The Lisbet Tellefsen Archive
Archivist | Collector | Curator // Specializing in the Art of Revolution
MessageLisbet Tellefsen is an Oakland, California-based archivist, collector and curator. Her archives and collections focus on late 20th century political African Americana with specializations including the Angela Davis, Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, Black LGBT history and political graphics. As an archival consultant, she has worked on numerous film and television projects including the 2012 documentary “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners” by Realside Productions, and the 2015 documentary “Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” by Firelight Films.
Her archive is a frequently used resource for research, film/tv/media projects, and exhibits including “All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50” at the Oakland Museum (2016); “Get With the Action: Political Posters from the 1960s to Present” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2017-18); contributing a dozen pieces to the inaugural exhibit of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in 2016. Over 100 objects from her collection now reside in the permanent collections of the NMAAHC and SFMOMA. In 2012 the Lisbet Tellefsen Papers were acquired by Yale University and are currently featured in 2018 exhibit “The Art of Collaboration” at Yale's Beinecke Library.