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The UCLA Library Special Collections Punk Archive
The UCLA Library Punk Archive, stewarded by Library Special Collections, is made up of archival collections documenting punk music and culture in Los Angeles from the mid-1970s to the present. Historically, punk communities in Los Angeles have been outlets for marginalized populations – including LGBTQ+ communities – to express themselves artistically, intellectually, physically and emotionally.
The Punk Archive includes materials from many voices involved in L.A. punk’s art and culture including musicians, producers, managers, photographers, groupies and critics, and includes photographs, sound recordings, oral histories, zines, publications and ephemera originating from the L.A. punk scene. The multiple collections within the archive present a rich opportunity for research on a variety of communities that have experienced marginalization, including LGBTQ+ people and intersecting identities of gender, race, class and ability.
Exploring Diverse Pride Stories in the S.A. Griffin Collection
The S.A. Griffin collection of underground poetry(opens in a new tab) is one of many within the Punk Archive that documents various queer experiences within the Los Angeles punk scene and beyond. Many materials in the collection are works created by or documenting an array of diverse LGBTQ+ artists and writers — from the prominent poet Allen Ginsberg to the iconic drag queen and performance artist Vaginal Davis.
S.A. Griffin (b.1954) is a poet, performance artist, publisher and actor who has dedicated much of his career and personal life to uplifting artistic communities in Los Angeles, including queer and punk scenes. One of the first collections acquired by the Punk Archive, Griffin donated his personal collection to the Library in 2014. The collection includes artwork, manuscripts, publications, posters and memorabilia from Griffin, as well as the late poet Scott Wannberg, a member of their performance group The Carma Bums. Additional highlights include art and publications by queer artists, items from Griffin's deep engagement with the Beat poetry movement and his dedication to the punk scene in Los Angeles. The following featured items from the collection within the UCLA Library Punk Archive showcase some diverse voices and artistic contributions from members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Materials from Griffin’s collection can be requested(opens in a new tab) to be viewed in the UCLA Library Special Collections Ahmanson-Murphy Reading Room, located on the lower A level of the Charles E. Young Research Library.
Queer Artists
S.A. Griffin’s collection of artwork created by notable queer individuals in Los Angeles and the punk scene is one strength of the collection that might be of interest to researchers looking to know more about LGBTQ+ art and artists.
One artist depicted in the collection, right, is “Vaginal Creme Davis” or “Vaginal Davis.” Vaginal Davis is a multi-disciplinary performance artist and drag icon who has been credited as an important figure in her field. In this vibrant portrait by artist J. Winters, Vaginal Davis’ smiling image is rendered in pop-art reds and pinks. Vaginal Davis currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
This collection also contains rare artworks by Tomata Du Plenty, who was the frontperson of the quintessential Los Angeles electropunk band The Screamers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His artistic path and success are considered by some to be emblematic of the potential for outcast queer people to find community punk scenes. Later in his career, Tomata Du Plenty transitioned to expression through painting. He often portrayed historical and literary figures in subversive and playful situations, such as the Bronte sisters and William Faulkner as in these works, below.
Another queer artist featured in the collection is Pleasant Gehman, a performer, writer and psychic living and working in Los Angeles. Gehman was active in punk and underground literary communities in the 80s and 90s and was a collaborator of S.A. Griffin. This painting, below, “Velma + Roz” is a portrait of drag queens in Los Angeles that was commissioned in the late 90s. The photograph of Gehman, right, appeared alongside an article published in 1996 in the magazine Next offering advice to writers creating their brand and press kit. The magazine in which this article was featured represents another fruitful aspect of the S.A. Griffin collection, volumes of underground poetry magazines and anthologies including “Next,” “New” and “Beatitude.”
Posters from the Beat Poetry Movement
As a poet, publisher and adviser to the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice, Griffin collected a number of posters related to the Beat poetry movement. This subversive literary and cultural movement emerged in San Francisco, Venice and Greenwich Village in the aftermath of WWII, with Beat writers rebelling against conventions, developing raw, “honest” perspectives of American life.
The links between the punk movement and the Beat movement have been traced by many scholars (Beat Punks, Text, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll, "Do You Have a Band?"). Additionally, Beat and punk movements each have ties to LGBTQ+ communities due to the gender and sexual diversity of the artists comprising the movements and their engagement with counterculture. Beats, punks and queer individuals (non-exclusive categories) unsettled conformist expectations in the repressive monoculture of the 20th century. These posters from the S.A. Griffin papers, below, feature some of the most prominent voices in the Beat Generation including Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.
LGBTQ+ Zines
Griffin’s collection also includes zines and other small publications that focus on queer identity and punk culture. The first featured item, above, is an issue of Ben is Dead, a zine published in Los Angeles from 1988 to 1999. The zine’s creator Deborah "Darby" Romeo, named the publication after her ex. The zine initially covered punk music in Los Angeles, but later branched out to other aspects of culture including drag aesthetics as exemplified in this “Glamour” issue. Other notable items in the collection include Maricón Collective issues like this one, below, highlighting queerness in East Los Angeles Latinx and Chicanx communities. The goal of the Maricón Collective, as stated on the back cover is to “preserve East Los Angeles queer history” and “bring QPOC people together through art, music, and celebration.”
The diverse information and experiences represented in the Punk Archive stewarded by UCLA Library Special Collections reflect one objective of the UCLA Library Punk Collective to preserve and facilitate public accessibility of stories of punk communities of color, feminist punks, queer punks, riot grrrls and punks with disabilities. The UCLA Library Punk Collective, founded in 2013, is a working group of catalogers, archivists, audiovisual archivists, library staff, students, faculty and other community members who are interested in inspiring punk discovery and advancing punk research.