The Library's Garden Level (Lower Level) is currently closed due to storm flooding. More about garden-level closure. (Posted on: 03/08/2024 03:24pm)
Musicals are a combination of theatre, music, and dance, and musicals have been a popular form of entertainment since the 19th century. Gilbert and Sullivan's musical theater productions were especially popular, and receiving more viewers than those that preceded them. Special Collections and Archives has ...
Members of the Portolá Expedition were the first Europeans to see the Los Angeles River, camping on its banks near what is now downtown Los Angeles in the summer of 1769. Franciscan missionary and diarist for the expedition, Fray Juan Crespi wrote, "...we entered a very spacious valley, well grown with cottonwoods and alders....
Africans forcibly transported to the Americas, removed from their homes, families, and cultures utilized various forms of passive and active resistance. These men, women, and children were forced to take new names and create new families, they were bred, bought, and sold, and active resistance was immediately and harshly punished. While physically forced into submission, slaves as a group were...
Many are unaware that the campus unrest of the mid-1960s and early 1970s left a lasting impression on the campus of San Fernando Valley State College (now CSUN). Special Collections is home to several books and archival collections that discuss this discord, including two books representing different sides of what is known on campus as...
Children's literature first appeared as a genre distinct from other kinds of literature in the 18th century, as the concept of "childhood" emerged in western society. Early works for children often included moral or religious messages, both to entertain child readers and educate them about commonly-held values and appropriate behavior...
"Once upon a time" is the well-worn opening to several traditional fairy tales, but where did the phrase originate? What is a fairy tale? Scholars generally agree that a fairy tale does not need to include actual fairies, but they agree on little else. Some basic themes in fairy tales are the presence of magic, some form of transformation (of a character or an idea), and the inclusion of the extraordinary ....
In honor of Mexican Independence Day, which is celebrated on September 16th every year, this blog post showcases some sources on Mexican Independence in Special Collections and Archives. As neighbors, most in the United States are aware of certain cultural aspects of Mexico, but often don’t reflect on...
The Vern and Bonnie Bullough Collection on Sex and Gender contains a variety of books that focus on the intersection of religion and human sexuality. While some faiths might view sexuality as a taboo subject, or even as an abomination, other religions embrace and revere the human capacity for sexual expression. Most religious views on human sexuality are guided by sacred texts, which contain diverse ideas, and sometimes rules, about the role sexuality plays in our world. People have many different perspectives regarding the religious aspects of human sexuality, including sex worship, sex deities, and some ancient fertility myths...
Before Johannes Gutenberg developed the printing press and moveable type in the 1440s, books in Western Europe were handwritten, copied, and illustrated one at a time by scribes. This made books extremely expensive to produce and relatively rare to own. However, with the advent of the printing press and moveable type...
Artists' books have been produced around the world and across artistic disciplines for nearly 200 years, but weren't established as an official book (or art!) genre until the 1970s. Simply defined, artists’ books can be thought of as unique works of art in book format—though they do tend to challenge traditional concepts of what constitutes a "book." Often constructed from unusual materials, some artists' books in the library's collection are made from rubber, metal, plastic, fabric, and wood, as well as remarkable handmade papers ...
