TDL is proud to have sponsored the first ever San Antonio Archives Bazaar on October 7th, 2023 at the Brick event space in the Blue Star Arts Complex. An archives bazaar is an opportunity for area archival repositories and community archives to showcase collections and their collecting focus. Free and open to the public, attendees learned about area archives, explored collection tables, listened to presentations, participated in a preservation lab, and enjoyed regional musical entertainment. In addition to our sponsorship, the event was made possible with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a grant from the Society of Southwest Regional Archivists, and other institutional sponsorships from UTSA Libraries Special Collections, San Antonio Public Library, and the Coates Library at Trinity University.
More than 20 exhibitors from around San Antonio participated, bringing fabulous examples from their collections as well as free stickers, bags, pins, and other swag for guests. To learn about all the exhibitors, please visit the San Antonio Regional Archivists’ (SARA) website for this event.
Exhibitor table. Jorge Luis Gamboa at his table for Studio 111’s Burning Man in San Antonio collections, visited by Barrett Codieck, Bazaar organizer and UT San Antonio’s Collections Management Archivist
Attendees visited and talked with exhibitors while historical film footage of San Antonio and the region played on two walls thanks to the Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Many folks also enjoyed a preservation station with the San Antonio Public Library. The SAPL Memory Lab brought basic equipment for visitors to use to digitize their personal archival collections on audio cassettes, DVDs, negatives and slides, photo prints and VHS.
There was a Community Archives round table discussion with the San Antonio African American Community Archives and Museum, the American Indians of Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, and Mexican American Civil Rights Institute. Additionally, students of public history at Trinity University, University of Texas at San Antonio, Our Lady of the Lake University, and St. Mary’s University gave brief talks about their work and their interactions with archival collections.
Community Archives round table featuring representatives from San Antonio African American Community Archives and Museum, American Indians of Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions and Mexican American Civil Rights Institute.
Musician Anthony Prater performed El Camaron, a 5 song historical concept EP that explores the circumstances and emotions surrounding the case of Clemente Apolinar, the last man hanged at the Old Bexar County Jail in 1925. Throughout the event, DJ Rambo Salinas, a contributor to the West Side Sound Oral History Project (UTSA 2022), played San Antonio favorites from his Texas, Latino, and Chicano collections.
Exhibitor hall
The organizers from San Antonio Regional Archivists, including TDL’s own Courtney Mumma, were so pleased with the turnout and enthusiasm of attendees. We hope to participate again in the future, and look forward to events in other Texas cities.
San Antonio Public Library exhibitor table with happy attendee holding a limited edition print by San Antonio artist Robert Tatum, a special gift for early guests.