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Finding Aid to the Acción Latina and El Tecolote Pictorial Archive Photographic Print and Poster Collection
BANC PIC 2017.018
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Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Acción Latina and El Tecolote pictorial archives
Creator:
Acción Latina
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 2017.018
Physical Description:
22 linear feet
(9,600 photographic prints in 25 boxes; negatives; digital photographs; and approximately 435 prints (chiefly posters) in
4 boxes and 16 oversize folders)
Physical Description:
8 linear feet
(unprocessed digital files on disks, film negatives, slides, and miscellaneous materials in 6 cartons 1 box)
Date (bulk): bulk 1970-2016
Abstract: The Acción Latina and El Tecolote pictorial archive contains photographic prints (black and white and color), contact sheets,
slides, negatives, digital photographs, posters, and artists' prints related to the organization's work on behalf of the Latino
community in San Francisco's Mission District, particularly the organization's newspaper, El Tecolote, and its music festival,
Encuentro del Canto Popular, and to political activism at the local, national, and international level. The present finding
aid focuses on the fully-processed parts of the collection: the photographic prints and the posters and artists' prints.
Physical Location: Many Bancroft Library collections are stored off-site and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language of Material:
English, Spanish
The Acción Latina and El Tecolote pictorial archive contains photographic prints (black and white and color), contact sheets,
slides, negatives, digital photographs, posters, and artists' prints related to the organization's work on behalf of the Latino
community in San Francisco's Mission District, particularly the organization's newspaper, El Tecolote, and its music festival,
Encuentro del Canto Popular, and to political activism at the local, national, and international level. The present finding
aid focuses on the fully-processed parts of the collection: the photographic prints and the posters and artists' prints. Photographs
are largely undated but the oldest appear to be from the 1960s, with the bulk dating from the 1970s to the early 2000s. The
archive includes images of demonstrations, marches, labor actions, parades, festivals, performances, concerts, exhibitions,
lectures, meetings, and press conferences. The images also capture daily life in the Mission District as residents go to work,
attend school, receive health care, play sports, and shop. Images of the Mission District built environment are also present:
stores, churches, hospitals, schools, houses, theaters, parks, signs. The archive contains numerous portraits of local and
national political and cultural leaders, musicians, artists, writers, dancers, actors and actresses, and other prominent community
members. The collection also includes materials related to the production of three fotonovelas. The poster collection includes
items produced by Acción Latina and items collected by the organization. Many of the former promote the Encuentro del Canto
Popular and events connected with El Tecolote. Items collected by Acción Latina promote other music events, art exhibitions,
poetry readings, and parades. They also champion an array of political causes ranging from local boycotts to international
revolutions.
Acción Latina is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco's Mission District. Acción Latina's mission is, "to promote
cultural arts, community media, and civic engagement as a way of building healthy and empowered Latino communities." The work
that would become foundational to the organization began in 1970, when San Francisco State University professor Juan Gonzales
launched the community-based, bilingual newspaper El Tecolote with his students. In 2023, the largely volunteer-run newspaper
continues to be published twice monthly and is now the longest running Spanish/English bilingual newspaper in the United States.
Its print run of 10,000 copies is distributed in Spanish-speaking communities throughout the Bay Area. El Tecolote also mainains
a website and produces a podcast. The newspaper covers regional, national, and international stories affecting Latino communities.
In 1982, volunteers from El Tecolote and New College of California staged the first Encuentro del Canto Popular, a festival
promoting Latin American music, which became an annual event. A grant from the James Irvine Foundation supported organizational
and strategic planning work following Acción Latina's formal incorporation in 1987, and the first executive director was hired
that year. In 2000, Acción Latina purchased a building on 24th Street in the Mission District to become its permanent headquarters,
and in 2015 the organization opened the Juan R. Fuentes Gallery in the building "to showcase the diversity of visual art forms--ceramics,
watercolor, sculpture, photography, poster art--created by established and emerging Latino/a artists." Acción Latina continues
to host art exhibitions and tours, including the recurring community art walk Paseo Artistico, readings, and music events.
Source: Acción Latina website (www.accionlatina.org) "Mission" and "History" pages.
Photographic prints (PIC boxes 1-23, AX box 1, B box 2), posters and artists' prints (B boxes, C boxes, D folders, F folder)
are open for research. The remainder of the collection (chiefly negatives and digital photographs) is unprocessed. For current
status, please consult the library's online catalog.
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
[Identification of item], Acción Latina and El Tecolote pictorial archive, BANC PIC 2017.018, The Bancroft Library, University
of California, Berkeley.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Acción Latina pictorial archive was purchased by The Bancroft Library from Acción Latina in December 2016.
Acción Latina records (including administrative, grant, and project files and audio recordings of oral histories) have been
accessioned separately (BANC MSS 2016/265). The organization's run of El Tecolote newspapers has been cataloged separately
(Bancroft / pff F869.S39 S758).
Photographic prints processed to the series level by Isabel Breskin in 2022-2023. Posters and artists' prints processed and
listed at the item level by Isabel Breskin in 2023. Negatives and digital photographs remain unprocessed as of 2023.
Unprocessed materials consist of 1 box (AX) of original drawings, cartoons, and other graphics intended for publication in
the newspaper; and 6 cartons containing 3 binders of contact sheets (many of which require removal of staples, separation
of attached negatives, and rehousing), 10 binders of negatives (many with little or no identifying data), 3 slide carousel
boxes and 2 binders of slides, approximately 350 photo CDs (some may contain PDFs, InDesign files, audio files or other non-pictorial
material); 2 t-shirts; and 1 framed artist's print.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Hispanic Americans -- California -- San Francisco -- Pictorial works
Latin Americans -- United States -- California
Hispanic Americans -- California -- Newspapers
Community organizations
Mission District (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Pictorial works
Artists and community -- California
Music festivals
Community newspapers
Photographs
Posters
Prints
Acción Latina -- Archives