CSUDH Library Blog

The Gerth Archives and Special Collections has recently processed physical collections that are open for research! To view one of the collections below, or other collections in the archives, you can make an appointment or walk in. Our hours are 9 am - 12 pm and 1 pm - 4:30 pm Monday-Friday. Need more information on how to navigate an archival collection guide and inventory? See the LibGuide on finding aids!   

Battle of Lincoln Place: A Community Defends its Affordable Housing
The Battle of Lincoln Place: A Community Defends its Affordable Housing contains court cases, court proceedings, court documents, newsletters, memorandums, reports, letters, flyers, meeting minutes, notes, articles, and other documents; as well as photographs regarding the Lincoln Place housing community located in Venice, California. A majority of the material in this collection relates to Lincoln Place Tenants' Association and tenants; and their battle to save Lincoln Place from evictions and demolitions initiated by various developers and owners who purchased it; which resulted in numerous lawsuits spanning almost fifteen years.

Ace Lundon Collection
The Ace Lundon Collection (1862-2013, undated; bulk 1990-2013) is a collection about Ace Lundon, a writer, actor, singer, and entrepreneur from South Dakota. It includes personal papers, business records, manuscripts, photographs, audio-visual materials, posters, and more primarily concerning writer, activist, journalist, teacher, entertainer, and entrepreneur Ace Lundon.

Torrance Refinery Action Alliance (TRAA) Records
This collection contains reports, flyers, fact sheets, articles, emails, memorandums, and other material regarding Torrance Refinery Action Alliance (TRAA), an organization formed in the aftermath of an explosion on February 18, 2015 at the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery (now PBF Energy's Torrance Refining Company). TRAA's mission is to ban hydrogen fluoride (HF) and modified hydrofluoric acid (MHF) from two refineries (Torrance Refining Company and Valero Wilmington Refinery) in Southern California.

L.A. Watts Times
The L.A. Watts Times contains issues of the L.A. Watts Times, a newspaper that originally began publication under the name Watts Times, following the Watts Rebellion in 1965. It later became the L.A. Watts Times after Charles Cook purchased the publication in 1976.  

Sue Doro Collection
This collection is related to Sue Doro, a woman who worked as a machinist for over thirty-five years, and wrote poetry about her experiences as a machinist, and her life. It includes newspapers and publications related to her poetry books, appearances, and poetry readings; permissions; copyright; publications; correspondence; and other material related to Sue Doro and women tradeswomen.

To the left image of Sue Doro in 1976. Image from “Move Over Bob.”

International Programs Collection (CSU Archives)
International Programs Collection related to the CSU International Programs. Includes reports, memoranda, correspondence, surveys, and guides to the several study abroad programs within the CSU system. Also contains administrative documents for the Office of International Programs.

P.S. If you are on the fifth floor of the library, outside of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections is the new exhibit, Archives 101!! Don’t forget to grab a mini-zine!

Looking for classes for Fall 2024?

Enroll in LIB 151: Fundamentals of Information Literacy!

Have you ever wondered how Google search results are are personalized and prioritized through algorithms? Are you interested in why research is so expensive and what to do about it? Want to investigate Wikipedia and edit your own article? In this course, we'll explore those topics and many more related to information literacy -- the set of skills associated with how we find, use, and evaluate information.

No expensive textbook required - all materials are freely provided as a zero-cost course!

This 3-unit class meets the General Education requirements for Area E: Lifelong Learning and we'd love to have you join us.

What will taking this online class be like? 

Professor and CSUDH Librarian, Carolyn Caffrey, will provide weekly activities (short readings, videos, and podcast segments, tutorials) and assignments with due dates in Canvas. Library faculty have chosen class materials and activities that we hope spark your curiosity, ask you to reflect on yourself and the world, and encourage dialogue between the instructor and your classmates. As an asynchronous class there is no set meeting time on Zoom allowing you to work this course into a schedule that works for you.

Ready to sign-up?

Find LIB 151 (Class Number 44942), taught online asynchronously by Prof. Caffrey in the class schedule.

Looking for classes for Spring 2024?

Enroll in LIB 151: Fundamentals of Information Literacy!

Have you ever wondered how Google search results are are personalized and prioritized through algorithms? Are you interested in why research is so expensive and what to do about it? Want to investigate Wikipedia and edit your own article? In this course, we'll explore those topics and many more related to information literacy, the set of skills associated with how we find, use, and evaluate information.

No expensive textbook required - all materials are freely provided as a zero-cost course!

This 3-unit class meets the General Education requirements for Area E: Lifelong Learning and we'd love to have you join us.

