In Spring 2024 Special Collections & Archives ran a pilot project to test workflows that rely on the expertise of CSUN students and librarians working collaboratively to remediate metadata in our finding aids and digital collections. The project was shaped by the CSUN University Library's Reparative Description Task Force Report's recommendations to....
The City of Los Angeles holds thousands of murals sometimes called Street Art. There is a long history of mural painting in California with the Mission San Miguel built in 1821 holding a wall fresco mural. Special Collections & Archives holds many resources that highlight mural paintings in the Los Angeles Area...
Special Collections & Archives holds a few rare resources that contain home remedies for ailments using herbal medicines. When families were in need of medicinal help but did not have easy access to a doctor or presription medicine, they often used these types of alternative medicines. Both the Bess Lomax Hawes Student Folklore Collection and the Manuscript Cookbook hold some interesting historical fixes for all sorts of ailments.
As the 2024 election campaigns heat up, media are already shaping the battle of public opinion. Aggregated news sites, email, and social media now form the “public square” through which power is negotiated and exercised. The efficacy of modern communication is undeniable, although not as original as it may seem. The archives are full of examples of documentation designed to target specific populations, and to disseminate with ease from person to person in order to apply pressure in pursuit of power and justice alike—from national governments to local communities.
American politician and community activist Gloria Molina (1948- 2023) was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Montebello. Gloria went on to serve as a trailblazing politician at both the state and local levels. Special Collection & Archives holds many archival resources that highlight the important work of Gloria Molina. The Frank del Olmo Collection holds a number of Molina’s political campaign fliers. The Brad Pye Jr. Collection and Juana Beatriz Gutiérrez Mothers of East Los Angeles Collection both include coorespondence with Molina. Plus, Molina can also be found in the materials in both the Mary Santoli Pardo Collection and the Tom Hayden Belmont Learning Complex Investigation Collection.
Student newspapers offer insight into the types of issues and events that were seen as newsworthy to the student body. They are generally written by students, for student readers, often as part of a writing or vocational curriculum. As well as having a full run of our own Daily Sundial student newspaper, we also have several student papers from local high schools that document early 20th century youth culture in the San Fernando Valley.
In 1981 the first case of HIV was reported in the United States. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), which left untreated can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), was still a mysterious virus at the time where friends, family, and loved ones were lost in a short time span. Special Collections & Archives holds many documents and resources on the topic. With these materials we are able to able to get a glimpse into the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States and its territories.
The Urban Archives, part of Special Collections & Archives, collects materials that document the history of Los Angeles, and includes the records of many labor unions, guilds, and affiliated labor organizations that have operated within Los Angeles since the early 20th century. Many of these collections include records documenting labor strikes, or work stoppages ....
In 1887, after Reconstruction, a black man named Robert Creecy purchased a parcel of Canebrake Plantation land in Louisiana from Florestan Waggenspauch. Creecy sold half the parcel to another buyer, while retaining ownership of the remaining land. In 1898, Creecy's son-in-law, a 25-year-old black man with indigenous ancestry named Robert Celestin, purchased the half parcel of land back...
CSUN’s University Counseling Services recently hosted Matadors Unite: Suicide Prevention Week to create “awareness…promote mental health and help prevent suicide”. The campus is equipped with crisis/urgent care walk-ins, a crisis hotline, and other resources to assist the campus community when necessary. In Special Collections & Archives there are materials that reference college students who have succumbed to suicide.
