Assistant Professor of Graphic Design Mykola Haleta held a presentation last week about zine culture on the fifth floor of the McIntyre Library.

Titled “Basic Vision Archive,” the presentation aimed to draw attention to Haleta’s newly-acquired collection of art zines from the 20th century. Anyone who attended the event was allowed to browse some of the zines.

As Haleta said, he purchased the collection from the old Antique Emporium before it closed down. The zines were hiding in some forgotten cardboard boxes.

“I would go dig through these boxes for five to seven hours every Saturday.” Haleta said. “My hands would be black from all the dust.”

Haleta said the antique store owner guessed they came from a few art-loving couples who considered themselves patrons of the arts. The owner himself acquired the zines from an auction in New York.

The collection is made up of a variety of catalogs that would be handed out during exhibitions from the 1940s to the 1990s. They came from a variety of museums, from the Walker to art museums across the Midwest and even Europe. 

There are approximately 1,200 pieces in the collection and many are rare or out of print. 

Besides detailing the art in the exhibitions, the zines themselves depicted lessons in the history of graphic design. In his presentation, Haleta pointed out some of the unique aspects of the book designs.

The books included all kinds of typographical experimentation, bold geometric designs and unique book shapes and bindings. 

During the presentation, Haleta talked about how these zines inspired him as a graphic designer. He brought up a quote by Frank Zappa: “You have a piece of time and you get to decorate it.”

“That’s a pretty good description for life, I think,” Haleta said. 

Some time before, Haleta brought the collection to Iowa State, and he also curated a small exhibit at the Bettendorf public library in Iowa. 

Haleta is working with the staff at the McIntyre Library to archive and digitize the zine collection. Helping out with the project and the event were arts librarian Anna Zook and Greg Kocken, the head of Special Collections. 

Haleta and Kocken started the project as a faculty and student research collaboration in the spring of 2023. With a grant provided by CETL/ORSP, they were able to fully digitize 270 of the catalogs during the first phase of the project. 

The project was an opportunity for arts students to get valuable experience with digital technology and archiving equipment, and they were also paid for their efforts.

As stated on the CERCA poster for the project, its goal is to “inspire students, designers and artists, promote scholarly discourse, provide access to forgotten art and design history timelines and allow scholars to further expand the digital humanities.”

The project is still ongoing, but Haleta said when everything is done all the zines will be available as free pdfs. 

“I just wanna inspire people and I’ll do whatever it takes,” Haleta said. 

Sonnek can be reached at [email protected].