Editors Note
Welcome to the thirteenth issue of Acid Free, a biannual online publication of the Los Angeles Archivists Collective.
It is hard to imagine any area of the cultural heritage field that hasn't been impacted by issues of money over the course of the pandemic. As professional organizations and mutual aid networks mobilized to assist workers who faced financial hardship, conversations around funding and precarity took on further urgency.
In this issue, we take a look at some archival initiatives and tools that help to expose the often-hidden costs of acquisitions and collection maintenance, opening paths for labor advocacy. Elsewhere, we find an analysis of the use of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans by cultural heritage institutions, and how they protected, or failed to protect, vulnerable workers. As we think ahead to a new archival landscape, we consider how to move beyond the logic of austerity and into new avenues of value and support. And as we look to the past, we see how decisions that impacted the poorest and most housing-insecure inhabitants of Los Angeles have shaped its physical landscape.
We also take a look at the presence of money in wide-ranging archival collections. At the Center for American War Letters Archives, physical currency included in the correspondences of American soldiers takes on the nature of cultural artifacts and collectible objects. Other collections explore the aesthetic dimensions of money, as can be seen in the images of bills, bank robbers, hustlers, and prudent savers in the collection of photographer and USC alum Wayne "Dick" Whittington. At UMass Amherst, we explore the collections of two divergent but equally entrepeneurial subjects: the influential agent and sports advertising pioneer, Mark H. McCormack, and the massive Brotherhood of the Spirit Commune. Finally, the luminous photographs of vendors at a Marin City flea market in the 1990s, held by the Marin County Free Library, remind us of the people and communities that exist around spaces of exchange.
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.
Stories
The True Cost of Acquisitions
Mary Kidd contemplates the hidden costs of acquisitions and describes two tools to help reveal overlooked elements behind collections stewardship, labor values, and sustainable operations.
Signs of Wear
Max Goldberg ponders the lost pleasures of the Marin City Flea Market as depicted in Nancy Kittle’s 1990s photographs.
Taking the Long View of LA's Housing Crisis
Nicole Shibata uses a 1930s photo scrapbook to delve into the overlooked histories of housing policies and conditions in Los Angeles.
Archives After Austerity
Cailtin Rizzo explores the neoliberal logic of austerity and the false promise that capital is the only answer.
The Capital Collection of "Dick" Whittington Photographs
Arel Lucas shares images from the Dick Whittington collection of studio photographs at the University of Southern California.
Professional Athletes and Professional Hippies
Kirstin Kay and Caroline White discuss the collections of influential sports agent Mark H. McCormack and the Brotherhood of the Spirit commune.
A High Price to Pay
Andrew Harman considers currency itself as an archival object, in exploring the collections of the Center for American War Letters Archives at Chapman University.
Where the Money Went
Jack O'Malley examines the use of Paycheck Protection Program loans by cultural heritage institutions, and how they have protected—or failed to protect—cultural heritage workers.
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Masthead
Editors
Caroline Bautista · Laura Cherry · Courtney Dean
Jennie Freeburg · Melissa Haley · Alyssa Loera
Editor-in-Chief
Lori Dedeyan
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