Guide to the Charlie Michael Graffiti Photograph Collection AR.2014.001
Chris S. Ervin
Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association
First Edition
Mojave Desert Archives
2017-06-18
37918 Lanfair Road # G15
Essex, California 92332-9786
archivist@mdhca.org
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Mojave Desert Archives
Title: Charlie Michael Graffiti Photograph Collection
creator:
Michael, Charlie (Charles Gregory)
Identifier/Call Number: AR.2014.001
Physical Description:
4197 Unique Photographic Images
Physical Description:
3956 Photographic Negative(s) 35mm
Physical Description:
241 Polaroid Print(s) 4" x 4"
Physical Description:
5011 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Physical Description:
21 Photographic Print(s) 3" x 5"
Date (inclusive): 1990-2000
Abstract: The Charlie Michael Graffiti Photograph Collection contains over 4,000 color images taken by Charlie Michael during the course
of his employment with Clark County, Nevada, while removing graffiti (abatement). Michael's images document a wide range of
graffitti types in the form of tags, throw ups, characters, and street art found in the urban desert environment of Las Vegas,
Nevada, at the close of the twentieth century.
Scope and Contents
The Charlie Michael Graffiti Photograph Collection contains over 4,000 color images of Las Vegas graffiti from the last decade
of the 20th century. The photographic materials are comprised of polaroids, 35mm color negatives, and color prints. They are
arranged by photographic format and date taken.
Biographical / Historical
In the 1990s and 2000s, Charlie Michael was employed as a painter by Clark County, Nevada, to perform graffiti abatement (removal).
As part of his job, Michael located graffiti, estimated the dollar cost of the property damage, gave it a job number, and
then documented the work on film before he erased it. Only later, after he retired from this work, did Michael consider that
the snapshots he captured might have value and meaning beyond the scope of his job.
Charles Gregory "Charlie" Michael was born July 7, 1955, and lived in Las Vegas Valley his entire life. Michael claimed that
his great-great-grandfather was Jefferson Hunt of the Mormon Battalion. Several of his family members worked in the mines
at Eldorado Canyon on the Colorado River. His father worked on the construction of Hoover Dam and built warships at Terminal
Island during World War II. Charlie Michael considered himself a loner and hiked all over the Mojave Desert in his spare time.
Although he did not consider himself a miner, he was very interested in desert mining. He collected mining books and journals.
During tight budget times, when Clark County could not afford paint for Michael to use to cover up graffiti, he was sent out
all over the county to identify abandoned mines and report on unsafe conditions.
There is an evolution evident in Michael's documenting of Las Vegas graffiti over the course of ten years. In the early years,
from 1990 to 1994, Polaroid snapshots were his medium of choice. Polaroids provide near-instant photographs, but because
there is no negative, they are difficult to duplicate. In August 1994, Michael switched to 35mm film, which he used for the
next six years. Although the present collection does not include any digital photography, in correspondence Michael alludes
to having switched to digital photography after June 2000. Michael subsequently lost all of his digital materials in a hard
drive failure around 2012.
Another aspect of Michael's graffiti documentation is the addition of information to the images as an aid to memory for reporting
back to his employer. He wrote a variety of information in permanent ink directly on the image itself; the date, location,
estimated property damage (ED) cost, job number, and his initials (CM). On the back of the prints, Michael interpreted the
messages found in the graffiti, rated the quality of a tag, and identified the names of gangs, crews, and individual writers.
He used the camera feature that burned the date into the lower right hand corner of the 35mm negative. Michael also experimented
with documenting his job data directly onto the graffiti itself, using the same tool as the writer--spray paint. Using this
method, when Michael snapped the photo, he immediately captured both the graffiti and his job data together on the same film
frame.
Although he took a passing interest in the content of the graffiti he documented and removed, Charlie Michael made few judgements
about it. At the time, it was just a job. Michael captured the data on film to record that he was carrying out of the duties
of his job. It was only after his employment ended with Clark County that Michael considered that this decade-long record
of Las Vegas graffiti might be of value and interest.
Charlie Michael is believed to have died in Las Vegas in 2015, not long after gifting this collection.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in 3 series:
1. Polaroids, 1990-1994
2. Color Prints, 1994-2000
3. Color Negatives, 1994-2000
Sub-series are arranged in chronological order by year/month.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association. For permission to reproduce or to publish,
please contact the Archivist at the Mojave Desert Archives.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research. For access, please contact the Archivist at the Mojave Desert Archives at archivist@mdhca.org.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association acquired the collection from Charlie Michael, April 2014.
