room available (working title)

subject terms: roommates, rent, housing, tenants, lease, landlord, precariousness, moving, gentrification, infestation, leaks, arguments, pets, chores, covid, collective care, daily life, meals, friendship, enemies, relationships, mental health, communal living, communication

Potential material: photos, screenshots, handwritten “reminder” notes, group chat archives, refrigerator ephemera, things your roommate/roommate’s pet destroyed, costco receipts, venmo transactions, “incident” ephemera, mail, keys that don’t work, emails, room listings/applications, historic moments with roommates <3 (covid shelter in place, LA fires, etc.), chore negotiation tools (wheel, charts, etc.), house meeting agendas, porch detritus, correspondences with landlord, property management, plumbers, etc., shared meals, gifts, first aid, refrigerator jenga pics, expired condiments, things left behind, etc.

special interest acquisitions / collection development policy

• archived iMessage threads from house group chats
• room opening posts / ISO posts
• bespoke tools for communication*

*the main idea emerging is that this collection will focus on communications between housemates. how, about what, why, moods and attitudes that peeks into the personal and emotional relationships of sharing space with others.

items on the boundaries / or what not to collect

• editorialized stories about communal living