I was doing a little research on L.A.’s cultural history and came across a blog post about Dorothy Chandler’s cultural leadership. The highlight? The fantastic photos–all from Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) photo collection.
LAPL’s Central Library in downtown began collecting photographs prior to World War II, and since then has amassed millions–yes millions–of photographs that emphasize the history of L.A., Southern California, and California. Over 80,000 of these photos are searchable online. The two biggest photography archives in the collection are the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner photographs (2.2 million) spanning the 1920s through 1989; and the Security Pacific National Bank collection (250,000+), which holds historic photographs of Los Angeles and Southern California, including a collection of early L.A. Chamber of Commerce photographs.
Here are a few fun examples:
Photo of a Pacific Electric Red Car prior to its placement in Griffith Park’s Travel Town (1953)
A workout photo of Seabiscuit (on the left) at Santa Anita Racetrack (1940)
The newly constructed Hollywood freeway through the Cahuenga Pass (n.d.)
A protest by brunettes and redheads of Marilyn Monroe’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater (1953)
This online photo archive is one of the best places to begin researching ANY topic in L.A. history, whether you’re a student, teacher, history buff, or just an interested citizen. Plus, if you are anything like me, you will find that having visual evidence helps jump start a project because it brings the past to life in such a vivid way.
Below are a few links to the LAPL online photography archive. Go ahead and search the site. I dare you.
Photo Collection Overview
Search the catalog
A few amazing videos highlighting the collection
Photo Collection FAQs
Published by Andrea Thabet, Ph.D.
Dr. Andrea Thabet is a historian specializing in Los Angeles, urban, and public history, with a focus on urban renewal policy and cultural policy in the United States. Dr. Thabet has worked as a Curatorial Assistant at the Skirball Cultural Center and Museum in Los Angeles as well as at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. She has taught college level courses in her areas of expertise, including a course on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and America in the 1960s at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Thabet has consulted on a number of historic preservation projects, which include a successful Historic- Cultural Monument nomination for the Hawk House designed by Harwell Hamilton Harris (2019), and research and writing about Civic Center Branch Administrative Centers for Survey LA, a city-wide project conducted by L.A.’s Office of Historic Resources. Presently, she serves as Co-Coordinator for the L.A. History & Metro Studies Group, based at the Huntington Library. Dr. Thabet holds a Ph.D and an M.A. in U.S. History from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a B.A. in History with an Art History minor from Loyola Marymount University. She has presented her research at a number of academic conferences and public events. Dr. Thabet’s forthcoming article, “‘From Sagebrush to Symphony’: Negotiating the Hollywood Bowl and the Future of Los Angeles, 1918-1926,” appeared in the Pacific Historical Review in Fall 2020. Her published works on Los Angeles and urban history have appeared in both academic and popular journals, in both print and digital formats. In June 2020, Dr. Thabet was awarded a fellowship by Friends of Residential Treasures: Los Angeles (FORT:LA) for an interdisciplinary research collaboration with Jenna Snow, titled: “The House that Mary Built: The 1936 California House and Garden Exposition.” Dr. Thabet is currently working on a book manuscript based on her dissertation, "Culture as Urban Renewal: Remaking Public Space in Postwar Los Angeles."
View all posts by Andrea Thabet, Ph.D.
