Punk Music and Culture

Who We Are

The UCLA Library Punk Collective is a DIY group of punks who are interested in collecting and preserving the music and culture of the Los Angeles County punk scenes. The working group began in 2014 and consists of catalogers, archivists, audiovisual archivists, library staff, students, faculty, and other community members. The UCLA Punk Collective actively participates in outreach and programming within UCLA and throughout Los Angeles County. We work closely with our colleagues in the Music Library who steward commercially released punk recordings.

UCLA Library Punk Collective Members

To contact us, please fill out the form at the bottom of LSC Punk Archive.

Sincere thanks to past UCLA Punk Collective Members: Peggy Alexander, Jillian Cuellar, Alex Cline, Gabriel Cortina, Lori Dedeyan, Megan Fraser, Gloria Gonzalez, Kearra Amaya Gopee, Melissa Haley, Tom Hyry, Courtney "Jet" Jacobs, Cesar Reyes, and Amanda Slater for all of their work and dedication, and to Sharon Farb and Todd Grappone for their support.

Current Collecting Priorities

The UCLA Library Punk Collective documents the development and expression of punk music and cultures by collecting and preserving the materials of the people and organizations that are part of the various scenes throughout Los Angeles County from the mid-1970s to the present.

We work collaboratively with our communities, which include musicians, photographers, filmmakers, promoters, producers, record labels, artists, writers, venues, spaces, and fans. It is our mission to inspire and facilitate the discovery and research of punk cultures.

We are particularly interested in documenting how LA punk communities coalesce around music venues and DIY spaces across the County. We specifically want to collect materials that document the histories and stories of spaces that speak to marginalized punk communities of color, feminist punks, queer punks, riot grrrls, and punks with disabilities. Within these communities, genres of interest include Afro-punk, queercore, Chicanx/Latinx punk, art-punk, straight edge, hardcore, avant-garde, and experimental punk.

(Hard)Core Values

In support of our collecting priorities and our values for ethical community engagement, we adhere to the following guidelines, which were inspired by the Zine Librarians Code of Ethics

• Prioritize collecting directly from community members over working with third-party sellers
• Respectfully engage with and represent community members
• Actively collect material from under-documented scenes and communities
• Foster lasting and reciprocal relationships with communities
• Encourage community member participation and public use of collections
• Collaborate on outreach and programming to spotlight the work of community members

Collecting Criteria

Formats that are particularly important to further our collecting goals are:

• scrapbooks, diaries, and journals
• administrative records of venues, DIY spaces, and record labels
• original film, video, and audio, such as mixtapes, demos, documentaries, video art, public access TV programs, etc.
• flyers, patches, and buttons
• calendars, show schedules, guest lists, and setlists
• interviews and oral histories
• notes, drafts, and original writing covering the scenes
• photographs and photograph albums
• lyrics
• artworks
• correspondence and fan mail
• publications including zines and books
• custom punk fashion

Out of Scope

• Commercial recordings
• Materials that are still being actively used by their creators (working collections)
• Contemporary reproductions like digital scans, facsimiles
• Oversize artifacts and posters
• Materials collected or assembled, but not created, by an individual, group, or organization
• Materials we cannot provide access to for legal reasons

More About the Collection

Our named collections are archives created or collected by an individual or group. Smaller donations may be added to our Punk zines and ephemera collection, with donor information attached to individual items.

To see our current holdings or to fill out a donation form, visit our Punk Music and Culture in the UCLA Library Research Guide.