What will taking this online class be like? 

Professor and CSUDH's STEM librarian, Aric Haas,  will provide weekly activities (short readings, videos, and podcast segments, tutorials) and assignments with due dates in Canvas that you can complete at your own pace. Library faculty have chosen class materials and activities that we hope spark your curiosity, ask you to reflect on yourself and the world, and encourage dialogue between the instructor and your classmates.

Ready to sign-up?

Find LIB 151 (Class Number 22207), taught online asynchronously by Prof. Haas in the class schedule.

The exhibition, “Alternate Takes: Community, Underground and Alternative Newspapers, Zines, & Comix at the CSUDH Gerth Archives & Special Collections,” is now open in the Library Cultural Arts Gallery through May 2024. Located on the first floor of the University Library (LIB1940), this exhibition is focused on alternative and community newspapers and publications, and the history told and preserved within their pages. Through these periodicals, the Gerth Archives aims to showcase how communities in Los Angeles and across the world documented their lived experiences through an array of publications, ranging from newspapers to comics, zines, and more. An opening reception will be held on October 5, 2023, from 4pm to 7pm.

“This exhibition reflects the vast diversity of the Gerth Archives collections relating to the political and cultural landscape that is often ignored or forgotten in the mainstream press,” according to Greg Williams, Director of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections Department in the CSUDH Library. “Through the display of politically radical and cultural expressive publications, this exhibition presents a snapshot of how often powerless populations reached out to express themselves and eventually gain power.”

Exhibition materials have been selected from several collections across the Gerth Archives. This includes the Art Kunkin / Los Angeles Free Press Collection, the Holt Labor Library Collection, and the LGBTQ+ Collection. Material on display also comes from the Feminist Resource Collection, the Zines Collection, the Kaye Briegel Chicano Publications Collection, the Right Wing and Conservative Publications Collection, and the Black Panther Newspaper Collection. Further material on display comes from collections focused on Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, and Native Americans as well as CSUDH campus periodicals.  

Sections highlight a variety of interesting periodicals and publications along with the vast scope of coverage in from their collections. This includes highlights of the Black Panther Newspaper, and its evolution over the years through the artwork of Emory Douglas, the paper’s designer and illustrator; issues from the Los Angeles Free Press highlighting its in ushering in the underground press revolution in the Southern California area; a variety of colorful graphic from underground newspapers of the 1960s and 1970s from Los Angeles all the way to West Germany and Hong Kong covering topics ranging from the Vietnam War to New Age beliefs; Japanese American newspapers from incarceration camps during World War II; and socialist publications from across the 20th century. 

Additional exhibition materials are located in the Gerth Archives Reading Room on the 5th Floor of the Library, Room 5039.  

In the years during the pandemic, the Gerth Archives collections relating to alternative periodicals change have grown exponentially. The collection growth is the result of the conviction that archival collections should reflect social and community movements that reflect the values and the diverse populations of those communities. Such collections also veer away from mainstream thought and give students the opportunity to analyze alternative views. This growth has led to the acquisition of the Holt Labor Library Collection, the Art Kunkin / Los Angeles Free Press Collection, the LGBTQ Publications Collections, the Black Panther Newspaper Collection, the John Weatherwax Collection, the Chicano Publications Collection, the Ligon Aquarian Bookstore Collection, the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project, the Filipino American Digital Archive, and many other activist collections.  

The exhibition is in the Library Arts Center, University Library Room 1940. Monday-Friday 10-4. Call 310-243-3895 for more information. The room also serves as the Faculty Development Center and is located next to the large globe sculpture outside the library. Guide tours are available for classes and other groups. Students and the public are welcome to tour the exhibition on their own. The exhibition will remain open through Spring 2023. 

This exhibition was curated by Lindsay Anderson, Priscilla Avitia, Noel Lopez, Lucas Madrigal, Yoko Okunishi, Tom Philo, Deena Marie Santos, Shawne West, and Greg Williams. The Gerth Archives has over 500 collections of archival materials and 85,000 digital objects on a variety of subjects related to activism local history and CSUDH and CSU history.   

New collections open for research at the Gerth Archives and Special Collections! 
By Karen Clemons and Jennifer Hill 

The Gerth Archives and Special Collections has recently processed physical collections that are open for research! To view one of the collections below, or other collections in the archives, you can make an appointment or walk in. Our hours are 9 am - 4:30 pm Monday-Friday. Need more information on how to navigate an archival collection guide and inventory? See the LibGuide on finding aids! 

