The Urban Archivist

Just received Jeffrey Head's new book, ---No Nails, No Lumber: The Bubble Houses of Wallace Neff.

2012-01-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

http://www.californiahomedesign.com/blog/2011/11/30/no-nails-no-lumber

Before there was an LMU Hannon Library there was a Von der Ahe Library and before it was a library there were bubble houses...

George Dunne's Kings Pawn

2011-12-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

The author's inscribed copy to his company was recovered today in the High School archives. It will remain with The Fathers Library.

A movement collection on the move.

2011-11-17T08:11:00.001-08:00

OWS collection?

Braddock

2011-11-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

while looking at Fletcher's Man from the Cave I forgot that Chuckwalla Bill hailed from Braddock

Bigfoot just kicking in the Hammer, 2011

2011-11-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

The artist and his map

2011-11-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

Cf. "bigfoot" Thompson center left.

J Michael Walker's Lyric Literary Map of Los Angeles

2011-11-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

is looking for a permanent home!

Loyola Cub alum makes waves in Long Beach!

2011-11-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

Save the date!

2011-11-03T19:16:00.001-07:00

lets go

XCentricLA investigates the High School Archives of Loyola

2011-11-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.xcentricla.blogspot.com/#!/2011/10/la-as-subject-history-happening.html

The High School Archives of Loyola debuts at the LA Archives Bazaar!

2011-11-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Hi7971QNk

Fresh clippings from LA's Archives Bazaar!

2011-10-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

New friend of the archives Liane Schirmer is documenting LA!

The 6th annual archives bazaar was off the chain this year.

2011-10-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

More pics coming but

here's a collection of archivists from CSUN.

Making history

2011-10-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

"Loyola ... it hasn't always been a high school; it hasn't always been taught by Jesuits; it hasn't always been at 1901 Venice Blvd.; and it hasn't always been called Loyola.

Loyola isn't a name or a place or a particular group of teachers. Loyola is a continuum, a skein of ides, values and visions that have withstood the test of time precisely because it has continuously and harmoniously adapted and grown with time. Loyola is living proof of the paradox that the more something changes the more it remains the same.

The High School Archives of Loyola (Los Angeles): a draft bibliography

2011-08-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

The frosh reading list

The Man from the Cave by Colin Fletcher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1982

This story of an unusual American life rescued from anonymity through the casual discovery of a few mysterious objects in an old steamer trunk is a wonderful telling of the thrill of discovery in intellectual pursuit. This should be the most accessible book on this list for the young reader.

A Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings on Archival Theory and Practice: edited by Maygene F. Daniels and Timothy Welch: National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C., 1984

Restoring Order: The Ecole des Chartes and the Organization of Archives and Libraries in France, 1820-1870 by Lara Jennifer Moore: Litwin Books, LLC, Duluth, 2008

“According to most histories of French archives and libraries, the nineteenth century was a period of slow but steady recovery from the trauma of the revolutionary era. In contrast, Moore argues that the organization of archives and libraries in nineteenth-century France was neither steady nor progressive. By following the development of the Ecole des Chartes, the state school for archivists and librarians, Moore shows that conceptions of "order" changed dramatically from one decade to the next. More important, she argues that these changing notions of "order" were directly connected to contemporary shifts in state politics. Since each new political regime had its own conceptions of both national history and public knowledge, each one worked to "restore order" in a different way.”, --- Amazon.com, 2011

"The French Revolution and the Materiality of the Modern Archive" by Ralph Kingston: Libraries and the Cultural Record 46 No. 1, Austin, 2011

“Historians of vandalism and conservation during the French Revolution have treated the archive as an idea, an expression of modern political culture, and have largely ignored its material history. When revolutionaries "attacked" Old Regime depots, however, they were spurred on by necessity: locating valuable property titles, or paper for use as gunpowder funnels. Moreover, it was only when limited space in ministry buildings forced New Regime administrators to discard documents from their own holdings that archivists embraced historical conservation. Through ministerial deposits in the Archives nationales, the archive as a lieu de mémoire—legitimized by a respect des fonds—took shape in nineteenth-century France.”, --- University of Texas, 2011

That Noble Dream: The “Objectivity Question” and the American Historical Profession by Peter Novick, Cambridge University Press

