Missing only one issue of the Quicksilver Times.
We took advantage of the coronavirus lock-down to scan and collect many alternative publications that are now posted on our website under the periodicals section.
This should be of interest to current activists who want to connect with past activism of the pre-Internet era, researchers and radical and local D.C. area history buffs.
Local publications on our site (and links to some off-site) include large collections of local alternative newspapers like the Quicksilver Times (missing only one issue, 1969-72) and Washington Free Press (1967-69).
We also have a complete set of the vintage Washington Area Spark and its successor On The Move (1971-75).
There are off-site links to good collections of the local LGBTQ publications Washington Blade (1969-94) and The Furies (1972-73) and the local D.C. women’s movement’s Off Our Backs (1970-76).
We have also added an extensive collection of alternative GI newspapers that published in the greater Washington, D.C. area.
We have excellent collections of the national Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) periodicals (1963-69), including The Bulletin (nearly complete), and complete collections of New Left Notes, Fire and CAW and a link to a good collection of Radical America (1967-90).
The most extensive collection of The Black Panther on the Net.
We have perhaps the most complete collection of The Black Panther newspaper (1967-76) on the Internet as well as copies of Right-On! and Babylon–newspapers published by the section of the Panthers that was expelled from the group in 1971.
We have also linked to an extensive collection of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) newsletters (1960-66).
The periodicals are organized by either being local or national/international and then by subject. This is a work in progress, so check back as we add new publications and issues to our online collection.
New documents
We’ve also added dozens of flyers, broadsides, brochures and other documents to our online collection this year. Strengths of the collection include civil rights and black liberation from the 1930s – 1970s, student activism and antiwar protests (1965-73).
Blog posts this year
We’ve published two new blog posts this year—one examining the D.C. black liberation movement from the 1950s through the 1970s as seen from the perspective of the life of Reginald Booker, an activist with CORE, leader of the Emergency Committee on the Transportation Crisis, leader of the federal and D.C. government anti-discrimination coalition GUARD and a leader of the Black United Front.
The other takes a deep dive into the labor movement by examining the local transit union from 1973-80 by looking at union leadership as portrayed by ATU Local 689 president George Davis, the pros and cons of illegal strikes and the formation of rank-and-file caucuses in advancing workers’ interests.
Accessing our online image collection
Last, but not least is our main focus—photographs and images of social justice, antiwar, labor, civil rights and black liberation, anti-imperialism and a dozen other categories. We now have over 4,500 images in our collection.
Each image contains a detailed description of the image and its backstory and is grouped into albums of related images.
Browse our images for what’s interesting to you:
- By date of the image (newest to oldest)
- By date uploaded to Flickr (newest to oldest)
- By browsing the albums feature
- By using the Image Guide of the subjects of albums
- By individual portrayed
- By search feature located at the top of the Flickr page
Rights and usage
We’re often contacted about the use of photographs posted on the Spark site. Please check the rights usage located below the image on the right side (if you are using a desktop or laptop) and the image’s source located at the end of the image description.
We hold the rights to about 500 of our 4500 images, another 1,500 or so are public domain or their use is permitted for non-commercial use. The rights to the rest are held by others that you will need to contact for permission to publish and fees, if any. If you are seeking low/no cost non-commercial use of images labeled “all rights reserved,” pay particular attention to the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection. Permission to pubIsh these images is usually free for non-profit use. If you have trouble finding an image or determining the rights, please contact us and we’ll try to help at Washington_area_spark@yahoo.com.
Thank you for doing such great work!