Southern California History Comes Alive at the Los Angeles Archives Bazaar

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The fourth-annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar will feature exhibits by 60 local historical collections, book-signings by L.A. authors, documentary films about hidden L.A. stories, information about family genealogy and a wealth of other resources for exploring Southern California history. The event returns to the USC Davidson Conference Center on Saturday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The bazaar is presented by L.A. as Subject, an association of historical collections hosted by the USC Libraries.

At this year’s bazaar, visitors will be able to browse the collections of L.A. as Subject members, including the Academy Film Archive, All the Saints of the City of the Angels, the Autry National Center of the American West, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, the Filipino American Library, the Getty Research Institute, the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles City Archives, the Mayme Clayton Library, the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, the Pasadena Museum of History, the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and the USC Libraries Special Collections.

L.A. as Subject is also presenting a wealth of programming for the 4^th-annual bazaar. Los Angeles-based authors Alex Moreno Areyan, David G. Brown, KTLA anchorman Stan Chambers, Jenny Cho, Judith Freeman, Florante and Rose Ibanez, and Errol Wayne Stevens will talk about the role of L.A. history in their work. Documentary film screenings include On These Shoulders We Stand, featuring first-hand accounts of gay life and activism in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the early 1980s and Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times, about the family dynasty that controlled the Los Angeles Times from 1882 to 1980.

Visitors will meet with local history experts and browse rare collections devoted to everything from California aviation, railroads, and the Los Angeles Olympics to film history, citrus agriculture and city neighborhoods like Culver City, Long Beach, and Centinela Valley. While there, they can attend educational sessions about many facets of local history. Panel discussions include One Hundred Years of Film in Los Angeles, Preservation 101: Basic Tips for the Household Archivist, Photo Forensics: What You Can Learn from Old Photos and Illuminating History through Archives: The Role of Primary Sources in Historical Discovery. Experts from the Southern California Genealogical Society will show Angelenos how to explore their own family’s history using DNA analysis, online databases and California resources for genealogical research.

L.A. as Subject is dedicated to preserving and improving access to archives and collections that document the history of Los Angeles’ diverse peoples, languages, cultures and geography. Hosted by the USC Libraries, L.A. as Subject supports the work of a diverse group of students, teachers, researchers and history enthusiasts in the greater Los Angeles community and beyond. Since coming to the USC Libraries in 2000, L.A. as Subject has expanded its outreach efforts and grown to include 288 regional archives.

The bazaar will take place at the USC Davidson Conference Center, 3415 S. Figueroa Street, on Saturday, October 17, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission to the event is free, and parking is available for $8 in USC Parking Structure D next to the Davidson Center. Visitors enter the USC campus through Gate 4 on Jefferson Boulevard. Learn more at www.usc.edu/libraries/lasubject or become a fan of the Los Angeles Archives Bazaar on Facebook.

Available for Comment:

Ken McGuire, Chair of L.A. as Subject Archives Forum and Executive Committee
Catherine Quinlan, Dean of the USC Libraries