Peek in the Stacks

Today many of us start a car trip by typing our destination into a phone app that charts out our course and lets us know what kind of traffic is in our future. Before navigation apps and GPS systems were available, many travelers plotted out their journeys by using paper maps and tourist guides. In the 1910s and 1920s...

Delilah Leontium Beasley was born on September 9, 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio to parents Daniel and Margaret. She attended segregated Cincinnati public schools, and by the age of twelve had begun to write and publish short social notices in the local black newspapers and some white newspapers, such as...

This week’s blog is inspired by Valentine’s Day. In the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th, and traditionally involves the giving and receiving of cards, gifts, or flowers, the reciting of poems, the singing of songs, or similar expressions of love and friendship. While we don't usually equate Special Collections and Archives with Valentine's Day, keep reading...you might be surpised!

Have you ever wondered about that large cement canal running through the San Fernando Valley, past Griffith Park, east of downtown Los Angeles, and eventually to the sea, emptying into the Port of Long Beach? We still call it a river, the LA River. Originally, the river flowed freely along the alluvial flood plain that is now Los Angeles and Long Beach. There was rarely a set course for the river and flooding was common...