Custodial History
Charlie Michael initially donated this collection to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University Libraries (UNLV), Special
Collections. UNLV assigned it the identifier, "UNLV Photograph Collection #309." Because the donor indicated more material
existed, processing the collection was postponed.
Michael later contacted UNLV and requested the collection be returned to him. Special Collections complied and deaccessioned
the collection. Mr. Michael then donated the collection to the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association (MDHCA), where
custody has remained since its acquisition in April 2014.
Related Materials
Related materials are found in the following collections:
East Bay graffiti photograph collection, 1995-2005. BANC PIC 2009.053. Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;titlesAZ=e;idT=UCb176094453
Robert N. Simmons Photograph Collection, 1965-2014. AR.2014.024. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/aushc/00497/ahc-00497.html
Jack Stewart papers, 1926-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/jack-stewart-papers-15863
Big Apple street art / Rob Scott (Dr. Z.)., 2005-2009. New York Public Library. https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/472294777
Art Crimes: Las Vegas, Nevada. 2006-2009. Farrell, Susan. https://www.graffiti.org/lasvegas/index.html
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Archivist,
Mojave Desert Archives, 37198 Lanfair Road # G-15, Essex, CA 92332. Consent is given on behalf of the Mojave Desert Archives
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission
must be obtained from the copyright owner.
Processing Information
Processed by Chris Ervin and Leslie Ervin, 2017 May. Assistance was provided by Stella Lind and Shirley Roby.
Preferred Citation
Charlie Michael Graffiti Photograph Collection. AR-2014-001. Mojave Desert Archives, Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association,
Goffs, California.
Date accessed.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Las Vegas (Nev.)
Graffiti--20th century
Street art
Michael, Charlie (Charles Gregory)
Polaroids
1990-10-1994-04
Physical Description: 241 Polaroid Print(s) 4" x 4"
Box 9
Graffiti Snapshots
1990-10-1994-04
Physical Description: 181 Polaroid Print(s) 4" x 4"
Box 9
Graffiti Snapshots
undated
Physical Description: 60 Polaroid Print(s) 4" x 4"
Color Prints from Negatives
1994-08-2000-06
Physical Description: 5032 Photographic Print(s)
Box 1
Graffiti Snapshots
1994-08-1995-12
Physical Description: 725 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 2
Graffiti Snapshots
1996-01-1997-06
Physical Description: 768 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 3
Graffiti Snapshots
1997-07-1998-02
Physical Description: 676 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 4
Graffiti Snapshots
1998-03-1999-01
Physical Description: 524 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 5
Graffiti Snapshots
1999-02-1999-08
Physical Description: 556 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 6
Graffiti Snapshots
1999-09-2000-04
Physical Description: 642 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 7
Graffiti Snapshots
2000-05-2000-06
Physical Description: 505 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 7
Graffiti Snapshots - trains
undated
Physical Description: 76 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Material Specific Details: Trains are the most sought after graffiti support. A train makes a piece of graffiti come alive because it moves across the
city, or the country.
Box 7
Graffiti Snapshots - exceptional street art
various
Physical Description: 17 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 7
Graffiti Snapshots - damaged
various
Physical Description: 6 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 8
Graffiti Snapshots
undated
Physical Description: 516 Photographic Print(s) 4" x 6"
Box 8
Graffiti Snapshots
undated
Physical Description: 21 Photographic Print(s) 3" x 5"
Color Negatives
1994-08-28-2000-06-03
Physical Description: 3956 Photographic Negative(s) 35mm
Box 10
Graffiti Snapshots
1994-08-28-1996-12-20
Physical Description: 807 Photographic Negative(s) 35mm
Box 11
Graffiti Snapshots
1997-02-26-1997-12-30
Physical Description: 824 Photographic Negative(s) 35mm
Box 12
Graffiti Snapshots
1998-01-05-1998-12-07
Physical Description: 881 Photographic Negative(s) 35mm
Box 13
Graffiti Snapshots
1999-01-12-2000-06-03
Physical Description: 1195 Photographic Negative(s) 35mm
Box 10
Graffiti Snapshots
undated
Physical Description: 249 Photographic Negative(s) 35mm
