Autograph Book of L.A.

Los Angeles—The autograph is the premise for a dream: maybe, just maybe, the autograph hunter will become the autograph hunted, maybe the autograph will double as a magical transfer of renown, and by receiving the signature, one day you will be signing your name when someone asks. So surmises Josh Kun in The Autograph Book of Los Angeles, the third in his trilogy based on the Special Collections of Los Angeles Public Library. But leave it to MacArthur Fellow, USC professor, and culture communicator par excellence Josh Kun to take the concept beyond mere names in little forget-me-not books. He looks at his hometown and sees the “signatures” of others who call it home. Suddenly graffiti and imagery become autographs of a new L.A., far beyond those explored in 1906 by Charles Lummis, the city librarian who conceived the autograph collection as a way to document the century. "The Autograph Book of L.A. was born from an early 20th century archival collection, but its goals are very 21