Additional works

“A History of Christian Thought” by Paul Tillich: self-published lecture notes; Cambridge, Mass. 1956

Jesuit High Schools Revisited by Joseph H. Fichter: Jesuit Education Association, Washington D.C., 1969

A Bibliographical Essay on the History of Society of Jesus by William V. Bangert, S.J.: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, St. Louis, 1976

Saint, Site and Sacred Strategy: Ignatius, Rome and Jesuit Urbanism edited by Thomas M. Lucas, S.J.: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome, 1990

High is beginning to plan for a first appearance at the Archives Bazaar.

2011-08-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

The Avery Clayton award!

The student library at Loyola, 1926

2011-07-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

Creating a space for the archives.

2011-07-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

The high school archives at Loyola begins to take shape.

Loyola High School's planned archives facilities, Los Angeles, 2010

2011-07-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

As Loyola began to gather it's historic records, this warehouse would be simultaneously cleared of 7500 square feet of surplus furnishings and furniture.

A Keystone F8 70mm aerial camera

2011-07-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Here's an image of Bro. McDermott's aerial camera before donation to USC.

Brother McDermott's camera equipment

2011-07-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

An early challenge at the new High School Archives of Loyola would be to effectively manage Brother McDermott's extensive camera equipment. Included in this hardware collection was a 70mm camera and mountings for aerial photography, developing chemical and baths. In the end High donated the collection to the USC film school.

An archives interior

2011-07-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the sesquicentennial celebration of one of Los Angeles most venerable institutions, Loyola High School is gathering the historical record in a designated facility

In Los Angeles, a high school archives at Loyola is slowly getting underway.

2011-07-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

It is easy to miss but not hard to find smack in the middle of LA. This place is slowly being worked into the beginning location of the Loyola High School Archives.

Hannold Library portal

2011-04-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

LA As Subject recently held another forum at the Honnold-Mudd Library at the Claremont Colleges.

Champions of history

2010-10-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

This years winners of LA As Subject Forum's La Senora award for their original website on the Los Angeles Aqueduct, Kyla Resnick and Andrea Marroquin recently took second place at the State Championships for the same work.

Here's the story in the Signal:

Champions of history

The LA As Subject Forum, 1993-1997

2010-07-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

A brief sketch for a history of the LA As Subject Forum

Some might say the professionalization of American historical archives may have taken root with Schellenberg’s 1956 National Archives Bulletin No. 8 directive, “The Appraisal of Modern Public Record”. This beginning to codify standards and practices for American archivists and with new funding in sociology and social history a preservation of an American record was underway. Unfettered from the dominion of rich and royal, the late start would be a blessing to allow a new generation of archivists an indulgence collecting life from the bottom up.

An early testing ground was the creation of an urban archive in Detroit to preserve the record of a labor movement then endangered by high-cost floor space for document storage in booming downtown Detroit. Over the years as the Walter Reuther Archives program developed at Wayne State University it became not only an institutional resource but a teaching program as well.

One Reuther archivist, Robert Marshall, moved west to Los Angeles where the History Department at CSUN had long encouraged student research including the establishment of an Urban Archives Center at the Oviatt Library. While entering data for a subject guide to the many dozens of holdings in this university social research collection, Marshall, the chief archivist and student crew saw a pattern emerging. These diverse holdings ranging from the Rudolfo Acuna Collection to the Rockwell Santa Susana Field Reports were also all about Los Angeles. LA was fast becoming an oft-repeated entry into the local finding guide.

Next Marshall moved the archivists to document any other institutions that may relate to current collections work. That initiative would cause the Marshall to join Karen Stokes at the Getty Research Institute. That colloboration initiated a study survey in 1995 Getty Research Institute agreed to fund L.A. as Subject: The Transformative Culture of Los Angeles Communities.

LA as Subject initiated collaborative partnerships with local universities, cultural institutions, and communities to contribute to identification and coordination of less visible archives and collections about the Los Angeles region.

The initiative would develop new resource tools that could make the material culture of little known archives and collections more accessible to scholars, researchers, and community historians producing academic, artistic and community work on Los Angeles and public and invitational forums through panels, lectures, and symposia to would examine historical and contemporary topics on Los Angeles.

