PUBLIC COLLECTORS

Public Collectors Research Request

I am researching memorial projects that attempt to archive and share works by artists who have died before receiving widespread recognition or interest from museums. I am interested in both web-based archives, as well archives of physical material objects. I am particularly concerned with archives that are maintained by friends, lovers and family members of the artist, rather than marketing efforts by galleries and dealers. If you have links or information, please contact me at: marc [at] publiccollectors.org

Please reblog widely and thank you!

Public Collectors Request Line is Open

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of traveling for the group I’m in, Temporary Services. In a little over a month I’ve been to Graz, Budapest, Los Angeles and London. As a result my Tumblr posting has taken a pretty big hit so I’m opening the Public Collectors Request Line again. Here’s your chance to ask for more of something that you’ve seen and liked on this blog. Want other scans from a particular source that I have posted from in the past? Want a particular genre of material? Click the reply button, let me know what you want and I’ll do my best. If I fulfill your request, which I will try to, I’ll acknowledge you in the post.

Public Collectors - Instant Collection!

This includes a fresh new limited reprinting of Underground Music Fanzines from the late 1980s - early 90s, both issues of Paper Blog, three collection inventory booklets, and more. If you’d like to acquire everything that’s currently in print from Public Collectors, plus some added ephemera, I’ve got about fifteen sets like this to circulate. For $22 postpaid in the U.S. or $32 postpaid anywhere else in the world you’ll get eight different Public Collectors booklets and three postcards.

BUY (U.S.) or BUY (World). Individual publications are available through Half Letter Press. Details on most of these Public Collectors publications can be found here.

Public Collectors Request Line Fulfillment: churchofmeat, a very excellent Chicago-based industrial designer and hardcore enthusiast who I still haven’t managed to meet in person requested: “zines, hardcore stuff/ephemera, flyers, photos, stories.”

Here is a photo, scanned from the scratchy old negative, of the NYHC band Breakdown that I took at this show at the Frankford YWCA in Philadelphia, circa 1988. I describe the miserable experience of this show in the above link. I believe this was the first time I spotted that horrible macho moshing style of doing windmills and all kinds of karate bullshit to take up a ton of personal space and maximally increase the chances of hurting someone who strays into your path. I remember Breakdown’s set as being good, but this whole experience really soured me on hardcore for a very long time. I should also note that this same strip of negatives also includes two very nice photos of our family’s lovely aging poodle (R.I.P.).

Public Collectors Request Line is Open

If you like what I do with Public Collectors, here’s one last pitch to support the project by purchasing two booklets (plus extra freebies!) direct from the source:

Now available from Public Collectors: Paper Blog 2!

PURCHASE ($6.50 postpaid)

Like the popular Paper Blog, this 40 page, black and white booklet draws from the Public Collectors blog on Tumblr. Similar to the blog, each page is a single image-based entry with a short caption explaining where the picture or scan came from. Unlike the blog, the booklet is an opportunity to sometimes present comparisons and draw relationships between single posts. First printing of 225 copies.

For $6.50 postpaid, I’ll send a copy of this anywhere in the world. Each order will also include a free copy of the booklet Fashion Illustrations by D. ‘Jame, an Occupy Libraries handbill, and a Public Collectors postcard with a handwritten thank you note from me!

Normally I reserve this blog for Public Collectors news, but it’s a happy day when the group I’m part of, Temporary Services, releases a new book. Please support, and because I fill the mail orders for Half Letter Press, if you mention in your order that you saw this on Public Collectors, I’ll throw in some free stuff!

halfletterpress:

New from Half Letter Press: Mobile Phenomena by Temporary Services!

Mobile Phenomena is a new collection of over eighty-five photographs and short interviews. It is the result of years of research on common instances of mobile phenomena that impact people and their uses of shared city and rural spaces. In this book you will find bookmobiles, mobile forms of commerce, inventive mobile art projects, mobile structures created for use during protest, and some strange applications of mobility that defy easy description, categorization, or whose function could not be readily discerned. Mobile Phenomena can unhinge the expected roles we take in shared city spaces. Mobile structures can become a new norm when they work. It is our hope that this book can be an inspiration to other citizens, artists, activists, nomads, and anyone who is interested in escaping the constraints of their location, culture, or other factors that make realizing oneʼs desires difficult.

Mobile Phenomena includes contributions by: Courtney Dailey, Alexis Petroff, Joseph Robertson, Jen Hofer, Eric Steen, Christian Ettinger, Platform, Liberate Tate, The Center For Tactical Magic, and Nils Norman.

The book is now available for order. Please help us spread the word, and note some great special deals we have going on!

Public Collectors Trading Post: Merrill Womach Record Collection

I’m reopening the Public Collectors Trading Post as a way of trying to officially end my morbid fascination with the records of Merrill Womach. For those who have never encountered Merrill’s records, here are the details of his story from his page on Wikipedia:

“Merrill Womach (February 7, 1927 in Spokane, Washington) is an American undertaker, organist and gospel singer, notable both for founding National Music Service, which provides recorded music to funeral homes across America, and for surviving an October 26, 1961 plane crash in Beaver Marsh, Oregon that left him disfigured with third degree burns over most of his body. Womach authorized an autobiography of his recovery titled Tested by Fire, co-authored by his former wife Virginia and Mel White. A documentary film titled He Restoreth My Soul was also made about his accident and subsequent recovery.”

This collection includes the following records: My Song (1960), A Time For Us (1969), Surely Goodness and Mercy (1970), Happy Again (1974 - two different versions, one still sealed!), Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory (1976), In Concert (1977), Merrill (1981),

The condition of these records is generally excellent - aside from some thrift store stickers on many of the covers. This collection is not for sale, only for trade. I’ll hear any offers you wish to make. You can offer other records, books, ‘zines, food, or anything else you feel could be of interest. The last time I opened the Public Collectors Trading Post I traded a big box of Grateful Dead bootlegs for a bottle of really good bourbon and everyone went home happy. I will ship these anywhere in the world, however due to the weight, U.S. shipping is preferred. Email me and let me know what you’ve got: marc [at] publiccollectors.org

Back in print!

Earlier last month I put out a call on Tumblr, asking if a creative person out there would like to generate a graphic to replace the front page image on the main Public Collectors website. One fine person came forward and I’m happy to announce that the front page image has been redesigned by Rogelio Rosiles. He has drawn from many areas of the site and blog to create some very subtle arrangements of objects.

Big thanks to Rogelio! He’ll be getting a nice package of publications in the mail from me. Check out Rogelio’s Tumblr and his Flickr gallery to see a lot of his art. Also, links are embedded in nearly every part of that image, so click around and see if you can find all sixteen linked areas in Rogelio’s collage. 

Public Collectors is a big fan of guerrilla libraries and the People’s Library at Occupy Wall Street in particular. To encourage and support this work, I’ve reprinted Mandy Henk’s excellent essay “Occupy Libraries: Guerrilla Librarianship for the People” as a big, color offset, double-sided postcard. This is the front side of the postcard. You can read the full essay here.

2,500 copies were printed and a thousand of these cards will travel with People’s Library librarians to be given away when they speak at the American Library Association Midwinter conference in Dallas on Saturday, January 21st. More details on that presentation and their work here.

If you’d like to support this project and receive a couple copies in the mail, please consider making a donation of $1.00 or more to my Paypal email address. If you donate more than a couple dollars, I’ll throw in a free Public Collectors booklet and additional ephemera. Thanks.