It isn’t often that archivists get a chance to issue specific requests for historical materials. Most of the time, they’re dependent on the kindness of strangers, or at least collectors who’ve been generous enough to donate their papers and ephemera to the library.
Marching this weekend? We’re collecting #ephemera as part of a living archive of modern protest! DM us for details. #womensmarch pic.twitter.com/xURxTsnz6d
— Newberry Library (@NewberryLibrary) January 20, 2017
Among the materials that came in were many posters featuring Beyoncé, a pile of pussy hats in different shades of pink (plus knitting instructions), a quilt, a puppet, a sash that said “Radiate Love,” a self-published children’s book called The Adventures of KITTY CAT The Billion $$ Power Ball Winner, a crown that read “We are watching you Donald Trump you fucking maniac,” and a poster from the D.C. march donated by Heather Newberry Lord—”Yes, I’m YOUR Newberry!”
The Newberry has a long history of collecting protest materials. “It’s one of our prime collecting areas,” Briggs says. A quick trip through the climate-controlled stacks turns up a pamphlet billed as an urban gardening guide (actually instructions for putting stickers on public property and replacing ads on the New York City subway), leaflets for events protesting the second Iraq War, a Students for a Democratic Society newsletter, and signs from the 60s advertising an “Anti-Mil Ball” (“Swords Optional”) and an “Anarchist-Pacifist Book Sale” (“Read the Books Hitler Burned”).
Although the library has some historic materials from the right, including pamphlets published by the America First Committee and surveillance reports from the 1968 Democratic Convention, the archive of contemporary materials is very thin.