One enduring resource would come in 1997 with the convening at the Getty Research Institute of the LA as Subject Advisory Forum to support the work of the four-year research project, L.A. as Subject (1995–1999).

Marroquin and Resnick take the first "La Senora"!

2010-04-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

The archivist presented the LA As Subject Forum’s first La Senora Award for best project using local archives. The prize went to Andrea Marroquin and Kyla Resnick for their website The Innovative Los Angeles Aqueduct.

Religious women at LMU!

2010-01-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

Kevin Brown ('09) recently mined the LMU Archives for images of our religious women.

Secret tunnels at LMU!

2009-12-12T06:47:00.000-08:00

Rockin' Up Hank's House!

2009-12-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

Lost records found!

2009-10-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about moving the LMU Archives from the Von der Ahe to the new Hannon Library was finding a batch of Loyola Law School Regent Joe Donovan's records transferred but never received.

No parking at the new Hannon Library

2009-09-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

If you don't get here by 8am the bike rack is full.

Save the date! Oct 17th.! The LA Archives Bazaar is On!

2009-07-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

On behalf of the Executive Board of the Los Angeles As Subject Forum, I'd like to give you an early invitation to our 4th Annual Archives Bazaar. Now imitated in Austin and Chicago we continue this gathering of artists, students, hipsters and historians, mingling in a treasure trove of L.A. history browsing with archivists, curators, and librarians from the many collections of Los Angeles. Presented by L.A. as Subject, a research collective hosted by the USC Libraries, the Bazaar offers numerous resources for exploring the rich histories of L.A.'s diverse neighborhoods and communities and virtually any subject related to the Los Angeles region.

Now in our second year at the University of Southern California's Davidson Center, previous exhibitors have included the Autry Museum, Braun Research Library, Beverly Hills Public Library, Bison Archives, California African American Museum, California Council for the Humanities, California State Universities, Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, County of Los Angeles Resource Centers, Eighth & Wall Inc., Fairchild Photos, Filipino American Library, GAZIN Photo Archive, Getty Center, Huntington Library, Historical Society of Long Beach, Los Angeles Public Library History Department, Workman and Temple Homestead Museum, Japanese American National Museum, La Senora Research Institute, LA84 Foundation, Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, Lightcatcher, Loyola Marymount University, Mayme A. Clayton Library, Occidental College, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Pico Rivera Heritage Society, Santa Monica Library, Seaver Center and Natural History Museum, Shildler Collection of Southern California Ephemera, Society of California Archivists, Southern California Genealogical Society, Southern California Library for Social Research, St. Vincent's Medical Center, UCLA Film & Television Archive and USC Special Collections.

Also throughout the day, there will be group panels, author presentations, and film screenings.

Hope you can join us this year!

Date: Saturday, October 17, 2009
Time: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Location: USC-Davidson Conference Center

Admission: FREE

For more information visit http://www.usc.edu/arc/lasubject

If you would like 11" x 17" hardcopy posters to display at your school, library, institution, or other locale, please contact

Neil Bethke

Archivist | Archives & Special Collections Loyola Marymount University

1 LMU Drive, Von der Ahe Library Room 1 | Los Angeles, California USA 90045 Phone 310.338.7478 | Fax 310.338.5895 | E: nbethke@lmu.edu

http://archivesonabluff.blogspot.com/

"No joking permitted" - sign at Burbank Airport

"Nothing is new except the arrangement" - Will Durant

More images from last year's bazaar.

Hannon amphitheater

2009-07-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

The view from the 3rd floor to the south.

Books near the archives

2009-07-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

The offices in the Hannon are sprinkled over all three floors with the general collection bookshelves throughout. I like that books about people like Stiegitz are just around the corner from the archives...

Archives entry

2009-07-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Exiting the elevator at the 3rd floor will bring the visitor to the archives entrance.

Archives in limbo

2009-07-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

Well the Archives has been closed now for a few weeks as we move over to our new home in the Hannon Library! Here's a view walking toward the Hannon along the main walkway through campus.

So long, Von der Ahe Library!

