Rupert Garcia and Sammi Madison Garcia collection, 1959-2000, bulk 1967-1987

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Summary

Creators:
Garcia, Rupert, 1941-
Abstract:
Materials produced and compiled by Rubert Garcia, a Chicano visual artist and educator.
Extent:
17.5 Linear Feet (25 document boxes, 9 oversized flat boxes, 1 telescope box, and 556 posters)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Rupert Garcia and Sammi Madison Garcia Collection, CEMA 101. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains materials assembled by Rupert Garcia and document his passion for civil rights and activist art. Garcia was a student at San Francisco State where some of the earliest protests against racism in higher education institutions took place in 1968 and 1969. The bulk of the nearly 600 posters span from the late 1960s through the 1980s. These posters include protest art, civil rights demonstrations and marches, Vietnam War-era protests and rallies, as well as United Farm Workers (UFW)-related events. Additionally, there are writings, publications, teaching papers, and other informative materials that Garcia gathered as part of his research and teaching in Chicano Arts and the Chicano Movement.

Represented here are materials from a diverse group of artists, writers, and activists that covered social justice issues that took center stage during the politically active time starting in the late 1960s through the 1980s. They include materials related to the activities of individuals and members of print workshops, community art centers, theater troops and social reform groups - such as posters, silkscreens, offsets, woodcuts, lithographs and other graphic art.

Prominent artists like Richard Brown, Jack Loo, Consuelo Mendez, and Xavier Viramontes - artists dedicated to change, justice, and equality - are featured throughout this collection. Topics covered include the Gallo wine protests, the Vietnam War, and the right for bilingual and bicultural education in the San Francisco Bay Area. And groups that led workshops for developing artists and facilitated protest art and gatherings in the San Francisco Bay Area, such as the Kearny Street Workshop and La Raza Silkscreen Center, are also featured.

The writings, newspapers, magazines, clippings, exhibit material, broadsides, and other materials also included in this collection cover topics such as Chicano Art, the Chicano Movement, Latin-American political and community issues, and revolutionary politics and ideals.

Biographical / historical:

Rupert Garcia (1941-) was born in French Camp, California and raised in Stockton, California. He studied painting at Stockton Junior College, now known as San Joaquin Delta College, but left in 1962 to enroll in the U.S. Air Force. After serving in Thailand during the Vietnam War, Garcia enrolled in San Francisco State University's art program and earned both a BFA in Painting and Drawing in 1968, and a MFA in Printmaking in 1970. As a student, he became actively involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements. During the San Francisco student strikes of 1968 and 1969, Garcia produced prints in support of the United Farm Workers, civil rights, land rights, and political awareness.

In 1981, Garcia received an M.A. in Art History and pursued doctoral studies in Art Education from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to producing his own works, Garcia held various Visiting Lecturer and Artist positions at schools up and down the west coast, eventually joining the faculty at San Jose State University's School of Art and Design in San Jose, California as a Professor of Art. Since his retirement in 2010, he continues to serve as a Professor Emeritus of Art.

In 1970, Garcia was involved in the founding of the Galería de la Raza alongside other artists - including Chuy Campusano, Ralph Maradiaga, Peter Rodríguez, René Yañez, Francisco X. Camplís, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Carlos Loarca, Manuel Villamor, Robert Gonzales, Luis Cervantes, and Rolando Castellón. Founded as a non-profit art gallery and artist collective, it continues to feature and serve the Latino and Chicano community in the Mission District of San Francisco, California today.

Garcia's work has been shown internationally and is held in major collections including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA.

Acquisition information:
Gifts of Rupert Garcia, 2006-2008.
Processing information:

Callie Bowdish and Alexander Hauschild, Cristina Serna, Chip Badley updated in 2009. From 2010 to 2011, updated by Callie Bowdish, Danely Segoviano, and Alejandro Rodriguez. Finding aid updated by Rebecca Vasquez, June 2025.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged by topic and format into seven series:

  • Series 1: Writings
  • Series 2: Chicano art
  • Series 3: Flyers, exhbitis, and announcements
  • Series 4: Publications
  • Series 5: Subject files
  • Series 6: Teaching materials
  • Series 7: Posters

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Rupert Garcia and Sammi Madison Garcia Collection, CEMA 101. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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