Janice Yen Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress Collection
The Janice Yen Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress Collection  includes flyers, newspaper clippings, organizational documents, press releases, issues of "Banner," digitized photographs, and other material related to the Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR), formally known as the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations. It also includes material related to the Little Tokyo People's Rights Organization (LTPRO), Japanese Americans, and Japanese American redress. This collection contains some digitized material.

Compton Time Capsule
The Compton High School Time Capsule Collection includes information on the cornerstone, correspondence, city maps, pamphlets, school and club yearbooks, history on the city of Compton, school and city newspapers, information on the 1933 earthquake, and club and organization's list of officers and members.

Tawa Family Letters
The Tawa Family Letters consists of mainly letters to Sukegoro and Chiyoko Tawa from their family and friends between the 1920s and 1960s. Also included are wartime documents issued during the Tawas' incarceration and copies of Sukegoro Tawa's case file as well as family and friends' portraits, and haiku poems. 

Horita Family Papers
The Horita Family Papers contains documents from the Horita family, a Japanese American family from the Los Angeles area. The collection focuses on married couple Chitoshi “Harry” Horita (1896-1990) and Marue Nakashima Horita (1901-1982) and their extended family and includes records of the family’s incarceration at the Poston (Colorado River) incarceration camp, research into the family’s history, photographs, and correspondence.

Pat Williams Collection
This collection documents the academic and professional life of Pat Williams- a former union operating engineer. Also an advocate for women in trades, Williams has participated in the labor and non-traditional women’s occupation movement in Southern California. Materials in this collection include: correspondence; personal papers; materials related to International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE); newsletters; magazines; and  other documents collected from trades unions; and tradeswomen and related organizations; materials concerning career development including apprenticeship programs; materials regarding events and conferences; photographs; videocassettes; and ephemera such as stickers, t-shirts, pencils, and hats. The bulk of the materials in this collection relate to Pat Williams’ involvement within IUOE Local 501 and include IUOE Local 501 contracts and agreements; as well as magazines and newsletters. Some of this collection is available online.

Lyle Fulks Collection
The Lyle Fulks Collection includes material collected by Lyle Fulks, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and Solidarity. It includes material from the Socialist Workers Party, Solidarity, as well as other Socialist organizations including, Workers Power, Socialist Action, and International Socialist. The collection also includes teaching syllabi, articles, personal material, and other material related to Socialism, Communism, Marxism, labor, and social justice. 

Luis Seligson Caricatures
The Luis Seligson Caricatures contains caricatures illustrated by Luis (Lou) Seligson, likely during the 1960s. A number of these illustrations were for the Socialist newspaper, The Militant.

Black Panthers Publications and Related Articles 
The Black Panther Publications and Related Articles Collection (1966-1981; undated) contains material mostly related to the Black Panther Party and its members. Series One contains materials directly written, published, and distributed by the Black Panther Party. It contains insight into their ideology and other important matters at the time. Series Two contains materials directly written by Eldridge Cleaver and Huey P. Newton, two central figures of the Black Panther Party. Also included is an interview of Huey P. Newton. Series Three contains material published by outside sources, but directly related to actions and ideas of the Black Panther Party. Magazines and newspapers in this series are not entirely related to the Black Panthers, but do explicitly mention the Party or its members. Series Four contains material from outside sources and in the majority of the materials, there is no explicit mention of the Black Panther Party or its members. However, it is clear that the material is inspired by the ideology and tactics of the Black Panther Party to push for the rights of several other groups.

The Black Panther Newspapers
The Black Panther Newspapers contains over 400 newspaper issues from 1967 to 1980, organized by the Black Panther Party (BPP). The newspaper covers a variety of topics, from community to global events. It was also used to distribute information of the BPP's ideologies and their support for different groups fighting oppression.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) San Francisco Chapter Papers
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) San Francisco Chapter Papers (1964-1965; undated) contains 22 documents mostly related to activities of the San Francisco Chapter of CORE. A majority of the documents are in regards to an agreement between Community Dry Goods Relation Association and CORE, and CORE's belief that the terms of the agreement were not met due to discriminatory hiring practices; board meeting minutes and agendas; and a listing of some of CORE's activities from 1962-1965. Also included are documents regarding the Citizens United Against Poverty (CUAP) request for a meeting with Mayor Shelley; two essays entitled "American Slave Revolts" and "The Haitian Revolutions" by Nancy Lamberson; and other documents.

Special thanks to Priscilla Avita, Cecilia Contreras, Jesus Padilla, Allison Wall, and Shawne West for processing and creating the collection guides for some of the collections listed above. 

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