2009-05-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Charles Von der Ahe Library on the Westchester campus of Loyola Marymount University is closing and all library operations will reopen for fall in the new William Hannon Library nearby. Here's the opening staff following dedication of the Von der Ahe in 1959.

Here we go!

2009-05-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

After 50 years in the Von der Ahe Library the university library begins to slowly move into the new William Hannon Library. The archives will close to the public May 26 and reopen in the Hannon August 18, 2009.

Identifying slides

2009-05-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

An excellent story in a recent Sports Illustrated, Slide Show is an inside look at the magazine's catalogers at work. You can learn many things from the notes and codes found on the 35mm slide mount. Similiarly it can be good to think of this for other collections as well.

In some cases before upgrading temporary storage boxes to final quality archival boxes care may be taken to preserve the record of these temp box markings especially so if the labeling was made by the creator and is best evidence of original order. Quick reference photos of the old boxes can be saved for the archivists accession file during final processing.

A blue blue Hannon

2009-04-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

I just happened to be near the Mondrians when I caught this sundowner light just right....no Photoshop and no Dave Hill...

Ann Richards & Stan Kenton at Loyola!

2009-03-02T10:30:00.001-08:00

Still looking for more Rose Parade images I found a nice set of photo prints from a Stan Kenton Orchestra concert on campus in the Alumni Memorial Gym. Replacing June Christy as the Kenton vocalist, Ann Richards also becomes Kenton's wife. He is paying keen attention to his new singer on campus at Loyola in 1955.

Loyola Band in the snow

2009-03-02T08:12:00.000-08:00

While looking for evidence of LU at the Pasadena Rose Parade the archivist stumbled across this of the Loyola Band playing in California snow in the late Thirties.

Newest view of Hannon Library

2009-03-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

It won't be long now. Only have four months left for University Archives in the Von der Ahe Library. The St. Vincent's College and Marymount School & College record series are boxed and ready to go!

Naomi kisses a giraffe

2009-02-27T18:02:00.000-08:00

This is a little off topic but for those of you who remember former Head Cataloger Naomi Zahavi this from her recent travel through Africa.

Hannon Feb 2009

2009-02-27T10:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a new one from our colleague Jim Beardsley from the Leavey-Marymounters.

The Hank Gathers book

2009-02-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Author Kyle Keiderling came a-calling to the archives last month. He's finished the Gathers bio.

Elephant tackled on Sullivan Field at L.U.

2009-01-28T16:12:00.000-08:00

With Mike's transfer of campus images and Carmen Mitchell's interest for the AJCU site I'm revisiting a lot that make me smile. Here's a comic publicity shot done for the Lions football team of the Thirties.

Venice oilfields.

2009-01-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

Before leaving for Santa Clara U. Michael Engh, S.J. ('72) transferred some of his campus photos and ephemera.

There is a companion image to this of the Baldwin Hills completing a 180 degree pan of Venice, Mar Vista, West LA, Culver City and Inglewood in the Forties.

More of Mike's records will be found with those of other Bellarmine deans and faculty within Rec Group 12.

New view of Hannon Library from the marina

2009-01-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

The Hannon Library is just about ready to go. We'll be closing the Von der Ahe Library around the end of June for the move.

Big crowds at the 3rd Annual Archives Bazaar!

2008-10-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

The LA As Subject Forum's 3rd Annual Archives Bazaar was moved this year from the Huntington Library to the USC Davidson Conference Center. It was still jam-packed all day with hundreds of visiting scholars and writers meeting with archivists, curators and librarians from many prominent Los Angeles collections. Here's more images from the bazaar.

God's view of LMU

2008-10-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

Al Tipon from Facilities Management sent the Archives this recent top down view of the campus. The circular structure just to the above left of the graded area is the new Hannon Library.

Hannon gets skinned

2008-10-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well the Hannon Library has just about been covered with the exterior shell.

While visiting the archives doing research on Loyola and Marymount benefactor Thomas Leavey, archivist Jim Beardsley was kind enough to shoot a few images of our soon to be new library!

LMU & Mount Baldy

2008-09-08T23:03:00.000-07:00

In Google Earth I stumbled on LMU Photographer Glenn Cratty's shot of the dorms with Mt. Baldy behind.

