This past spring semester, I had the privilege and honor of interning at the La MaMa archive, a place that I had initially visited on an archives tour during last year’s Archivist Week. The event was organized by the New York Archivists Round Table, and I vividly remember the passion and enthusiasm of Ozzie Rodriguez, the Archive’s Director, who showed us around the archive. The same tour that I would later often hear him conduct as I did inventory in the other office at the archive. Ozzie tells the best stories.
Before starting my internship, I had done a final project on the history and regulations surrounding early theater recordings in New York City. Through my research, I came to understand the critical role of La MaMa’s vast collection of original recordings in shaping the historical narrative of off-off-Broadway. The archive is like a treasure trove, full of items and materials waiting to be rediscovered, waiting for their stories to be told. And that’s where archivists and archivists-in-training, like myself, come in. We are tasked with uncovering and preserving the hidden gems within the archive, and sharing them with the world, providing access for research and education.
My time at the archive was focused on inventorying the La MaMa audio collection, parts of which had not been assessed or digitized previously. Thus, my main objective was to build an inventory on Airtable with BAVC’s template, AV Compass. Airtable is a user-friendly tool that allows for the creation of customizable fields with dropdown menus, ensuring that a controlled vocabulary is used. The template comes equipped with a series of fields with a numerical system that can help you document the level of deterioration. However, I have always found numerical rating systems to be somewhat subjective, and without a clear criteria guide, it wasn’t particularly useful to rate the deterioration. As a result, I eventually decided to drop the use of those fields.
The inventory kind of took on a life of its own. It progressed and changed as I went through the items. Initially, I took an objective approach, simply noting down what I saw without interpretation. However, after having several conversations about the institution’s needs with Kylie Goetz, the Digital and Special Projects Manager and my internship supervisor, I gradually gained a better understanding of the assignment. As I progressed, my approach to inventorying shifted from passive to active research, resulting in a combination of inventorying and preliminary cataloging. Whenever necessary, I would consult the La MaMa public-facing online catalog (catalog.lamama.org) to search for shows or names mentioned. If I needed to look for something in more detail, I could ask to access the rows of cabinets filled with show files. However, most of the time, I would make minor interpretations or assumptions and record them in the general notes field. When creating any form of deliverable, whether it’s a document, workflow, or inventory, it is crucial to keep the users in mind. While it’s easy to be objective and avoid liability, it’s more helpful to others if I take a stance and complete the tasks to the best of my ability.
Tapes are given unique identifiers.
Within the audio collection, there were primarily three types of materials: recordings of live shows, audio elements created for use in performances, and a significant number of demo tapes or commercial tapes that had been gifted to Ellen Stewart over time. The boxes contain mostly ¼” open-reel audio tapes and cassette tapes, each of which I gave unique identifiers. Items that I inventoried later have ID labels on both the container and the element itself in case they get separated. One of the crucial tasks was to isolate the moldy items from the collection as mold can be contagious. However, determining the contents of the tapes proved to be the biggest challenge. Many of them have unclear labels and deciphering the handwriting was also difficult. There were also some tapes that are unlabeled.
In total, I went through approximately five boxes, a trunk, and a briefcase of items, resulting in a total of five boxes and a case of inventoried items, as well as an additional box for items contaminated with mold. However, there are still a few boxes left in the audio collection that need to be inventoried. Once this task is completed, the natural next step would be to discuss prioritization for digitization. I am very excited for the future of preservation work that will be done on the collection, and I’m eager to see the items being used in research and education.
My internship at La MaMa was an unparalleled experience. The archive is an invaluable source of knowledge, perspectives, and stories. I feel grateful for the opportunity to immerse myself in the archive’s culture, its history, and to be able to work alongside archivists who are so dedicated and passionate about safeguarding the theater’s legacy for future generations.
Cataloging La MaMa's Pushcart Years and Beyond 