Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Wirth (Dawn) punk ephemera collection
LSC.2377  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Overview
 
Table of contents What's This?
Description
Dawn Wirth bought her first camera in 1976, a Canon FTb, with the money she earned from working at the Hanna-Barbera animation studio. She enrolled in a high-school photography class and began taking photos of bands. While still in high school, Wirth captured on film, the beginnings of an underground LA punk scene. She photographed bands such as The Germs, The Screamers, The Bags, The Mumps, The Zeros and The Weirdos in and around The Masque and The Whiskey a Go-Go in Hollywood, California. The day of her high school graduation, Wirth took all of her savings and flew to the United Kingdom where she lived for the next six months and took color photographs of The Clash before they came to America. Dawn Wirth's photographs have been seen in the pages of fanzines such as Flipside, Sniffin' Glue and Gen X and featured in the Vexing: Female Voices from East LA Punk exhibition at Claremont Museum of Art and at DRKRM. Gallery in Los Angeles, California for the Destroy All Music: The Masque and Beyond Photos from the Early LA Punk Scene 1977-1978 exhibition. The Dawn Wirth punk ephemera collection ranges in date from 1977-2008 with the bulk of the materials created between 1977-1978 and contains The Weirdos flyers and postcards, Punk Rock by Virginia Boston, 1988 The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion by Caroline Coon, a Blondie press kit, an issue of New Wave News, clippings, and the documentary Ghost on the Highway: A Portrait of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Gun Club.
Background
Dawn Wirth bought her first camera in 1976, a Canon FTb, with the money she earned from working at the Hanna-Barbera animation studio. She enrolled in a high-school photography class and began taking photos of bands. Although the photography teacher told her that the work was "crap," she continued to follow her passion. "I was going to these punk shows; the music was exciting, new and different. I thought that taking pictures of the bands might be a lot of fun." Dawn captured on film, the beginnings of an underground LA punk scene.
Extent
.2 linear feet (1 box)
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Availability
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.