From a single shelf to a city of readers.
My Living Archive began as one person's love for physical media — and grew into a San Diego movement to keep books, records, and film in circulation. Here's how it started, and how a team came together around it.
A preservation society, not a thrift store
We collect donated physical media — books, vinyl records, DVDs and Blu-ray, and compact discs — and route every item to a local library, school, bookshop, or community space where it will be used and loved again. We're a for-profit cultural project: proceeds from items that find new buyers fund the logistics of moving the rest into the hands of people who need them.
Donations are not tax-deductible, but every contribution is recorded, photographed, and followed to its second act so you can see the difference your shelf made.
A collector, a craft, and an idea abroad
It started with collecting
Long before the archive, there was just the hunt — estate sales, thrift bins, dollar crates, and the joy of rescuing a book someone else had given up on. The shelves filled, then overflowed, then filled again.
Learning to restore
Collecting led to caring for what I found. I trained in book restoration — rebacking spines, mending torn signatures, and giving damaged volumes back their readable life. The craft taught me that a book isn't done when it's worn; it's just waiting for the right hands.
A trip that changed everything
Traveling overseas, I spent time in communities where children had almost no access to books at all. I saw the literacy gap up close — kids growing up without the single object that had shaped my own life. I came home knowing the shelves I'd built couldn't just sit there.
Turning a hobby into a give-back
I formed My Living Archive to do two things at once: rescue the physical media San Diego was quietly throwing away, and put it where it could matter most — schools, libraries, and programs serving kids with the fewest books of their own.
Growing a team around it
What began as a one-person effort now includes a small team of sorters, drivers, and restoration volunteers who share the mission. We coordinate pickups across the county, partner with local organizations, and keep the archive honest about where every item goes.
A city where nothing readable gets discarded
The goal is simple: a San Diego where every book, record, disc, and film finds a second act — whether on a new reader's shelf, in a school library, or in the hands of a child meeting their first favorite story. If you have media to give, or a community that needs it, we'd love to hear from you.