Heads up on your archive project

Hi All,

You may want to start thinking about your archival project. The first part of this project is called "IDENTIFYING YOUR ARCHIVE."

Start a process of research to identify and delve into your unique archival interest. Come to class with a written proposal of at least 500 words in which you describe your archive’s importance and what you would like to do with it. On a separate piece of paper or on the wall, create an original chart that maps out your proposed process of inquiry in relation to this archive.

To begin: locate an archive or collection relating to the history of California. Find a collection that interests you. It can be an online collection, but think about the materiality of the collection (where is it from, where is it housed, what site does it reference, where do you access it?). You may want to go visit the archive if at all possible. Later, you will re-articulate, re-stage, re-organize, or comment upon parts of this collection, so think about what is of particular interest to you.

Ultimately we will be performing a re-speaking event between 12-2 pm on Saturday May 17th at the Arboretum on the UCSC campus. Students (you, a group of you, or some combination theoreof) will stand and speak certain legal, historical, or oral histories, thereby weaving together a collage of historical traces into a new fabric. This might involve, for instance, a recreation of a legal proceeding, an interview, or a memoir. This may also involve projections and/or installation.

Contemporary artists who work with the re-speaking form include Mark Tribe, BLW, Sharon Hayes, Art & Language, Ann Carlson and Mary Ellen Strom (photographic).
(see links)

ARCHIVES:

archive.org and oac.cdlib.org (see link)

archive.org has some interesting video material on the bay area: see "shaping san francisco"at http://www.archive.org/details/shaping_sf (everything from squatters and "the farm" to sex and legal documents)

Of particular interest:
1) Oral History
Regional Oral History Office http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/subjectarea/index.html

2) Online Collections at Online Archive of California (includes Calif Cultures; Calif. Heritage Collection, The Cased Photographs Project, Free Speech Movement, Japanese American Relocation Archive, MOAC, Local History Resource Project, History of Silicon Valley)
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/about/oacprojects.html

3) Online Texts
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/texts/

4) San Jose and San Jose State University Special Collections
see: http://dsc.calstate.edu/campuses#SanJoseStateUniversity
(you can study these at the SJSU library)