Tom Law San Francisco Bay Area Punk and Rock Handbill and Poster Collection, 1981-1989. M1976.

This collection of over 1100 posters assembled by Tom Law in San Francisco in the mid-1980s has been described in an Excel spreadsheet named "Item Level Description." This database includes the following fields for each poster: sourceID; box, folder and item number; subject 1-7 (participants listed on the posters); location (venue, street address, city & state); other printed information; promoter/sponsor; date; event type; artist/illustrator/printer; and dimensions in inches.

Each row describes an event or function, and there are 1345 rows. Posters may list more than one event (thus sharing a sourceID), and likewise there may be more than one poster for an event. These events generally fall into the following categories: music, drama and other performance; disc jockeys and dance parties; screenings; readings; art openings; and political actions. However, many fliers are not for events and function as advertisements, solicitations, art, or commentary. These have been described using many of the same fields. A .csv version of the spreadsheet has also been provided.

The "Selected images" document includes photographs of various posters and the text for an exhibition by Law, both provided by the seller.

A short document explaining some of the methodology behind the spreadsheet has also been uploaded.