! ONLINE EXHIBITS, VIRTUAL EXHIBITOR BOOTHS AND TUTORIALS
Online exhibit- When I Think of Home: Images from L.A. Archives
This online History Keepers exhibit features L.A. as Subject member collections. The theme of the exhibit is based on the ideas of “home” and will examine Los Angeles Architecture and Landscapes, Historic Home Museums, Migration to Los Angeles in Pursuit of Health and Happiness, L.A. Firsts, and The Community and Cultural Enclaves of L.A.
Online exhibit- LA as Subject: 25 years of Highlighting Southern California Archives
Through rare visual materials and interviews with key participants, a new digital exhibit honors LA as Subject's twenty-five-year history of preserving, archiving, and sharing the culture and history of the Los Angeles region.
Virtual Exhibitor Booth and Collection Showcase Videos of L.A. as Subject member collections- Click here to start watching
Made by L.A. as Subject members and other Archives Bazaar participants. Also make sure to check out the Reference Room schedule (coming soon) for a chance to talk with some of them in a live Q&A session.
Workshop videos- L.A. as Subject Resident Archivist Presents- Click here to start watching
Crystal Johnson, Gerard Collins, and Azatuhi Bayani- the current L.A. as Subject Resident Archivists-- will be presenting pre-recorded workshops that will help you care for your digital archives and physical collections. Gerard's workshop will go over personal digital archiving, Crystal will do her workshop on digitizing scrapbooks, and Azatuhi will be going over the basics of conducting collection surveys. Visit the L.A. as Subject Residency Program page to learn more about this grant-funded project.
Follow us on @LAasSubject and #ArchivesBazaar on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
NEWS RELATED LINKS
10 Ways to Participate at the 2020 Archives Bazaar
Los Angeles Home Movie Day Celebrates Film (at the 2020 L.A. Archives Bazaar)
How to Participate in the Archives Bazaar Virtual Exhibit
The Countdown to the 2020 Los Angeles Archives Bazaar Has Begun!