Ali Cotterill Zinester Ephemera Collection
Collection Scope and Content Summary
The Ali Cotterill Zinester Ephmera Collection is made up of Cotterill's personal CD collection, which features DIY women- and queer-led punk, hardcore, alternative rock and pop bands. Cotterill's CDs reflect her time spent studying abroad at the University of New South Wales, during which she was immersed in feminist punk communities in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.
Several compilation albums in the collection are produced by small feminist collectives, activist groups and independent record labels such as Scooter Collective, Girls with Power Tools, Mr. Lady Records, Rock 'n' Roll Highschool, Home Alive and others. More prominent, women-led American bands including Sleater-Kinney, Team Dresch and Heavens to Betsy are also featured. Much of the lyrical content and political themes in these albums center feminist issues: violence against women, rape culture, sexism and feminist queer liberation.
Notable CDs include Blender by pop duo The Murmurs, signed by Heather Grody and Leigha Hailey (musician and actor best known for her role in The L Word), mini-CD 5!5!5 by Funky Terrorist stored in an intricately folded CD sleeve and lyric sheet, a The Trykes and Girl Pilot burned "split" CD, and a live recorded Pinky Swear performance.
Dates
- Creation: 1994 - 2004
Access
This collection has no restrictions.
Item-level descriptions on the cultural context and contents of each CD are found in the CLIO catalog.
Publication Rights
Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Barnard Archives and Special Collections. The Barnard Archives and Special Collections approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Reproduction Restrictions
Reproductions can be made for research purposes; the CDs in this collection are subject to copyright owned by the commercial or independent record labels or producers of each album.
Biography
Ali Cotterill is an American documentary filmmaker and video editor based in Amsterdam, NL; she formerly resided in Portland, OR, Sydney, Australia and Brooklyn, NY. Her editorial and screenwriting work in television and film credits include Tell me More (2021-), Being Bebe (2021), All We've Got (2019), United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (2012), and North Pole, NY (2021) as her directorial debut. Much of her film work is concerned with LGBTQ+ women and queer people and their experiences, and outsider or under-documented communities.
Extent
.42 Linear Feet (One document box)
Language
English
Abstract
The Ali Cotterill Zinester Ephemera Collection consists of CDs by DIY or independent women- and queer-led punk, hardcore, alternative rock, and alternative pop bands.
Collection Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically by artist name, following the cutter number order formerly assigned when first accessioned into the Barnard Zine Library.
Physical Location
This collection is located in the Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Barnard Library. To use this collection, please contact the Barnard Archives and Special Collections at 212.854.4079 or archives@barnard.edu.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Ali Cotterill in 2012.
Accruals
Accruals are expected.
Processing History
The CDs in this collection were cataloged in CLIO (the online catalog for Columbia and Barnard libraries) and assigned cutter numbers by Jenna Freedman upon their accession into the Barnard Zine Library in 2012; in 2019, the CD collection was deaccessioned from the library and its catalog records supressed from CLIO. In February 2024, these catalog records were reactivated and again made accessible to patrons. The CD collection was then accessioned as part of the Ali Cotterill Zinester Ephemera Collection.
The CDs were gifted to Barnard College by Cotterill alongside a collection of zines, which were accessioned into the Barnard Zine Library. A CLIO search for "Gift of Ali Cotterill" will yield results for these donated zines.
The collection was processed and the finding aid written by Claudia Acosta in February 2024. Descriptive Rules Used: Finding aid adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard. Finding aid written in English.
Cultural context
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Ali Cotterill Zinester Ephemera Collection
- Author
- Claudia Acosta
- Date
- January 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections Repository