scrapbooks

Peggy Gilbert Collection

November 17, 2015

Peggy Gilbert was a jazz saxophonist who, beginning in the 1930’s, formed several all-female bands, and through her work represented women in the world of jazz performance. Originally from Sioux City, Iowa, Gilbert was an active member of the Los Angeles Musicians Union, local 47, remaining a trustee after retiring from her performing career. She formed her most successful group, the Dixie Belles, at the age of 69. The Dixie Belles toured throughout the U.S from...

The L. Clarice Davis Collection

November 03, 2015

Handmade and personalized birthday and holiday cards often have an endearing quality. They can capture the spirit, interests, and aesthetics of the recipient and the maker, while opening windows to the past. The L. Clarice Davis Collection does this; Davis bought and sold art books and the collection includes photographs of cards made by comic artists from King Features Syndicate for its owner, William Randolph Hearst that were...

special collections

scrapbooks

california

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...

urban archives

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...

special collections

urban archives

rare books

James F. Dargan Civil War Diary and Scrapbook

March 18, 2014

James F. Dargan was born in the town of Randolph, Norfolk County, Massachusetts in 1843. Dargan was the eldest of six children born to Irish immigrants, and by the age of seventeen worked as a boot maker in his father’s shop. On September 17, 1862, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted in the Union Army, 4th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry....

Slum Neighborhoods in Los Angeles

March 11, 2014

1938 marked one of the most economically devastating years of the Great Depression, shortly following the recession of 1937, but preceding swift economic growth brought upon by the United States’ entrance into World War II. In addition, the 1930s brought dramatic population growth in California due to...

Travel Scrapbook Collection

November 26, 2012

The Travel Scrapbook Collection consists of two scrapbooks from 1919 that contain numerous photographs, postcards, and clippings documenting a months-long vacation from British Columbia to Japan, China, Singapore, the Philippines, Burma, and India. Though we do not know who took the vacation or made the scrapbooks, they are typical of those from the early 20^th century in that photos and clippings were glued to black album paper, and captions were written directly onto the photographs themselves as frequently as they were written on the album pages...

scrapbooks

special collections

international