Publisher's Synopsis
"Can I have your autograph? In 1906, eccentric City Librarian Charles Lummis launched the Autograph collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. His goal was two-fold: document the times and make L.A. famous by getting signatures from the 'People who count.' Inspired by the original collection--while turning it on its head--MacArthur Fellow and author/scholar Josh Kun explores what it means to leave your mark on a city. Kun takes the concept of the autograph book way beyond names signed on forget-me-not pages--Los Angeles itself becomes the autograph book, a sprawling landscape of grassroots signatures, markings, tags, handprints, and other attempts to be seen and to be remembered. In this groundbreaking work of cultural history, Kun and Los Angeles Public Library librarians update the Autograph Collection for the 21st Century with signatures and messages from everyone from John Muir to Skid Row artist Shugga, Charlotte Perkins Gi
