About
Garbage Puppet by the Anatomy Collective for the CUL Orphan Works Performance Series, 2007. Photo by Eric Bartholomew.
The Chicago Underground Library is a location-specific archive of independent and small press media. We are always seeking books, magazines, zines, journals, broadsides, newspapers, and art books of all types, genres, and print runs as long as they were produced outside of mass media outlets. We accept everything from the area (ever), regardless of perceived quality or importance in order to create a detailed index from which connections among the publications will emerge.
Keeping records of everyone who contributed to a work, as well as keywording every subject, allows us to map the evolution (historically and contemporaneously) of Chicago’s communities and movements and encourage the production of new media by providing context, inspiration, and programming designed to support collaboration. Currently focusing on print, the CUL intends to expand into audio, video, performance documentation, and ephemera as our infrastructure permits.