A view of the future Hannon library from Marina del Rey

2008-08-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hannon can be seen rising from the bluffs overlooking the marina.

Ballona Creek

2008-08-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Along the way across Ballona Creek to nearby Marina del Rey, we found a patch of wild watermelon and from the Coffee Bean in the village a view back at the Hannon.

A rare sighting of librarians outdoors!

2008-08-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

The Von der Ahe staff in the Alumni Mall and Sunken Garden.

Hannon from the Marina

2008-08-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

On the way to the creek to find some off-campus views of the Hannon future library, the archivist wandered through Parents Day and student worker recruitment on the Alumni Mall. After first hearing the Fab Faculty doing oldies we marvelled with a rare sighting of librarians toiling in the sun!

A new path to the library

2008-08-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

While the Hannon building is underway, new landscape plantings around the library complexity is going in anew. Here we have a new pathway being carved into the small hill near the parking lot.

The Hannon box

2008-08-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

From this view the "stack of discs" look disappears and instead the library appears to just be a square box.

Hannon undercoating

2008-08-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Well the school bus has been replaced with a taco truck, the lichen on the wall has turned darker green and they're almost ready to "skin" the Hannon!

Archives Live! 3rd Annual LA As Subject Forum's Archive Bazaar

2008-08-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

Exhibitor registration has closed for the LA As Subject Forum's 3rd annual Archives Bazaar set for October 25 at the Davidson Center at USC. The Huntington Library had generously played host for the initial bazaars but now with over fifty exhibitors we are moving to this much larger venue.

Featuring materials from local historical collections, museums, and archives, attendees will browse collections, schedule research visits, and consult with experts from the:

Acadamy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Archives
Autry Museum
All the Saints of the City
Altadena Historical Society
Beverly Hills Public Library
Bison Archives
Boyle Heights Historical Society
Braun Research Library
California African American Museum
California Council for the Humanities
California State Universities
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
Centinela Valley Historical Society
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
County of Los Angeles Resource Centers
Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library
Eighth & Wall Inc.
Fairchild Photos
Filipino American Library
GAZIN Photo Archive
Getty Center
Huntington Library
Historical Society of Long Beach
Los Angeles Public Library History Department
Japanese American National Museum
La Senora Research Institute
LA84 Foundation
Libraries of the Claremont Colleges
Lightcatcher
Los Angeles City Archives
LAUSD Historical Collection & Archives
Los Angeles Philharmonic Hollywood Bowl Museum
Loyola Marymount University
Mayme A. Clayton Library
Occidental College
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
Orange Empire Railway Museum
Pacific Palisades Historical Society
Pasadena Museum of History
Pico Rivera Heritage Society
Santa Monica Public Library
Seaver Center and Natural History Museum
Shildler Collection of Southern California Ephemera
Society of California Archivists
Southern California Genealogical Society
Southern California Library for Social Research
St. Vincent's Medical Center
UCLA Archives
USC Special Collections and
Workman and Temple Homestead Museum

Educational programmed presentations will explore the latest issues in the world of Los Angeles archives and collections.

Mike Engh named next president of Santa Clara!

2008-08-13T09:31:00.001-07:00

Los Angeles historian, Rev. Michael Engh, SJ, Dean of Bellarmine College and great friend of University Archives is going to Santa Clara University to succeed President Paul Locatelli, SJ effective January 2009. Father Engh ('72) will be the second alum to head a major university. Rev Hugh M. Duce, SJ ('15) held the presidency of Loyola University in Los Angeles from 1932-1937.

A new view of the Hannon Library

2008-07-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

the future Hannon Library

2008-07-28T23:37:00.000-07:00

Here's an extreme modified "Dave Hill" view of the new library.

Dave Hill images to Archives!

2008-07-28T16:52:00.001-07:00

Last week we took in more images from the office of the University Photographer. These include film work by Dave Hill while he was on staff from 2000 - 2002. Seen here (2 1/4" x 7" Fuji RDPIII) is Howard Lavick and his students from the LMU School of Film and Animation.

A view of the Hannon Library from Rains Hall exit

2008-07-28T16:40:00.001-07:00

The new library will be the first thing students will see leaving Rains Hall or McCarthy dorms and heading up campus. No excusing overdue books!

