DOCUMENTATION & ARCHIVES
AVP is dedicated to preserving the stories, records, artworks, and other materials of individuals and communities that have endured state violence. We use trauma-informed and person-centered practices to honor our contributors and ensure their archives are documented and made accessible on their own terms. Using these approaches we continue to grow the After Violence Archive (AVA), which currently consists of over 180 oral history interviews in addition to artwork, correspondence, zines, and videos.
The After Violence Archive was created in 2021 with support from the Mellon Foundation. It holds stories, correspondence, artworks, and other materials related to state violence in the United States, collected by Texas After Violence Project and our community members from 2007-present. These materials help us understand the impacts of state-sanctioned violence on individuals and communities, and to move towards futures that do not rely on retribution and punishment.
We encourage all visitors to read our Statement on Archive Contents before engaging with these stories as a means to promote the wellbeing of visitors and contributors.
LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO
SHARE YOUR YOUR STORY
If you’re interested in contributing materials to the After Violence Archive, please contact us at archive@afterviolenceproject.org.
ARCHIVE COLLECTIONS
AFTER VIOLENCE GENERAL COLLECTION
The Texas After Violence General Collection is the first oral history project conducted by TAVP staff and volunteers. The purpose of the collection is to capture and document the impact that the death penalty has had on individuals, families, and communities, and to facilitate dialogue surrounding capital punishment and its resulting trauma. The scope of the collection has since grown to include oral histories surrounding state violence and its lasting emotional, social, and physical implications as experienced by individuals, family members, communities, and advocates. These oral histories document experiences from different perspectives including family members, advocates in academia and faith-based organizations, and people involved in the legal system.
Life and Death in a Carceral State:
Narratives of Loss and Survival
Life and Death in a Carceral State: Narratives of Loss and Survival is a collaborative project that documents, archives, and shares the stories of those whose lives have been directly impacted by Texas’ criminal justice system, including the experiences of people whose loved ones died in police, jail, or prison custody, as well as stories of formerly incarcerated people about their confinement and life after prison.
SHELTERING JUSTICE
Sheltering Justice is a documentation and archival initiative to responsibly and ethically document, preserve, and share the stories of incarcerated people who are directly and disproportionately impacted by the intersection of COVID-19 and mass incarceration.
Since the launch of Sheltering Justice, AVP has interviewed the loved ones of currently incarcerated people; people who have been released from confinement as a result of the pandemic; and activists, advocates, and organizers fighting for the urgent release of incarcerated people. Each contributor and storyteller in this collection has found themselves caught in a global pandemic in the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world.These stories give texture to the reality of mass incarceration.
VISIONS AFTER VIOLENCE
The Visions After Violence Collection is the culmination of each Visions After Violence Community Fellowship Program cohort. Each year, three fellows are selected to document their community’s lived experience with state sanctioned violence. As members of communities who also share personal experiences with state sanctioned violence, fellows are able to provide a safe and trusting space to facilitate oral histories of impacted community members. Fellows and narrators are actively included throughout the interview and documentation process to ensure community agency, direction, and representation. These oral histories describe the lives of individuals impacted by state sanctioned violence and their experiences with deportation, police brutality, incarceration, and its subsequent issues within reentry processes, interpersonal relationships, mental health, and survival. The collection provides an in-depth look at how state sanctioned violence impacts all facets of life.
LEGACY AFTER LOSS
The Legacy After Loss collection contains interviews, personal papers, artwork, correspondence, artifacts, and tributes that pay homage to people who have been killed by the death penalty or who have died while on death row in the United States. This collection explores the building of legacy—both as a communal effort led by people facing execution at the hands of the state, and as a process of remembrance and grief-work carried out by their loved ones after their death. The relationships highlighted in this collection include bonds between incarcerated writers and their pen pal(s), friendships borne out of spiritual counsel, and the relationships between those who are incarcerated and their loved ones on the outside.
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