Public Collectors is founded upon the concern that there are many types of cultural artifacts that public libraries, museums and other institutions and archives either do not collect or do not make freely accessible. Public Collectors asks individuals that have had the luxury to amass, organize, and inventory these materials to help reverse this lack by making their collections public.
This page consists of sample findings and excerpts. It is also an account of the contents of my home and digital files from my camera. If you have suggestions, have a collection you want to share, or are in Chicago and would like to see something in person, please contact me. This blog is intended as a casual, more personal supplement to the main Public Collectors website.
Public Collectors is maintained by Marc Fischer.
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Common tags: Book Cover Design • Chicago • Drawing • Flea Market • Flyers • Illustration • Prison • Records • Religious Tracts • Signage • Zines
A sample 2-page spread from 17 Indian Books, a beautiful little photo ‘zine by longtime friend and tireless photographer Oscar Arriola. This was published by Fotoflow Press in 2010 and consists of color reproductions of book covers spotted at the library where Oscar works. Be sure to also check out the over 12,000 photos on his amazing Flickr page: Fotoflow
A sample 2-page spread from 17 Indian Books, a beautiful little photo ‘zine by longtime friend and tireless photographer Oscar Arriola. This was published by Fotoflow Press in 2010 and consists of color reproductions of book covers spotted at the library where Oscar works. Be sure to also check out the over 12,000 photos on his amazing Flickr page: Fotoflow
A richly printed and pleasantly designed paper napkin that came with my veggie burrito yesterday at a Mexican restaurant on Belmont Avenue in Chicago.
Something cheerful as people finish up their shopping for Christmas gifts. The front cover of a tract published by Evangelical Tract Distributors in Admonton, Alta., Canada. Undated. Many more tracts by various publishers here.
An illustration Nova magazine scanned from the September 1968 issue of Eye magazine.
A cultural calendar, scanned from the August 1968 issue of Eye magazine.
The front (and also back) cover of a 7” record by Bill Orcutt titled A King Or Something, Crossroads, The Man In The Mirror b/w Sad Michael, Solitary Habits, Die Then Come Back To Life (Palilalia, PAL-006, 2011). This was acquired from Bill himself after his prickly but quite enjoyable performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago this evening.
Scanned from Stereobook by Paul Dean / Paper Shrine, published by Barefoot Press, Raleigh, NC, 2000. More here.
Scanned from Stereobook by Paul Dean / Paper Shrine, published by Barefoot Press, Raleigh, NC, 2000. More here.
The cover of Stereobook by Paul Dean / Paper Shrine, published by Barefoot Press, Raleigh, NC, 2000. Described, accurately, as “A celebration of the promotional ephemera of the twentieth-century high fidelity stereographic phonograph record, Stereobook is not a parody!” More here.
How to Write Signs, Tickets and Posters, edited by Paul N. Hasluck, published by David McKay Company, Philadelphia, PA, undated.
Human Groups by W. J. H. Sprott, published by Pelican Books, Baltimore, Maryland, 1962.
Design as Art by Bruno Munari, Penguin Books, Baltimore, MD, 1971. I’ve been meaning to get a copy of this classic book for years. Finally scored one in Chicago yesterday at a 25 cent book sale.
The video box art for The Other Hell (Inter-Light Video, 1983) scanned from the book Shock! Horror! Astounding Artwork from the Video Nasty Era, by Francis Brewster, Harvey Fenton & Marc Morris, FAB Press, England, UK, 2005. More from this book here.
The front cover of the book Instead of Prisons - A Handbook for Abolitionists, published by the Prison Research Education Action Project, Syracuse, NY, 1976. Thanks to Prionace who found a digital version of the text from this book here.