Furnishing the library of the future Pt. 2

2008-07-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

In 1917 the Loyola College Library was decorated by architect Thomas Franklin Power.

Furnishing the library of the future

2008-07-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

The architects are holding meetings with the librarians this week regarding furnishing the Hannon Library. Here's Charles Willson Peale pulling back the curtain at his American Museum in Philadelphia around 1786.

Google's encyclopedia

2008-07-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

In the wake of Google shares first losing quarter, the Mountain View crew have now announced an online encyclopedia authored and signed by experts.

Free to a good home

2008-07-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

The archive is looking for a spot on campus for an unusual discard. Recently LMU Public Safety Officer Chester Nichols rescued this 5' x 30' latex on oil cloth painting from disposal. Perhaps it could be useful for a student club or campus organization? Contact LMU Archives for further info.

Images of Mexico

2008-07-17T09:28:00.001-07:00

This summer the Archives received a transfer from LMU's Campus Ministry of a 35mm color photo slide collection of numerous trips to Mexico and Central America during the mid-Eighties. The trips were arranged by the photographer and Assistant Chaplain Fernando Moreno to draw attention to the plight of the poor in Mexico and Nicaragua. Most notable are images of the La Estacion settlement, orphanages, and the Cuernavaca settlement and site of the Cortes palace. An as yet to be identified artist also created ink transparencies of many of these same sites.

Future radio is here

2008-07-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

Our friends at Cal have developed the worlds smallest radio - the size of a molecule.

News from Beverly Hills Public Library

2008-07-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Fellow member of the LA As Subject Forum Gail Stern from the Beverly Hills Public Library has created FBI Memorabilia Celebrating A Century 1908-2008. On public display from July to August 2008.

The archives bazaar!

2008-06-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

It's official! The LA As Subject Forum's 3rd annual Archives Bazaar is set for October 25 at the Davidson Center at USC. The Huntington Library had generously played host for the initial bazaars but due to heavy crowds this year we will be moving to a much larger venue.

The Bazaar features exhibits from local historical collections, museums, and archives. Attendees may browse collections, schedule research visits, and consult with experts from the Autry Museum, All the Saints of the City, Braun Research Library, Beverly Hills Public Library, Bison Archives, California African American Museum, California Council for the Humanities, California State Universities, Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, County of Los Angeles Resource Centers, Eighth & Wall Inc., Fairchild Photos, Filipino American Library, GAZIN Photo Archive, Getty Center, Huntington Library, Historical Society of Long Beach, Los Angeles Public Library History Department, Workman and Temple Homestead Museum, Japanese American National Museum, La Senora Research Institute, LA84 Foundation, Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, Lightcatcher, Loyola Marymount University, Mayme A. Clayton Library, Occidental College, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Pico Rivera Heritage Society, Santa Monica Library, Seaver Center and Natural History Museum, Shildler Collection of Southern California Ephemera, Society of California Archivists, Southern California Genealogical Society, Southern California Library for Social Research, St. Vincent's Medical Center, UCLA Film & Television Archive and USC Special Collections. Planning is now underway for educational programmed presentations to explore the latest issues in the world of Los Angeles archives and collections.

Andrew Carnegie would approve

2008-06-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

The master library builder would be proud.

Hannon faces

2008-06-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

Summer '08 finds the Hannon library of the future coming right along.

The two contrasting exteriors views almost suggest the melding of the traditional box versus the form of a stack of discs.

Microsoft UCLA project ended

2008-05-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

Recently I was shown the project area for the UCLA Microsoft book digitalization job and I thought it was odd there was no one there! Then here I find this

Autographs on iron

2008-05-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Christmas tree from the topping out ceremonies has now blown away from the commemorative I-beam but the autographs of university officials remain soon to be covered for all-time beneath the exterior siding of the future Hannon Library.

Library rooms naming opportunities

2008-05-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

As the library moves along (T-12 months to ready) it occurs to me that there will be soon a great flurry of activity in regards to naming different areas within the Hannon structure. For example the present day Von der Ahe Library Archives & Special Collections Frank Sullivan Reading Room is named in honor of a warmly remembered long time faculty member of our English department.

