The Desert Research Library is a community project that aims to construct a collective history of our region through a centralized, publicly accessible collection of multimedia materials and related public programming. The content and thematic emphasis of the collection is driven by artists in our local community, as well as HDTS’ mission to provide and support experimental, public engagements with art in the High Desert. 

Our growing collection comprises books (including many antique and rare volumes), periodicals, brochures, zines and other ephemera, and we hope to someday include films, videos, physical objects, audio recordings and more. The library covers such topics as site specific art and architecture, desert ecology, sustainability and permaculture, utopian communities and visionary environments, the history and ethos of the American West, the settlement of the Mojave Desert, Indigenous histories and practices, and fiction and poetry set in the desert. The library also includes books that may not directly mention “the desert,” yet nonetheless address timely topics with broad resonance in our unique community such as mental illness, Earth building, racial justice, contemporary art made in rural communities or “how to live in a car or van.” 

Part of the library’s mission is to place a special emphasis on marginalized histories and experiences. The desert has provided refuge and resources for Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities in the past and present, but these roots are less visible in the predominant narrative of the desert as a frontier free to be colonized by the American mainstream. By searching for examples of how marginalized peoples have lived together in the desert in the past, we seek answers to the question of how we can thrive today.

The Desert Research Library is located at our new long-term site in North Joshua Tree, the Copper Mountain Mesa Outpost, where we occupy a 1,200 square foot building that previously served as a fire station. Stay tuned for library public hours!

Click here to view our current library catalogue (this list is continuously being updated and expanded).

The Desert Research Library Cohort

In order to ensure that the library continuously reflects the experiences and interests of our community, we have formed the “Desert Research Library Acquisition Team,” a rotating cohort of ten local artists who meet regularly to discuss the collection, use library funds to expand the collection based on their individual areas of interest and develop publications and public programming inspired by the library. Together we will build the Desert Research Library into a well-versed, comprehensive collection that encompasses a wide array of geographies, histories and experiences falling under the broad term “desert.” 

The 2021 Desert Research Library Acquisition Team cohort includes:

Doug Blanc
Neil Doshi
Edie Fake
T Hammidi
Adriene Jenik
Blue Mookhiif
Caroline Partamian
Ethan Primason
Jillian Sandell
evie vigil

Desert Research Library Acquisition Team members are currently thinking about…

California Desert WildflowersEarth ArchitectureMental IllnessMining / What’s UndergroundQueer Desert RomanceChemehuevi MythologyDesert ArtistsDIY Living Other Deserts