Starting in January, we will welcome, by appointment, the first visitors to Small Press Traffic’s Print Collection Reading Room at Et al. gallery in San Francisco. Since 1974, SPT has been at the heart of the Bay Area’s dynamic poetry and small press publishing scenes — spanning genre, geography, and generations. Our Archives encompass 50+ years of literary activity and materials related to SPT’s history. These holdings reflect happenings and genealogies, tracing publishing projects, reading series, and the writers and artists  who have called the Bay Area home.

The opening of our Reading Room is the result of tireless work on the part of Small Press Traffic staff, contractors, and volunteers — not to mention donations of rare and, in some cases, singular print ephemera by our community members. We are grateful to Et al. for the generous gift of space and to everyone who has helped make possible this first tangible result of our behind-the-scenes work, soon to be followed by a new Archives website hosting our digital-born materials, including our Audio/Video Collection. 

“When you call something an archive, as opposed to a library, there’s a proposition being made around a history and a lineage and a community. And it’s a community we get to be a part of, just by witnessing and engaging and feeling with these materials.”

—Gabrielle Civil, in conversation with Theadora Walsh for The Back Room.

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Our Print Collection Catalog

^{(note: We recommend using the button in the lower left corner of this spreadsheet to view the information in full screen.)}

VISIT

The Print Collection can be found in the Small Press Traffic Reading Room, located at Et al. gallery & bookstore in the Mission (2831A Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94110).  

If you’d like to visit, please review our Visitation Policy and then fill out the Visitor Form. Please don’t direct inquiries to Et al., which is not involved in running the Archives.
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‍DONATE

Archives require significant and ongoing funding for staff time, infrastructure, maintenance, and public accessibility. Please support our work with a one-time, monthly, or annual donation.

If you have physical or digital materials you would like to donate, please read our Acquisition policy and contact us to make an appointment.

We are grateful to SPT’s generous supporters, and to the Mellon Foundation for a transformative two-year grant that has made this work possible.
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CONTACT

Please email us at archives@smallpresstraffic.org with questions, to submit a correction, or get in touch about donating. We depend on our community to fill in missing pieces, offer guidance, and keep the Archives enlivened!