A few years after arriving at Loyola from St. Louis U., Yale scholar Sullivan completed negotiations with the descendant Longstaff family for the gift of Leonard William Longstaff St. Thomas More Collection including a printed Utopia of 1518. Here's Frank in action teaching a summer drama class for religious.

The steel framing is nearly complete.

2008-05-06T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a topping out ceremony was held to celebrate the placing of the highest girder of steel for the Hannon Library. Dean Brancolini and numerous others autographed the beam before it was hoisted away.

Hannon steel framing continues

2008-05-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

In only a few weeks the steel framing was completed.

Steel framing begins!

2008-04-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well there was a little concern over the weekend when a construction crane delivered to the site for assembly was thought to be listing. The crane is now completed and is underway helping to lift the heavy metal for installation of the Hannon Library steel framing.

Save the date!

2008-04-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

It's official! The LA As Subject Forum's 3rd annual Archives Bazaar is set for October 25 at the Davidson Center at USC. The Huntington Library had generously played host for the initial bazaars but due to heavy crowds this year we will be moving to a much larger venue.

The Bazaar features exhibits from local historical collections, museums, and archives. Attendees may browse collections, schedule research visits, and consult with experts from the Autry Museum, All the Saints of the City, Braun Research Library, Beverly Hills Public Library, Bison Archives, California African American Museum, California Council for the Humanities, California State Universities, Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, County of Los Angeles Resource Centers, Eighth & Wall Inc., Fairchild Photos, Filipino American Library, GAZIN Photo Archive, Getty Center, Huntington Library, Historical Society of Long Beach, Los Angeles Public Library History Department, Workman and Temple Homestead Museum, Japanese American National Museum, La Senora Research Institute, LA84 Foundation, Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, Lightcatcher, Loyola Marymount University, Mayme A. Clayton Library, Occidental College, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Pico Rivera Heritage Society, Santa Monica Library, Seaver Center and Natural History Museum, Shildler Collection of Southern California Ephemera, Society of California Archivists, Southern California Genealogical Society, Southern California Library for Social Research, St. Vincent's Medical Center, UCLA Film & Television Archive and USC Special Collections. Planning is now underway for educational programmed presentations to explore the latest issues in the world of Los Angeles archives and collections.

future Hannon library construction Oct '07

2007-10-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Last Friday while on bike Father Rolfs was involved in a collision with one of the heavy construction trucks. Today I learned he was apparently on his way to take his daily photo of the library construction.

Until he returns I try to remember to keep it going.

At Last!

2007-05-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well it's mid-May and the big toys showed up to start playing in the dirt this week!

The May 7th bluff

2007-05-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

The students are now gone for the summer so let the digging begin!

Krazy!

2007-04-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

Rhetorical composition led the curricula at St. Vincent's College in early Los Angeles and the elite small college produced a number of national figures including a close contemporary of philosopher John Dewey, Columbia educator Dr. David Snedden, composer Ferde Grofe (Grand Canyon Suite) and Krazy Kat cartoonist George Herriman.

Argued as one of the earliest LA noir detective novelists, S.S. Van Dine attended St. Vincent’s in 1902 enrolled as William Huntington Wright.

St. Vincent's College, 1887-1910

2007-04-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

Needing even more space despite a major 1883 renovation and with real-estate booming speculation the campus moved southwest in 1887 to a much larger site at Washington Street and Grand Avenue. Designed and constructed by J.V. McNeil Construction, the new campus boasted a “modern” furnished College Library. The first major improvement came in 1903 with the arrival of the new Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles. Dr. Thomas Conaty, a nationally renown orator and former Rector of The Catholic University of America generously donated books from his personal collection to build up the library.

St. Vincent's College, 1867-1887

2007-04-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

Today the property at Sixth and Hill is home of the Los Angeles Jewelry Mart.

Bishop Amat

2007-04-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

From his earliest days in California Bishop Amat envisioned a seminary of Vincentians in Los Angeles yet operations in Mexico City delayed his mission according to Monseignor Weber. Ironically with the closing of St. John's Seminary and a possible move to LMU, Amat's dream may yet come true!

