Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Wayne Dabney is a photographer, video producer and political activist from Ann Arbor. A personal friend of writer and activist John Sinclair, Dabney was active in the Rainbow People's Party. He resided at the Argus House commune in Ann Arbor in the early 1970s. In the 1980s, he produced and hosted "Wayne's Cultural Clinic," a public access television program that consisted of musical performances and interviews with people involved in arts and politics, which aired on CATV in Ann Arbor. This collection contains episodes and related episode notes, as well as a pilot for a different program entitled "People and Places." It also contains select issues of The Communicator, the newspaper of UAW Local 735, of which Dabney was the editor in the mid-1990s.

The bulk of this collection consists of 22 U-matic videorecordings of episodes of “Wayne’s Cultural Clinic,” (1981-1984) a public access television program that aired on Ann Arbor Community Access Television (CATV), along with notes associating various interviewees with specific episodes. A master tape is also included for the pilot of a different program produced by Wayne Dabney entitled “People and Places.” Episodes range from 30 to 60 minutes in length.

The collection also contains selected issues of The Communicator, a publication of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 735, of which Dabney served as editor in the mid-1990s. The issues are dated primarily between 1994 and 1996, with the exception of a single 2007 issue for which Dabney was not the editor. There is also a campaign flyer promoting Dabney for an office within his UAW chapter.