Looking through the photographs is like flipping through stacks of vinyl at Amoeba Music, a satisfying exercise in nostalgia. Scanning through the folders, you’ll see Judy Collins, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young, and so many in between.

“There’s the famous names, and there are these figures who were lost to history but very important in their time,” says Christine Hult-Lewis, who works with The Bancroft Library’s pictorial collection as a curatorial assistant.

The photographs, 60,000 in all, make up the Howard Brainen photo archive. A recent gift to Bancroft, the archive is a time machine into a moment in music history, offering a glimpse into the local scene and the larger-than-life figures who came through the Bay Area. With photos of musicians, but also of circus performers, politicians, athletes, and activists, the collection joins Bancroft’s colorful tapestry of materials documenting the life, music, and counterculture of the era.

Full story posted on UC Berkeley News, published Oct. 17th, 2019.