Finding Aid Friday: Anderson Valley Advertiser Records

This week’s installment of the Finding Aid Friday series features the Anderson Valley Advertiser Records. The Anderson Valley Advertiser (AVA) was established in 1956 by Elizabeth and Steven Malgrem as a small community newspaper in Boonville, California, in Mendocino County. Bruce Anderson bought the newspaper in 1983 in an effort to establish a publication that featured not only local news but national political news as well.

The collection contains correspondence, secondary research, ephemera, photographs, and other materials related to Bruce Anderson, editor of the AVA. The collection spans the years 1944-2011 with the bulk of the collection comprising the years 1984-1991. The collection features materials related to Earth First!, environmental activist Judi Bari, the Mendocino County School Board, the Wanda Tinasky controversy, and the New Boonville Hotel. The collection also features newspaper clippings from various Bay Area newspapers and magazines, such as the San Francisco Chronicle, and includes back issues of the AVA from 1978-2011.