"All Of Us Or None"
The AOUON Archive of Political Posters
Dear reader:
Michael Rossman passed away May 12, 2008. Continued processing of the AOUON archive under the direction of Lorca Rossman will be coordinated by Lincoln Cushing, lcushing "at" igc.org
Website portal for the All Of Us Or None poster archive
[General Information]
The “All Of Us Or None” Archive project began in 1977 to gather and document the poster-work of modern progressive movements in the United States. Though earlier work is included, its focus is on the domestic political poster renaissance, which began in 1965 and continues to this day. The Archive gathers posters from all streams of progressive activity — from movements of protest, liberation, and affirmative action, trade-union and community struggles, to electoral and environmental organizing, community services, and visionary manifestos. Though strongest in work from the San Francisco Bay Area, its scope is national: one-quarter of its holdings come from out-of-state. These are complemented by an archive of international work.
The Archive's name comes from a poem by Brecht. "All Of Us Or None" evokes the democratic spirit of the movements represented by these posters, and also the spirit of this collection. Rather than focus only on work of artistic merit or central historical significance, the Archive's mandate has been omnivorous — to gather a broadly-representative sample of a vast, collective work of social art, documenting in detail the history and textures of progressive activism. Since 1965, the domestic political poster renaissance has generated over 400,000 designs in a diverse and decentralized productive process emanating from every focus of progressive activity. By late 2007, the Archive had salvaged over 24,000 designs from this domestic flow; and had long since become, with the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in L.A., one of the two major repositories of this work.
Though the Archive has no space for public display, its holdings are accessible to scholars, artists, and activists. Major exhibitions are infrequent, but smaller displays are mounted on occasion in community and campus locales. A sub-collection of 5,000 duplicate posters is available for loan to community groups. The Archive's long-term projects include its cataloging and photographic documentation, collaborative study with historians and other scholars, producing slide-sets and digital media for teachers and research, and making its holdings accessible on the Web. It publishes an irregular journal, Bulletin of the AOUON Archive, discussing the work it surveys. Its first webpages are now visible at http://mrossman.org/posters/posterindex.html.
The Archive's curator is Michael Rossman, a Berkeley writer and social historian. His books include a history of the 1960s Movement, critical studies of higher educational reform and of the early New Age movement, and an anthology of translated poetry from the Spanish Civil War. At the time of his death, he was preparing a book on the political poster renaissance.
[Main Holdings as of 9/2007]
3057 Peace/anti-war
1340 Vietnam
535 Iraq & 9/11
1182 other
2201 International solidarity
1198 Latin America
395 Africa
349 Middle East
259 other
4464 Ethnic/racial minorities
1794 African-American
957 Latino-American
899 Native American
378 Asian-American
436 racism, diversity, multicultural
2238 Gender
1368 women
870 gay/lesbian
2271 Ecology/environment
1495 ecology
776 environment
1790 Electoral and tendencies
849 electoral
430 radical tendencies
1710 Community struggles/alternatives
450 labor
490 services
770 other
6557 Other
1745 Alternative media and culture
1560 Counter-culture
712 Marijuana & psychedelics
244 AIDS
2296 Minor movements/miscellaneous
24,288 Distinct titles
[Ancillary holdings, 1/07]
1860 International political posters
400 Rock posters and flyers
3150 Punk rock flyers
3000 Rave flyers/cards
[Catalogued Exhibitions]
"Know Your Enemy"/"We Can Make a Difference" — Posters of the Anti-Vietnam War Movement; Heller Gallery, University of California, Berkeley; September 3 - October 7, 1984
"Speak! You Have the Tools!" — The Evolution of the Social Serigraphy Movement in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1966-86; de Saisset Museum, University of Santa Clara, January 16 - March 15, 1987
"Posters of the U.S. Movement Against the Vietnam War" in KUNST & KRIEG: 1939-1989; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; June 12 - July 29, 1990
“The Politics of the Counter-Culture” (unpublished, in preparation at time of death)
Return to: Index to Poster Writing | Michael Rossman main page
page last updated 5/19/2008
below - "The Joysday Machine," the only poster designed by Michael Rossman, December 1966
