| Abstract | On Inauguration Day, a group of students, researchers and librarians gathered in a nondescript building on the north side of the University of California, Los Angeles campus, against a backdrop of pelting rain.The group had organized in protest against the new U.S.The need for such work quickly became palpable.Data Rescue workshop, Protecting Climate Data in Times of Political Turmoil, held at UCLA on Jan.Ordinary people smuggled, copied or collected materials in the fear that ideas – or even the memories of an entire community – might be lost.Data rescues like the one we organized at UCLA follow in a rich tradition of activist archives throughout history.This work challenges the dominant narratives of the past and makes us rethink how we preserve memories for the next generation.They remain at the university archives today, enabling future access to these important philosophical works.Similarly, Walter Benjamin handed over his magnum opus on Parisian culture, The Arcades Project, to Georges Bataille, archivist at the Bibliotéque Nationale in Paris during World War II.In the shadows of Nazi-occupied Europe, these archiving operations took the form of bold political work.In another example, the Mazer Lesbian Archive accumulated in a residence in the Altadena neighborhood of Los Angeles throughout the mid-1980s.The creators, feeling politically marginalized, seek to create their own collective identity.Autonomy is key to the success of these archives,…
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