We've got our own superblooms at SFPL. Here's a sneak peek at Thirty-Six Views of the Golden Gate Bridge, a recent acquisition to the Book Arts & Special Collections Center. Inspired by Hokusai's 36 Views of Mount Fuji and Henri Rivière's Les Trente-six Vues de la Tour Eiffel, Li Jiang's lovely new book "includes images created by directly scratching into the film which is used to create the polymer plates for letterpress printing, bypassing the computer to create hand-drawn images…a unique look that is a marriage of color wood engraving and etching."-prospectus.
Night of Ideas 2024
SFPL and local partners, the Villa Albertine, KQED and Circuit Network, have lots of exciting surprises in store for this year's edition. Leading thinkers, scholars, writers, activists and artists engage with the theme "Fault Lines," centering urban life and development and raising questions about the impact of climate change, new technologies, and social and cultural shifts. In addition, running through the entire evening, are programs designed to make you feel the L.O.V.E. for our beautiful City to counter those tiresome attacks. We've got drag, stand-up, zine-making and a rousing program series that pays homage to our beloved and idiosyncratic Muni, thanks to the support of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
And the biggest news of all! We've added family programming from 4-6 p.m.
Author: Christopher Pollock, San Francisco's Parks at Noe Valley Branch
Learn about San Francisco's parks with Christopher Pollock, author of San Francisco's Parks. This talk, which includes historical photographs, will reveal the stories of the creation of some of San Francisco's iconic parks. From the town square of Portsmouth Square to the formerly Bayside Gilman Playground, previously known as Gilman Beach, the illustrations show the diverse topography of San Francisco. Many of the parks shown may not be recognizable today as they have morphed over time from open sand lots to sometimes multi-level recreation spots. Other highlights will include the wide variety of activities
that these places host.
In 2016, Christopher Pollock was tapped by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department to be their first Historian-in-Residence for all of the city's parks. With this, Chris brought a layer of history to the department. His initial project was to research and record the history of the department's 225 real estate assets. His most recent book, published in 2023, is San Francisco's Parks, a pictorial record of many of the city's recreation spots. It is the first illustrated publication to bring together the full breadth of public parks administered by San Francisco's Recreation and Park Department.
Panel: The Making and Meaning of African Liberation Day
Hear from organizers and participants of African Liberation Day, held in San Francisco's Fillmore neighborhood on May 27,1972 and across the country.
This panel discussion will contextualize the exhibit, Toward a Black Aesthetic: Kenneth P. Green Sr.'s Photographs of the 1960s and 70s, on display in the Jewett Gallery and the African American Center through April 21, 2024. On display in the African American Center are Green’s vibrant documentary photographs of San Francisco’s African Liberation Day demonstration shown alongside historical objects and ephemera from the event.
True San Francisco originals, Les Nickelettes were an all-female experimental comedy troupe active from 1972 to 1985 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The group got their start as the opening act to the People's Nickelodeon, a late-night showing of old films at the Mitchell Brothers' O'Farrell Theater. Les Nickelettes soon brought their raunchy, feminist humor, propulsive DIY energy, and satirical song-and-dance routines to residencies at Mabuhay Gardens and the Intersection Theater. Beginning in 1975 until their final performance in 1985, they wrote and performed in original, full-length musical comedies with all-female casts across the Bay Area. The more you learn about Les Nickelettes, the more you see how connected they were to the San Francisco art, music, and theater scenes in the '70s and '80s. The collection contains playbills, flyers, newsletters, newspaper and magazine clippings, and photographs.
The finding guide for this newly processed collection is available sfpl.org/sfhistory or visit the archives at the San Francisco History Center, 6th floor, Main Library.
Collection Highlight: Ebon and Wee Pals
On the heels of Black History Month, we highlight two local pioneering Black cartoonists represented in our collections, Larry Fuller and Morrie Turner.
In 1969, Gary Arlington of the San Francisco Comic Book Company published the underground comic bookEbon written and drawn by Larry Fuller (b. 1944). A Polytechnic High School graduate, Fuller's Ebon was the first African-American superhero ever featured in a comic book, and San Francisco History Center holds the first (and only) issue. While Ebon did not continue past its premiere issue, Fuller would later write and publish Gay Hearthrobs.
Oakland-born Morrie Turner (1923-2014) was the first African-American to have a comic strip, Wee Pals syndicated in mainstream newspapers. Beginning in 1965, Turner populated his Wee Pals with a racially and ethnically mixed cast of characters, generally young kids (including a girl in a wheelchair and a deaf girl.) The Book Arts and Special Collections Center holds a collection of 78 original pen-and-ink daily strips.
San Francisco: Printed by the Grabhorn Press, 1939
Bookbinder Dominic Riley was commissioned to design a binding for Book Arts & Special Collections. Here is the elegant result of Dominic's labors: San Francisco Old & New by Marion Brown, printed by the Grabhorn Press (1939); a gift of San Francisco bookbinder Margaret Johnson. Have a listen to "The Bookbinder's Luck," an interview with Dominic at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Kenneth P. Green Sr.'s Photographs of the 1960s and 70s
January 25, 2024 - April 21, 2024
Jewett Gallery - Lower Level
and African-American Center Exhibit Space - 3rd Floor
As a lifetime Bay Area resident and the first Black staff photographer for the Oakland Tribune (1968-1982), Kenneth P. Green Sr. captured some of the most important social changes of the era. His photographs -- some taken on the beat as a photojournalist and others snapped as an observant bystander on the streets -- not only chronicled integral periods of sociopolitical importance, but also the quotidian moments of everyday life. Toward a Black Aestheticfocuses on Green's images of Black women, whose strength, intellect and beauty he recognized and paid homage to through his photographs, which also highlight the fashion and politics of the 1960s and 70s. Visitors will also recognize in Green's photographs the artistry in which he captured the multifaceted and organic expression of the Black community in the Bay Area.
The exhibition continues on the 3rd Floor in the African American Center with Green's vibrant documentary photographs of San Francisco’s African Liberation Day demonstration in 1972 shown alongside historical objects and ephemera from the event.