As the keeper of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s archive, Lois Elaine Griffith always advocates for “remembering those whose shoulders we stand upon.” Focusing on Griffith’s archival practices, Keeper of the Archive places archival artifacts alongside transcriptions of oral histories found in Griffith’s papers that highlight important figures missing from current scholarship on the Cafe’s legacy: poet and costume designer Marcel Christian and photographers Arlene Gottfried and Tony Gleaton. Keeper of the Archive is part of Lost & Found: Series X dedicated to the work Lois Elaine Griffith and is edited by Lost & Found scholar and archival collaborator Joseph Anthony Cáceres.
