Burden Archive 1960 photos of Urban Renewal in San Francisco

Grant Information
Categories	Arts , Community , Education
Location	United States
Cycle Year	2024

Organization Information
Organization Name (provided by applicant)	Fractured Atlas Inc.
Organization Name (provided by automatic EIN validation)	Fractured Atlas Inc.
Secondary Addressee	℅ Burden Archive
EIN	11-3451703
Website	https://www.burdenarchive.com

Contact Information
Contact Name	Mr. Ernest Burden
Phone	914-483-8910
E-mail	eb@burdenarchive.com
Address	P.O. Box 55 Harsdale NY 10530

Additional Information
Used for	Grant funding will be used to produce research, writing and photograph digital restoration. Grant funding will support digital restoration of photographic negatives, and research that produces writings about the historic and cultural importance of the photos.
Benefits	The materials being developed through this grant will greatly expand the scant available history and foster multi-generational understanding of the destructive effects of Urban Renewal on the mostly Black community in the Western Addition in San Francisco. The official justification at the time for the clearing of hundreds of families and their homes was irredeemable ‘blight’, thus blaming the community for their loss. The Burden Archive’s never-before-seen photographic collection provides evidence to the contrary, so elders who have lived with that shame for sixty years find vindication and community advocates can take action on housing equity today.
Proposal Description	Burden Archive holdings included an inherited box of unsorted, unprinted 1960’s negatives, and in the last year the photographs have been sorted, cataloged and scanned. We are actively producing digital restoration files to be ready for public presentation, as well as creating a written history contextualizing the images. The resulting assets will be offered in publications, exhibitions, college curriculum and general availability through a public library system--both on-site and online. Our images and essays, when presented, will benefit those interested in regional history, urban planning and Black History, as well as contributing new information to the history of midcentury photography. Benefits will include deeper understanding of an otherwise poorly-documented episode of Bay Area gentrification, thus offering validation to a community that was disproportionately targeted for eviction by their own government. Additionally, the artistic value of the photographs will expand the idea of how the imaging of architecture impacts the fates of those who inhabit built spaces. The first tangible, outcome from Burden Archive initiatives will be available in late 2024 in the form of a scholarly journal featuring 72 of our photographs along with our writing, and first-person narratives of the events of the 60’s as told by prominent elders and historians. See attached Press Release from the San Francisco Historical Society. Through this grant new presentation materials will be produced, the long term goal being an even more substantial publication of 200 additional photographs restored to highest-quality exhibition, publishing and archiving standards, accompanied by a book length historical essay. Together these materials will provide a scholarly and thorough examination of the underlying racism driving the events documented in the Burden photos. To continue developing this important social justice work, progressing toward our publication goals, we ask for a Grant to fund our next steps on short term objectives in content production. At the rate of $100/hour for professional services an infusion of funds will cover: - 74 hours of research, interviews and writing resulting in a chapter length essay - 126 hours of digital restoration and image file formatting bringing to publication-ready status 42 of the 200 additional photographs selected for release. Retouching services average 3 hours of labor per file. Research & writing: $7400 Digital file restoration & formatting: $12600 TOTAL Grant Request: $20000 Note: there is an 8% Administrative fee for Fractured Atlas. It will be paid either from the grant requested or the Grantee may opt to add it on top of the amount, at their discretion. Burden Archive is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Fractured Atlas will receive grants for the charitable purposes of Burden Archive, provide oversight to ensure that grant funds are used in accordance with grant agreements, and provide reports as required by the grantor. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Burden Archive must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.