Peek in the Stacks

Special Collections & Archives holds numerous interactive books for children including a range of paper dolls, a dollhouse, and more. Here we highlight three selections ranging from an 1810 publication that is lesson-based to a play-based interactive dollhouse published in 1949. 

Written by Frank Robbins, Batman issue number 400, Challenge of the Man-Bat¹, was published in June of 1970 after a paradigmatic shift in U.S. comics censorship history. Challenge of the Man-Bat was published a decade and a half after the creation of The Comics Code Authority in 1954, which regulated or censored comic book content.

Welcome… to Weird Tales. Initially founded in 1923, the Weird Tales pulp magazine boasts an impressive lineup throughout its just over thirty year run, having been one of the first places where American audiences could be introduced to later sci-fi staples such as Cthulu and Conan the Barbarian. Weird Tales was one of the first magazines of its kind, publishing exclusively horror and sci-fi tales, and was even the starting point for several authors who later became household names, such as Ray Bradbury and Robert E. Howard.

World War II stands as a memorable chapter in human history, forever altering the course of nations and leaving a permanent impact on the world. As a step towards the great sacrifice and collective effort of the United States, rationing became a necessary initiative. Special Collections & Archives houses multiple collections related to the events that occurred during World War II. Specifically, the World War II Rationing Collection, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Collection and Corporal Raymond Marshall Collection all have items related to rationing during WWII.