Small Press Traffic: Archives

About the Archives

The Small Press Traffic Archives encompass 50+ years of literary activity, including a Print Collection and Audio/Video Collection accessible via this website, and materials related to SPT’s history. These collections reflect happenings and genealogies — tracing publishing projects, reading series, and the poets who have called the Bay Area home.

About the Archives
Visit the Reading Room

The Print Collection can be found in the Small Press Traffic Reading Room, located at Et al. gallery & bookstore in the Mission.  If you’d like to visit, please review our Visitation Policy and fill out the Visitor Form.

Visit the Reading Room
Support the Archives

The SPT Archives are in an early stage of development; what you see here is just a fragment of fifty years of small press culture in and around the Bay Area. We depend on the knowledge and support of our community members to maintain these archives. Please, get in touch!

Support the Archives

Visiting the Small Press Traffic Archives

Our Print Collection Reading Room is located at Et al. gallery & bookstore (2831A Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94110). The holdings are non-circulating and open to the public by appointment only. If you’d like to visit, please review our Visitation Policy below and fill out the Visitor Form. We’ll email you to schedule your visit.

Notes on Accessibility: Street parking is available and the location is approximately 300 feet from the 24th Street Mission BART Station. Et al.'s entrance and bathroom are on the ground floor and wheelchair-accessible, but the Print Collection Reading Room is up a short flight of stairs. We are happy to accommodate visitors who cannot access the space; please let us know on the Visitor Form how we can best make the space accessible.

Visitation Policy

  • Materials may not be removed from the Reading Room.
  • Please wash hands before handling materials. Gloves are not required.
  • Eating and drinking are not permitted.
  • Pens are prohibited; please use pencil for note taking. 
  • Laptops are allowed, laptop bags are not. We will provide a secure place to store your jacket, bags, and belongings.
  • Materials must lie flat on the tables; not placed on laps, leaned on, written on, folded, traced from, or handled in any way likely to damage them. 
  • Researchers may view only one item at a time. Please preserve the existing arrangement of materials. If anything appears to be misfiled, notify staff but do not rearrange it yourself.  
  • Photographing of materials is allowed; no flash photography. 
  • Researchers must obtain permission before they publish, quote from, or reproduce images from the collection. Permission to Publish forms are available from the archivist.
  • High resolution digital reproductions of materials can be requested through an Image Request Form from the archivist. SPT reserves the right to set restrictions on access to and copying of materials based on preservation concerns or large reproduction requests. 
  • It is the researcher’s responsibility to request copyright if using images from this archive.
  • Researchers who notice damage to archival materials should bring it to the attention of the staff.