The ARTchive is an Arts Education Preservation project that began “Once Upon a Time” in 2009, with the discovery of a mysterious cardboard box left outside the Art Room door. The only visible clue was an unsigned note taped to the lid of the box, saying, “I think you need this.” The box was packed with treasures that needed to be preserved and shared. It wasn’t until many years later, we learned that the box was rescued from the school site remodeling purge by one of Rooftop’s longest-standing employees, paraprofessional Rick Middleton.
In 2011, we started The Rooftop History Project, which evolved at a speedy pace thanks to new technologies that enabled digital publishing with little expense, save the investment of our time.
Thanks to a grant from the Internet Archive in 2016, the Rooftop ARTchives were established to preserve historical information about the arts education program at Rooftop Alternative PreK-8 School in San Francisco.
The Rooftop Art History website finally broke in January of 2022, prompting the creation of this new website, in celebration of Rooftop School’s 50th Birthday. We hope that you enjoy digging into the history!
ArtsEd4All 