los angeles

Brad Pye, Jr., Los Angeles Sports Journalist and Community Advocate

February 09, 2016

In 1943, at the young age of 12, Brad Pye, Jr. paid a friend who transported cars to California $5.00 for a ride from his home in Plain Dealing, Louisiana to Los Angeles. Once in L.A., Pye continued his education, completing both junior high and high school while working as a gas station attendant in the evenings. During World War II, housing accommodations were tight and Pye rented space to sleep...

black history matters

Van Nuys, Then and Now

December 15, 2015

Los Angeles is a key shaped city spread cross a large swath of Southern California. Encompassing almost 470 square miles, the City has almost twice the landmass of Chicago. One of the more interesting aspects of the area is its multitude of smaller districts, towns, and neighborhoods that fan out from the city proper. Van Nuys is one of these towns....

Coalition for Women's Economic Development Collection

October 27, 2015

The Coalition for Women's Economic Development (CWED) began emerging in the United States in the mid- to late-1980s to provide better economic options for micro-entrepreneurs. CWED was the first organization of its kind in the city of Los Angeles and one of the first in the United States. The organization borrowed strategies from Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi community bank which provided micro-credit loans to those living in abject poverty. CWED engaged in...

Voices and Vices: The Reverend Wendell L. Miller Collection

April 28, 2015

Reverend Wendell L. Miller was a Los Angeles minister and political activist who strongly believed that the church should play a major role in the social and political agenda of its community. In 1937, Miller became involved in Los Angeles politics, holding community-wide meetings to address gambling, prostitution, and corruption in local government. Joining ranks with ...

Public Health in the Early 20th Century

March 03, 2015

Over the last few years, the Ebola epidemic, a resurgence of measles outbreaks, mutating influenza viruses, and a host of other diseases have caused concern throughout the world. Although many people are afraid that these viruses and bacterium will spread easily and quickly, medical professionals and researchers work ...

YWCA Hollywood Studio Club

December 09, 2014

In the 1920s, the film industry exploded and Hollywood became the capital of the movie business. Young women from all over the country began coming to Los Angeles to try to make it big as screen stars. In some cases, women were exploited, taken advantage of, or became embroiled in scandals...

Thanksgiving Traditions

November 24, 2014

Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated in the United States, in which family and friends gather together to have dinner and give thanks. Special Collections and Archives holds several items that relate to how people celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. While some people have family traditions that include...

Concert Programs Tell a Story

October 31, 2014

The Vahdah Olcott-Bickford Collection contains many gifts of information about classical music, the guitar, and the city of Los Angeles, including several hundred concert programs from across the world that Olcott-Bickford (1885-1980) collected over...

Publications by Monsignor Francis J. Weber

October 14, 2014

Monsignor Francis J. Weber is a distinguished Catholic scholar, an Honorary Chaplain to His Holiness, and the archivist for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at the San Fernando Mission, as well as a former professor of history at Queen of Angels Seminary. Special Collections and Archives houses over 100 titles...

The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Guild Collection

September 02, 2014

The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Guild (MPSCG), then called the Hollywood Screen Cartoonists, created its constitution in 1937. Acting as an advocate for animators, the MPSCG fought for member representation in wage and hour disputes, and aimed to establish itself as...