Craft and Folk Art Museum Archives id239
Mailing Address:
UCLA Arts Special Collections, Young Research Library, Rm. 22478
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095Phone: 310-664-0912
Email: benedetti4@verizon.net
Contact: Joan M. Benedetti, CAFAM Archivist
Institution Type: Archive, Museum
Archive and Collections
Description: The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) has been a fixture in the museum district on Wilshire Blvd. since 1975 and, before that, its predecessor, The Egg and The Eye Gallery, was a center for exhibition of and education about fine crafts, folk art, and design from all over the world. It is still a lively part of the museum scene at 5814 Wilshire Blvd, but in 1997, during a period of consolidation, its institutional archives to that point were given to UCLA. Of special interest to scholars of Los Angeles cultural history will be the papers relating to the history of The Egg and The Eye Gallery (1965 - 1975) and CAFAM (1975 - 1997). They include extensive documentation of CAFAM annual events such as the Festival of Masks, projects such as "The Language of Objects," and 146 exhibitions such as "The Murals of Aztlan," "Made in L.A.," "Artesanos Mexicanos," "California Classics," "I Once Was Lost: Outsider Art from the House of Blues Collections," and "Los Angeles Collects Folk Art." CAFAM's "P.E.T. Project," (Preserving Ethnic Traditions) documenting Los Angeles folk artists, resulted in oral histories and slides of over 40 artists representing folk art from 28 different ethnic traditions. All departments of the museum are fully represented, including administration, board of trustees, curatorial, education, registration, design, library, development, publicity, etc., so the files may be of interest to students of museology as well. Besides institutional papers, the collection includes slides and photographs, video, films, and audiotapes, posters, and memorabilia. In addition to CAFAM's archives, the files of two other relevant organizations are included in this collection: those of The Mandell Gallery (1979 - 1982) and the Southern California Designer Crafts (1957 - 1982).
Regions Covered: International contemporary crafts, folk art, and design.
Type of Materials: Architectural Drawings, Artist files, Audio Recordings, Cultural Artifacts, Materials & Objects, Diaries/Journals/Personal Papers, Ephemera, Films/Videos/Moving Images, Institutional Publications, Institutional Records, Memorabilia, Newspaper Clippings, Official Records, Oral Histories, Photographs, Press Clippings, Press Releases, Printed Works, Serials, Slides, Unprocessed/Unknown
Time Periods: 1964-1980, 1981-Present
Languages: English
Sectors of the Population Represented in the Collection: African Descent, Armenian Descent, Artistic Communities, Asian Descent, European Descent, Highest Income, Jewish Descent, Lower to Middle Income, Mexican Descent/Chicano/Latino, Middle Eastern Descent, Middle to Upper Income, Multiethnic, Native American Descent/Indigenous, Professional
Access
Year Round Access: No
OnSite Technology: No
Workspaces: Yes
Open to the Public: No
Reservations requiredOpen for Research: No
Reservations requiredAccess Procedures: This very large collection (approximately 250 cartons) is only partially processed. Contact archivist Joan Benedetti (benedetti4@verizon.net) to discuss the topic of your research.
Management
Catalogue System: Finding aids index the whole collection at the carton level; about half of the collection is indexed at the file folder level.
Digital Format: Finding aids are in Word and Excel documents.
Repository/Depository: No
Loan To Others: No
Exhibited: No
Exhibition Frequency: Infrequently
Makes Purchases: No
Formalized Purchases: No
Record Creation Date: 10/5/2007
