Historical Society

The Mojave Desert Archives preserves the history of transcontinental travel to the Los Angeles region through the Mojave Desert of eastern California. Route 66, National Old Trails Road, the Mojave Wagon Road, the Santa Fe Railway (now BNSF), Union Pacific Railroad, and Interstate highways were and are major transit routes through the desert terminating in the Los Angeles basin. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Los Angeles area residents traveled through and returned to the Mojave Desert over these routes to deliver mail and supplies, engage in military campaigns, harvest natural resources, graze cattle, homestead, and run roadside businesses. Today, the Mojave serves as an important transit region for Angelenos seeking recreational opportunities in Las Vegas, on the Colorado River, or to simply enjoy the solitude and sublime beauty of our vast desert.

The collection at the museum is an eclectic assortment of items from the 1800's through the 1900's. There are tools for the home and farm, furniture, household accessories, office equipment, documents, photographs, and all types of clothing. Many items have been contributed by local residents over the years and have a direct connection to the "Upper San Gabriel Valley" and its residents.

We are an advocacy group founded in 1987, dedicated to protecting, preserving, restoring and sustaining the Historic movie palaces and theaters of Los Angeles. We are recent recipients of an extensive collection of historical documents and photographic material relating to these theaters and their relevance to the social and cultural life of Los Angeles during the last century. We are in the very early stages of figuring out how best to use and share this resource, and hope that by getting involved with LA as Subject we can develop these plans and move forward.

16 b/w photographic diptychs marrying images from the Venice Historic Society to modern images of Helen K. Garber. ©2012 Prints and digital files. Published as the 2013 Venice Community Calendar and exhibited at Universal Gallery, Venice, CA 2012, Photo LA, 2013

The Go For Broke National Education Center holds more than 1,150 life history interviews of Americans of Japanese ancestry who served in the United States Army in WWII. Many of the veterans interviewed were born and raised in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. Their videotaped interviews provide us with stories about the neighborhoods in which they lived and worked, the larger Japanese American Community in and around Los Angeles, both the Japanese and American cultures that shaped and molded their identity, values their parents taught them, a unique minority viewpoint of a pre-war and post-war Los Angeles, their experiences as soldiers in the U.S. Army in WWII and much more. Often the veterans contributed photographs and documents to complement their stories. The Go For Broke National Education Center would like to offer access to researchers, adding to the rich history of our city, our state and our country. Incorporated in 1989, Japanese American World War II veterans established the 100th/442nd/MIS WWII Memorial Foundation, now the Go For Broke National Education Center, to build the Go For Broke Monument. The Monument, the first of its kind on the mainland U.S., includes more than 16,000 names of Japanese American soldiers and officers who served overseas during World War II. It was unveiled in June 1999 and is located in downtown Los Angeles at Temple and Alameda streets. The Go For Broke National Education Center today focuses on providing a place and means by which all people can share their stories and recognize how the legacy of their lives contributes to the history of Los Angeles and the American ideals of freedom and equal opportunity for all. Go For Broke offers several programs to educate the public on this important time in history, including: A Tradition of Honor Teacher Training Program, Hanashi Oral History Program, Resource Center, Go For Broke Monument and other media projects. Go For Broke National Education Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

The California Historical Society collects materials of enduring historical and cultural value in support of its mission to inspire and empower Californians to make the past a meaningful part of their contemporary lives. In our North Baker Research Library, we hold some fifty thousand books and pamphlets, four thousand manuscript collections, half a million photographs, as well as ephemera, periodicals, posters, maps and more. For Los Angeles and the surrounding area we have nearly 23,000 photographs from the Title Insurance and Trust Company (TICOR) and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce (LAACC) housed and managed for CHS by the Regional History Center at the University of Southern California and viewable through the USC Digital Library (digitallibrary.usc.edu). Documenting development of the Los Angeles region from 1860 to 1960, the TICOR collection includes the work of many prominent local photographers, including C. C. Pierce. The LAACC collection includes promotional images in addition to depicting the growth of the city and the transportation system. Besides these two important collections and other photographs, Southern California is represented chiefly by printed books and pamphlets, periodicals, and ephemera, including many early promotional pieces with gems such as the 1888-89 Southern California Tourists’ Guide-Book, and an 1885 pamphlet entitled The Great Interior Fruit Belt and Sanitarium of Southern California, San Bernardino County, and Valleys Tributary Thereto.

Los Angeles was the western terminal of the trail, which served commerce and immigration between Santa Fe, NM, and Los Angeles. Much archival data about the OST resides at the Huntington Library, the Autry National Museum and other So Cal institutions.

The Sierra Madre Historical Archives collects, preserves, and provides access to a variety of materials that tell the Sierra Madre story: photographs, slides, postcards, scrapbooks, city directories, maps, letters, periodicals, posters, works of art, sound recordings, moving images, and ephemera. The archives collection includes the Sierra Madre Oral History Project in which residents describe Sierra Madre social life and customs. The collection's subject area strengths include San Gabriel Mountain resorts accessible via local trails and Sierra Madre art and artists. The local history collection is built on a partnership. It is jointly owned and maintained by the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society and the Sierra Madre Public Library.

Little Tokyo Historical Society commemorates the Japanese American history and heritage related to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles through archival collections, photos, videos, gallery exhibits, lectures, and workshops. "Los Angeles's Little Tokyo (Arcadia Publishing, November 2011). "Little Tokyo: The 1930's Golden Years", 2013 calendar now on sale at www.littletokyohs.org.