The Urban Archives Center is located in the Delmar T. Oviatt Library on the campus of California State University, Northridge, approximately thirty miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The Urban Archives Center strives to document the emergence of Los Angeles as a major metropolitan area, the growth and development of its burgeoning suburb, the San Fernando Valley, and the history of Southern California, by collecting original research sources. Acquisitions are donated by voluntary associations, community leaders and individuals, all of whom have made important contributions to the cultural, social, and political development of Los Angeles and its outlying communities. The primary purpose of the Urban Archives Center has been to preserve and provide access to the historically significant records of labor organizations, local voluntary associations, political figures, prominent citizens, and civic leaders, that have affected governmental policy and influenced public thinking since the beginning of the late nineteenth century.
Major subjects of our holdings include: Urban Development, Education, Labor
and Guild History, Journalism, Minority and Ethnic Studies, Politics and Women
of Los Angeles.
