April 2024 ~ Presentations, Exhibitions and Collections
Gems from the San Francisco Poster Collection
Promoting the SF Art Institute, 1979. San Francisco Poster Collection (SFH 730)
The San Francisco Poster Collection is now available for researchers at the San Francisco History Center! The collection contains over 1,200 printed posters and is constantly growing. We also accept donations of San Francisco related posters that are in excellent condition. Email sfhistory@sfpl.org if you would like to donate to this collection.
Performance: Kim Shuck’s Poem Jam Celebrates Poetry Flash
San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck invites Joyce Jenkins and Poetry Flashwriters to celebrate this renowned literary magazine's 50th anniversary and its mission of building community through literature. Readers include Joyce Jenkins, Lee Rossi, Richard Silberg and MK Chavez.
Kim Shuck was San Francisco's seventh Poet Laureate. Her poetry draws on her multiethnic background which includes Polish and Cherokee heritage, and her experiences as a lifelong resident of San Francisco. Her most recent book of poetry,What Unseen Thing Blows Wishes Across My Surface?, a collaboration with visual artist Lisa Ruth Elliott,and her new book of essays, Noodle, Rant, Tangent,were published in 2022. In her term as Poet Laureate, she hosted scores of free poetry and art workshops for all ages at neighborhood libraries and schools and worked closely with San Francisco Public Library and the San Francisco Arts Commission to launch major citywide initiatives to honor Native American Indigenous Peoples' heritage.
Join us for a 1.5-hour walking tour of the North Beach neighborhood. Learn about the food, culture and history of San Francisco's Little Italy, where early immigrants in the 1910s established the authentic Italian character that remains its defining quality. Discover famous landmarks, buildings and spectacular view of downtown and the unique charm of this vibrant neighborhood.
Reservation is required. Space is limited to 25 people. No last minute walk-ups.
Online reservation will start on April 6, 2024 until it is full. Meet at the North Beach Branch Library. The tour will start at 10:30 a.m. sharp and end at noon.
Learn about Noe Valley Victorians with Rob Thomson, former President of the Victorian Alliance.
Rob Thomson is trained as an archaeologist and historic preservation planner. He has worked for the Presidio Trust in San Francisco since 2006, and currently manages the agency's historic preservation and cultural resources program as its Federal Preservation Officer. Prior to the Trust, Rob developed historic preservation training programs in Southeast Asia for the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, and worked on archaeological field projects in Virginia, California, and East Africa. He has written extensively on historic preservation policy in the US and Asia, including a co-authored book entitled Architectural Conservation in Asia: National Experiences & Practice. He was the president of the Victorian Alliance of San Francisco from 2016-2023, the oldest all-volunteer historic preservation advocacy organization in
A monthly social club based in San Francisco for mail artists, letter writers and people who love the USPS. If this sounds like you, then you've come to the right place! The Correspondence Co-op is a place for like-minded folks to meet other artists in a casual setting, make some mail art and share ideas.
The Book Arts & Special Collections Center is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Heavy Lifting; with poetry by Theresa Whitehill and bookwork by Felicia Rice, Moving Parts Press (2022). With a foreword by Inge Bruggeman. This stunning double accordion artist's book "reveals the unique power of this art form to unfurl within the hands of the individual, thus beautifully connecting the individual’s role to art, poetry, and the world around them."
Collection Highlight: The San Francisco Poster Collection
Documenting the Construction of the Bay Bridge, 2005. San Francisco Poster Collection (SFH 730)
The San Francisco Poster Collection contains over 1,200 printed posters of San Francisco, California acquired by the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library. The posters range in date from the late 1800s to the present, and depict events and places that include both local interests and topics of broader significance. In addition, there is representation of cultural and political events such as San Francisco Book Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, and Carnaval, as well as posters promoting performances and shows, election posters, and protest posters. Significant poster creators include La Raza Graphics, Mission Grafica, San Francisco Poster Brigade, and San Francisco Poster Syndicate.
This collection is constantly growing! We also accept donations of San Francisco related posters that are in excellent condition. Email sfhistory@sfpl.org if you would like to donate
A Tourist’s Guide to the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor
April 1, 2024 - May 31, 2024
Book Arts & Special Collections Exhibit Space - 6th Floor
Bon Voyage! We're off to bookish adventures far and wide through the pages of the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor. Join us for an armchair trip around the world as we visit unfamiliar and exotic sights; get lost in translation; take guided tours with favorite children’s books; and of course, visit our favorite destination -- San Francisco!
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.
History Through Posters
All Indian Nations Art Festival, 1980. San Francisco Poster Collection (SFH 730)
San Francisco
History Center,
Book Arts &
Special Collections 100 Larkin St. San Francisco, CA 94102 415-557-4400sfpl.org/bookarts