You’re invited to an evening with Prelinger Library Artists in Residence, past and present!
All are warmly invited, though seating will be limited to about 30 atendees. Doors at 7 p.m., event at 7:30, byob. Water will be served. No registration needed—just show up!
Current resident, artist and writer, Hanan Mahbouba will give a short presentation on her recently published book (co-authored with her sister Saara Mahbouba) Memory of a Day I Wasn’t There For, a publication that explores intergenerational memory, post-migration and informal archiving from the lens of their parents’ migration from Iraq and Finland to the U.S. She will also give an overview of her time at the library researching personal archival strategies and representations of the MENA region in the US imagination.
2025 resident Danielle Shi will be reading from the manuscript of her novel The Shelter, which she worked on during her residency. The Shelter, represented by Darhansoff & Verrill, is about the Chinese American consultant Adeline’s disappearance into a small town. Her mother’s psychosis leads her to question the teachings of the syncretic religious cult she was raised in. The Shelter balances a rural community’s response to homelessness with a close examination of white terror and anti-Chinese sentiment in the American program of nation-making.
Image by Tim Tran
We’re excited to share three new Asian American home movie collections added to our Memories to Light archive. Digitized in collaboration with Prelinger Archives and now available on the Internet Archive, this footage is part of our ongoing work to preserve and share stories often missing from traditional archives.
We’re starting by sharing a glimpse from the Sasaki family’s 16mm films from the 1950s–60s, following a Japanese American family on a road trip from Ohio to California, with stops at Trail Creek Ranch, Como Bluff, and Joshua Tree National Park.
See more footage at tinyurl.com/MTLCollection or through the link in our stories.
@prelingerlibrary
With the end of the year upon us, we wanted to share the news early about our upcoming holiday closures.
We will be CLOSED this coming Wednesday, December 3rd, for Lost Landscapes. (Both Wednesday and Thursday shows have sold out, but we look forward to seeing many of you there!)
December 23, 24, 30, and 31 we will also be CLOSED. Note that Thom will still be hosting Sunday Sound Day on the 21st from 1:30-4, if you’re in town!
We’re open as usual all other Sundays (1:30-4), Tuesdays (12-5), and Wednesdays (12:30-7).
Happy December!
We invite you to come to listen, browse the stacks, hangout with Resonant Margin: performing @prelingerlibrary on Sunday, April 20th from 1:30-4:00pm
301 8th Street, SF, CA
Come to the library this Thursday, September 12th at 6:30 for a reportback and Q&A from activists with @ismpalestine who recently returned from the West Bank and will discuss what's happening on the ground in Palestine.
The event will also feature poetry from Stevie Redwood and Karyn Smoot. @sf.artists.for.palestine will be tabling with art.
Suggested donation $10, NOTAFLOF. All proceeds benefit @bay2gazamutualaid .
Please wear a mask and arrive scent-free!
There's been lots going on at the Library lately. We thought it was worth sharing the latest updates to our schedule.
This Friday, August 30th, @music_research_strategies will perform Turn Everything Into Anti-Genocide Now!
Doors at 4, event 5 p.m. to the morning of the next day, and free, this 18-hour, overnight, anti-genocide vigil-performance featuring the “Ebonics Native Land Acknowledgment” (ENLA) solo percussion vernacular will be scored by YOU, the reader, the general public.
This will be the first of three roughly monthly vigils conducted by Music Research Strategies. More to come.
Then Friday, September 6th, OFFSITE at Duboce Park, presented by @sfparksalliance ,
6 – 10 p.m., free, with food trucks and preshow entertainment: SF’s Lost Landscapes: Found Home Movies at Duboce Park! Films from the Prelinger Archives edited and curated for public enjoyment and edification by Rick.
Finally, there's only one update to our regular library schedule: no more open hours on Thursdays for now, although we'll be sure to let you know if anything changes.
And there are more events in the works. We'll keep you updated on those, too. See you soon!
All set up for the @sfartbookfair - come by and say hello! We have publications and objects from our wonderful artistic and literary community for perusal and sale. Thanks to all who are allowing us to represent their work!
What: SF Art Book Fair
Where: 1275 Minnesota Street, table E6
When: Thursday 7/18 6-9pm Friday 7/19 11-6
Saturday 7/20 11-6
Sunday 7/21 11-5
Free and open to the public!
🎂 This June marks the Library’s 20-year anniversary! 🎂 To celebrate, we’re sharing ephemera from our own history, like this original shelver badge.
We’re grateful to all our extended community who has shaped this place over the years — together we continue to collectively realize the vision of an iconoclastic research library as artists’ workshop, salon for art and ideas, a memory resource for social change, a respite, a slow room, a hospitality zone, a room where everyone is welcome.
Do you have any special artifacts or memories of the Library from the past 20 years? Feel free to tag or DM! We’d love to share your images as we celebrate this landmark year.
🐦 In honor of @goldengatebirdalliance ’s Birdathon, Megan is hosting a themed tour of our special collections this Saturday! 🐤 We’ll look at historical topographic maps and atlases, classic natural history books and periodicals, area field guides, and special collections such as Earth Day-era environmental paperbacks, plus a small show of felt bird art from @slbarsness . Registration closes at 5pm on Friday. Tickets available through the link in our bio!
Miss our December shows? We're screening LOST LANDSCAPES 2023 again at the Internet Archive on Monday, March 18th. Come and raise your voice as you watch a panorama of Bay Area archival footage! Link for tickets in bio.
🧊 All of February we're featuring art books, multimedia inserts, and 3D objects from our collections! 🧊
This Teen Talk Barbie comes to us courtesy of @barbieliberation , one of the "surgeries" performed during their 1993 campaign. Her voice box was exchanged for that of a G.I. Joe action figure and she was replaced on a store shelf. Our Barbie is out of batteries, but according to our certificate of authenticity, she traded exclamations like "I love to shop with you!" and "Let's go to the mall!" for "Warning, warning!" and "Fire, fire, fire!"
