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)
Few fictional characters have caught our imaginations as much as Batman, a superhero like all of us in that he doesn’t fly and can’t jump over tall buildings. Bob Kane and Bill Finger created the Batman character, sometimes known as the Dark Knight or Caped Crusader. He first appeared in a 1939 issue of Detective Comics (DC) ...
When conflict erupts around the world, both governments and the public seek information about events as they unfold in the news. Today many retrieve news through social media and online articles. A century ago, those wanting information about current events found it in printed daily newspapers and magazines...
Pin-ups can be fun and entertaining, and many people enjoy flipping through a picture book filled with pin-ups, whether they are photographs like the iconic WWII pin-up of American actress Betty Grable or the hand drawn pin-ups of Earle Bergey. Pin-ups have been studied by...
In the history of the United States, religious freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment have frequently come under fire. In the 1920s, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in concert with restrictive immigration legislation, educational prohibitions, and economic scapegoating, resulted in growing anti-Semitism against Jews...
Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, resulted in the forced removal of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States, most of whom were US citizens. Americans of Japanese descent were ultimately incarcerated in ten camps around the US administered by the War Relocation Authority (WRA)...
James Baldwin, American author, social critic, and activist, was born in Harlem in 1924. He was a prominent literary voice during the American Civil Rights movement, and became an inspirational figure for the gay rights movement, as well. A talented writer, Baldwin published works in numerous genres, especially essays ...
Nursery rhymes are verses, chants, or poems spoken or sung to small children to amuse or sooth them. Most were first written down in the 18th century when publications for children moved away from being purely educational, though many rhymes were probably not new at that time. They come from numerous sources, including proverbs, drinking songs, riddles, and historical events or people ...
Hidden among the thousands of rare and unique publications in Special Collections and Archives are undiscovered treasures that tell the story of Los Angeles. One of these gems is Visit of His Excellency Most Rev. Diomede Falconio, Apostolic Delegate to the United States. This souvenir book was published to commemorate the dedication of St. Joseph’s Church, one of the most...
Naturism, or Nudism, is a social movement that advocates and practices social nudity in an effort to encourage self-respect and respect for others. Advocates believe that they came into the world in the nude and therefore they feel closer to nature and the earth when they are in the nude. They also believe that by removing clothing, which establishes social status...
If you look up "men’s fashion" on your search engine you might see images of men wearing a combination of ripped jeans that look uncomfortably tight and ride too low, and an equally tight plaid button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, topped off with a vest that is too close to the body, unproportioned and improperly...
