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Finding Aid to the Indivisible Project / CHALK Collection 1999-2001 SFH 66
SFH 66  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Provenance
  • Materials Transferred
  • Organizational History
  • Scope and Contents
  • Arrangement

  • Title: Indivisible Project / CHALK Collection
    Date (inclusive): 1999-2001
    Collection Identifier: SFH 66
    Photographer: Greenfield, Lauren
    Interviewer: King, George
    Physical Description: 1 box, 1 shoebox, 1 oversize flat box (3.0 linear feet)
    Contributing Institution: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
    100 Larkin Street
    San Francisco, CA 94102
    (415) 557-4567
    info@sfpl.org
    Abstract: Photographs; slides; and interview audiorecordings, transcripts, and logs documenting the Indivisible project conducted in San Francisco with the youth organization CHALK, featuring its Youthline telephone hotline program. Included with the San Francisco materials are postcards, a CD-ROM, a book, and an inventory documenting the Indivisible project as a whole, which consists of projects conducted at 12 community sites across the United States. George King interviewed and Lauren Greenfield photographed Youthline and CHALK staff for The Indivisible project.
    Physical Location: The collection is stored onsite.
    Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.

    Access

    The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.
    Audiocassettes are available on a limited basis, depending on their digitization status. A listening copy of each will be made as they are requested and added to the collection for future public use.

    Publication Rights

    Rights, title, and interest to Indivisible interview recordings, logs, and working transcripts belong to the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and may be used for non-commercial, public service, and educational purposes only, or to publicize and promote these non-commercial and educational activities. All requests to copy, reprint, or republish recorded interviews or printed materials for any other purposes than those described above shall be submitted in writing to the Center for Documentary Studies.
    Rights, title, and interest to Indivisible photographs are held by the photographer and the Center for Documentary Studies. Permission to copy, reprint, or republish these photographs for anything other than non-commercial, public service, or educational purposes must be granted by the photographer and the Center. Requests for such permission shall be submitted in writing to the Center for Documentary Studies.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Indivisible Project / CHALK Collection, (SFH 66), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

    Provenance

    The Indivisible project donated the materials to the San Francisco Public Library in 2001.

    Materials Transferred

    The book Local Heroes Changing America—Indivisible has been transferred to the San Francisco History Center book collection.

    Organizational History

    Indivisible “Indivisible: Stories of American Community” is a documentary project that explores community life in America through real-life stories recorded in photographs and interviews. The project was organized by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona, and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
    Twelve diverse communities across the country were selected to be photographed and interviewed. The project’s co-directors, Tom Rankin of the Center for Documentary Studies, and Trudi Wilner Stack of the Center for Creative Photography, chose a diverse group of artists who would contribute a variety of perspectives and styles. The documentary teams included renowned photographers and highly regarded folklorists and oral historians from around the world.
    The areas that were chosen represent local yet typical American communities. The interviewers and photographers were encouraged to approach them individually, without a standard formula, to portray the uniqueness of each one. At the same time, audiences throughout the country would see their own communities reflected in the people whose locales were recorded in this project. "Indivisible: Stories of American Community" was presented to the general public via two traveling museum exhibitions, a website, and a book called Local Heroes Changing America—Indivisible.
    The complete Indivisible project is housed at the archives at Duke University and the University of Arizona, where the public has access to the historic collection. In addition, each of the 12 communities included in the project received a set of interview tapes as a result of their participation in the initiative. (The San Francisco version of the interview tapes is part of the collection here.)
    CHALK/Youthline San Francisco’s Communities in Harmony Advocating for Learning and Kids (CHALK) was selected for inclusion in Indivisible. A program of Bay Area Community Resources, CHALK provides information, resources, and support to youth in San Francisco through outreach, community organizations and events, and after-school programs. Indivisible focused on Youthline, a toll-free hotline that is staffed by young “listeners” who provide support, information, and crisis intervention. Sometimes such support is as simple as conversation and encouragement; other callers need more in-depth, experienced help.
    CHALK’s Youthline listeners are paid, trained in social work and communication, and taught to assess a caller and offer the right kind of support. Supervisors are available to talk them through challenging exchanges if needed. Youthline serves a variety of callers, but the staff comes from the diverse communities it serves. CHALK hires youth between ages 16 and 22, an age group that can develop valuable skills to be used as a springboard to college or other jobs.
    The Artists George King interviewed and Lauren Greenfield photographed Youthline and CHALK staff for The Indivisible project.
    Born in the United Kingdom, George King moved to the United States in 1979. He specializes in telling the stories of rural, low-income, and African-American communities through documentary filmmaking. In 1997, he was the producer, project director, and primary interviewer on the 13-hour series documenting the civil-rights movement, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? King’s 2001 documentary Goin’ to Chicago aired on PBS and earned him accolades, in particular for his interviews, which went beyond simple recollection to draw the spirit of the time from the people who shared their memories.
    Lauren Greenfield has dedicated her career to chronicling youth culture and was named one of the 25 most influential photographers working today by American Photo in 2003. Her photography work is featured in major collections in museums and galleries all over the country. Greenfield’s first feature-length documentary, THIN, aired on HBO in 2006 and was accompanied by the book of the same name and a traveling museum exhibition. Her short film kids + money won prestigious awards and has been licensed to broadcasters around the world.

    Scope and Contents

    Photographs; slides; and interview audiorecordings, transcripts, and logs documenting the Indivisible project conducted in San Francisco with the youth organization CHALK, featuring its Youthline telephone hotline program. Included with the San Francisco materials are postcards, a CD-ROM, a book, and an inventory documenting the Indivisible project as a whole, which consists of projects conducted at 12 community sites across the United States.
    Photographic materials consist of a set of twenty-one 20" x 16" color photographic prints and 35 color slides. Interview materials consist of 32 audiocassettes containing 17 interview sessions with CHALK and Youthline workers, together with interview logs and a set of transcripts printed from two 3.5-inch floppy disks. The set of 60 postcards is from the traveling postcard version of the museum exhibition, Indivisible: Stories of American Community; there are five postcards for each of the 12 community sites. The CD-ROM contains the 2001 version of the Indivisible website.

    Arrangement

    The collection is arranged by format.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Communities in Harmony Advocating for Learning and Kids (Organization) .
    Community life--United States
    Hotlines (Counseling)--California--San Francisco
    San Francisco (Calif.)--Social conditions
    United States--Social conditions
    Youth--California--San Francisco--Interviews
    Youth--California--San Francisco--Photographs