ACID FREE MAGAZINE

Roots

ISSUE 10

Editors Note

Welcome to the tenth issue of Acid Free, a biannual online publication of the Los Angeles Archivists Collective. 

Issue 1: Labor — May Day Posters from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics

Issue 2: Disasters — Place | Los Angeles Riots, 1992

Issue 3: Awards — Imma Let You Finish But

Illustrations from various contributors over the years
(Niv Bavarsky, Leesh Adamerovich, Lamar Abrams, Tim Lahan, Monica Ramos)

Conversations about archives often place them in the realm of the past.  The past, however, is a living thing: like roots, its products anchor and nourish us as we explore our sense of place within the world.  Where archives become the setting of such explorations, personal and institutional histories are often intertwined.

Interactions with these materials, whether as a creator or an archivist (or both),  can be deeply impactful. This is the case for two archivists working with records of trauma generated by the Aborigines Protection and Welfare Boards in New South Wales, Australia.  In Brazil, Indigenous communities are responding to the erasure and loss of their histories, most recently during the devastating fire Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, by archiving their own stories.  In Xochimilco, one of the southernmost boroughs of Mexico City, a group of young people use community-driven archiving to document the specificity of their communities’ días de muertos practices.

Closer to home, the members of Samahang Pilipino,  a Pilipino student-run community organization at UCLA, work on processing and preserving their records within the University Archives. In East Los Angeles, punk music creates a community of belonging that continues into the world of libraries and within the UCLA Punk Archive.  Similarly, we follow one archivist’s journey of personal memory as it is taken over both institutional archives and family papers in Nicaragua.  

People tracing their families’ roots can avail themselves of the Los Angeles Public Library’s genealogy collections.  In its Special Collections department, the processing of the Brockman Gallery archives prompts a look at the gallery’s history within the Black Arts Movement in Los Angeles.  The work of another artist, Jumana Manna, explores archives of agriculture, plant taxonomy, and ethnomusicology as sites of social, geopolitical, and colonial history in the Middle East. Finally, we consider the disappearance of plants as decorative elements in the LACMA galleries, and their reappearance as aspects of the artworks themselves.

The Roots issue also marks a transition for Acid Free, from a quarterly to a biannual publication.  On the occasion of our tenth issue, we decided to dig into our own roots in an interview with one of our founders, Grace Danico.

How did the idea for an LAAC magazine come about?  Was this something that LAAC always knew it wanted to do?

At the time, LAAC was trying to keep up with a blog with regular weekly posts. There were attempts to have regular columns, but the scheduling and content were inconsistent. With my prior editorial experience, I suggested that instead of struggling to maintain a blog, we create a quarterly magazine. This would alleviate the need to post regularly, give our audience something to look forward to, and allow us to create more long form engaging content. It wasn’t something LAAC knew it wanted to do, but thankfully it grew organically from the first issue. 

Tell us about the early days of the magazine.  How did you envision it and how did you get it off the ground?

The early days were interesting! We were a small team (four-five people) led by our first subcommittee chair, Christine Hertzel. She was a model leader, and kept us all organized. We envisioned a magazine that was an alternative to other archival publications, we sought “to be a smart, complicated, non-academic forum for a variety of voices and issues in our field.” 

We brainstormed ideas for potential issue themes, and decided on “Labor” for our inaugural issue. From there, we pitched story ideas and worked on producing ideas that we all agreed upon. It was such an exciting time, and as I look back at our first issue, it makes me very proud that our small team was able to produce such great content. We each played an important role in this, and I have fond memories of my role working as an art director and web producer for the issue. After the issue went live and we published the news to various listservs and channels, we got such incredible feedback from the community and were able to apply suggestions to future issues of the publication.  

Publishing a magazine is a big job for any organization, and especially one that is run by volunteers.  Who works on Acid Free, and what is that process like?

Acid Free would not be possible without the hard work of the Publications Subcommittee (formerly Press & Publications) and our many contributors over the years. The process in producing and publishing a magazine is strenuous, and our process has evolved over the years. I took over as subcommittee chair after Christine stepped down, and our subcommittee doubled in size from four to eight members! Christine was still an active member of the group, and with her guidance, we collaborated on documentation that outlined our process from start to finish. This documentation was important for the onboarding process for new members of the subcommittee.

To produce an issue, we typically meet in person and have a discussion of who’s working on what (e.g. editorial, outreach, web production) and potential stories. From there, we move our workflow to Trello and Slack. We create cards for pitches, and the editorial team will decide which pitches to move forward with. From there, the outreach and editorial teams work together to contact potential contributors, and the web production works on mood and color for the issue. We set some deadlines as a group as to when we need first drafts from contributors, as well as when we need to send revisions, etc. As soon as we get content, the web production team gets to work on producing the articles. I oversee design and art direction, and commission illustrations for articles that lack a visual component. After final drafts are handed in and web production is finished, we send the articles to contributors for final review. If everything looks good, we prepare the magazine for launch and finally share it with everyone!

The process is like an orchestra, with the subcommittee chair acting as the conductor. Each member is instrumental in the success of the issue; if one person falls behind, we all fall behind. 

Favorite Acid Free issues or moments?

My favorite issues would have to be Issue 4: Occult, Issue 5: Organize, Issue 6: Design, and Issue 8: Sex. My favorite moments are when I get to commission illustrators for pieces and when we launch an issue.

How has Acid Free changed over the course of ten issues? Where would you like it see it go over the next ten?

Acid Free has grown into a publication that’s been recognized by the archival community and beyond, and it’s reach always surprises me. In the next ten issues, I’d love to see more engagement with the diverse communities we serve, more contributions from POC archivists working in the field, and a subscription based print component! 

Thanks, Grace!

We hope you enjoy this issue, and as always we would love to hear from you!

Email Acid Free at acidfree@laacollective.org, or give us a shout out @laacollective.

Outsiders Welcome: Brockman Gallery & the Art of Inclusion

Brockman Gallery Archive archivist at the Los Angeles Public Library discusses the Black Arts Movement in Los Angeles, 1967-1990.

yoquepierdo: Preserving Memories from Nicaragua

Archivist Christine Calvo discusses memory and the presence of the past in Nicaragua.

Samahang Pilipino

David Castro explores the Samahang Pilipino Archive, which documents a Pilipino student-run community organization at UCLA.

Honoring the Ancestors and Preserving Living Traditions

The Días de Muertos Xochimilco project team documents the Day of the Dead customs of their local community.

Aboriginal Histories in Australia Government Archives

Archivist Kirsten Thorpe and graphic designer Cassandra Willis reflect on using records for healing and for truth-telling in Australia.

Punk Roots in East LA

Cesar Reyes unearths the roots of Latinos in the East Los Angeles punk scene.

Wild Relatives: The Art of Jumana Manna

Lori Dedeyan explores the work of artist Jumana Manna.

The Los Angeles Public Library Pamphlet & Manuscript Collection

An overview of the Pamphlet & Manuscript Collection in the Los Angeles Public Library's Genealogy Collection by genealogy librarian Julie Huffman.

Where Have all The Flowers Gone?

Christel Quinn writes about the absence of plants in modern galleries.

Audiovisual Archives of Indigenous Voices

Louise Hisayasu discusses the promotion of archives of indigenous first-person narratives in Brazil.

Issue 9 · Movement

Issue 8 · Sex

Issue 7 · Space

Issue 6 · Design

Issue 5 · Organize

Issue 4 · Occult

Issue 3 · Awards

Issue 2 · Disasters

Issue 1 · Labor