It took Amat twelve years until Saint Vincent Select College for Boys opened in 1865. In donated rooms at Don Lugo's townhouse on the plaza, the first college in Los Angeles could have started collecting with books from Don Coronel and Don Lugo and any books Amat did not leave to his newly furnished Theological Library in Philadelphia.

Only a few years later a red brick Georgian collegiate hall designed by Miguel Rubi rose as the first American two-story building in Los Angeles and for a time was the first place that came to mind for books and law in the baby city. In 1877 visiting Archduke of Austria Ludwig Salvador noted in his journal Los Angeles in the Sunny Seventies the college with a “small chapel and library”.

A monastary nestled into the Montsarrat

2007-04-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from the temp road, we continue making the story of how this library is coming about.

Loyola Marymount is a religious university rooted deeply from monastic life. Many early European Christian orders began in the ancient rugged caves of the Pyrennes wall of mountains separating the Ibernian peninsula from the plains of Europe. The nearby Spanish port of Barcelona exported missionaries world wide and eventually contributed the scholastics necessary to rebuild a Roman Catholic hierarchy in early American Los Angeles.

The waterfront at Barcelona.

The year was 1838 and Thaddeus Amat, a young Basque priest inspired with St. Vincent’s urgings for instruction of both the poor and priests eagerly debarked in New Orleans to begin a teaching career up river at the Assumption Seminary near Donaldsonville Louisiana.

A son of prominence, Amat was an outstanding student mastering native Spanish, Catalan, French, and Italian tongues. In America he added Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English.

A talent for administration yet overcame his teaching abilities and by the time he was only thirty-nine Father Thad had risen to Superior at St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia. To his dismay the priest teacher would not be a regular patron of the Theological Library that he had then established on Race Street. It would take an 1853 order from the Holy Father himself to compel Amat to assume the Bishopric of the Diocese of Monterey in the wild new state of American California. Below is Los Angeles as it appeared in 1853.

Temp road nears completion

2007-04-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday April 14, 2007

Temp road continues

2007-04-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

A view to the Southeast with the Von der Ahe Library in the background

2007-04-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

Library

applied, e.g. to the shop or warehouse of a bookseller. In various applications more or less specific. a. Applied to a room in a house, etc.; also, a bookcase. In mod. use, the designation of one of the set of rooms ordinarily belonging to an English house above a certain level of size and pretension.

c1374 CHAUCER Boeth. I. pr. v. 15 (Camb. MS.) The walles of thi lybrarye aparayled and wrowht with yuory and with glas.
1430-40 LYDG. Bochas VI. i. (1554) 142 Bochas pensief stode in his library.
1488 Inventory in Archæologia XLV. 120 On the south side of the Vestrarie standeth a grete library.
1779 M. TYSON in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 195, I there saw his library, i.e. the Room which once contained his Books.
1794 MRS. RADCLIFFE Myst. Udolpho i, The library occupied the west side of the chateau.
1854 W. COLLINS Hide & Seek II. ii. (1861) 161 Zack descended cautiously to the back parlour, which was called a ‘library’.

pasted from OED, 2nd Edition

setting in a temporary road

2007-04-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

Westerly view of the new temp road from Ignatian Circle Drive

Today the Los Angeles Loyolan ran a 4 page insert "Introducing the New William H. Hannon Library".

construction fence erecting!

2007-04-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

7:30 in the morning April 10 a crew begins installing a safety fence securing the site for excavation.

student film crew at work

2007-04-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

A mound has appeared. [left of students]

first inkling of a new library?

2007-04-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

During a meeting before the CASE Advisory Group in late fall 1992, LMU Von der Ahe Library Director Dr. Ed Evans was asked if a new library was being planned. Dr. Evans stated that was only a rumor, a new libary was not on any list of institutional priorities. Political Science professor Michael Genovese stated that all great universities have great libraries and should have the highest priority of all brick and mortar projects. - CASE Advisory Group meeting notes, 2 Nov 1992

Almost 150 years ago!

2007-04-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

Thaddeus Amat, the newly appointed Roman Catholic Bishop was assigned to tame wild southern California and in 1865 founded St. Vincent's, the first college in Los Angeles on the upper floors of the Lugo adode. This Catholic high school would then begin a run as one of the oldest continously operated enterprises in Los Angeles.