USC Libraries’ Collection of Artists’ Books

The USC Libraries’ Special Collections are home to a collection of more than 1,000 artists’ books featuring U.S. artists like Julie Chen, Johanna Drucker, Ed Ruscha, and Kiki Smith. Since 2014, Head of Special Collections Dr. Susan Luftschein has led the curation and development of this unique collection of artworks inspired by the form, function, history, or meaning of the book. The collection’s strengths include works by women artists that draw upon craft traditions such as textile arts and explore gender, refugee or exile experiences, environmental issues, and social justice. The collection features significant workshops such as Booklyn, Carpe Diem Press, Ediciones Vigia, Flying Fish Press, and Women’s Studio Workshop. The collection has grown significantly since the early 2000s and is comprised largely of works by U.S. artists but includes artists and workshops in Cuba, Mexico, and the Americas. It includes mixed media works showing the diversity of the medium (e.g. collage, found objects, handmade papers); explorations of books as sculptural objects; and books that utilize accordion folds, pop-ups, and tunnel structures. Building on USC Libraries’ strengths in primary resource teaching, the collection is used for classroom instruction, research, and exhibitions. Thanks to generous support from the Henry Luce Foundation (https://hluce.org/), the USC Libraries digitized these materials for public access.