We are a group of Library and Information Studies Master’s students at UCLA working in the Digital Library Program (DLP). While the UCLA Library Digital Collections include rare & unique digital materials to support education, research, service, and creative expression, this digital exhibit intends to highlight materials related to housing injustice in Los Angeles across multiple collections. This exhibit documents the stories of the Laws and Aréchiga families—experiences that were in some ways ‘hidden’ within the Digital Collections—to encourage more people to learn about the history of housing injustices in Los Angeles.
The selected resources are drawn primarily from collections published through the UCLA Library Digital Collections website: the Los Angeles Times Photographs Collection; Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection; Maps of Los Angeles, California, United States and the World; Pamphlet Maps Collection; Los Angeles Daily News Negatives; and the Alfred Thomas Quinn Collection. Some of the resources originate from other UCLA-affiliated collections, such as UCLA Library Special Collections’ Richard and Dion Neutra Papers and Edward R. Roybal Papers, both published via Calisphere; the UCLA Center for Oral History Research’s Black Leadership in Los Angeles series; and the Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings.
In the process of selecting materials for this exhibit we have also considered ways that the descriptive metadata for these items can be enhanced or remediated on the Digital Collections website to improve the discoverability of these materials for patrons interested in researching zoning, redlining, evictions, and other methods used to segregate housing and the urban landscape throughout the history of Los Angeles.
Credits:
Jake Tompkins
Joaquin Peres
Julia Tanenbaum
Katherine Ramirez
Rachel Abrahams
Syann Lunsford
Acknowledgments:
Martha Steele – UCLA Library Cataloging and Metadata Center
Claudia Horning – Assistant Head, UCLA Library Cataloging and Metadata Center
Teresa Barnett – Director, UCLA Library Center for Oral History Research
Dalena Hunter – Librarian/Archivist for Los Angeles Communities and Cultures, Library Special Collections
Simon Elliott – Visual Materials Specialist & Licensing Coordinator, Library Special Collections
We would like to give a special thank you to Dawn Childress, T-Kay Sandwand, and Geno Sanchez for their support and guidance throughout the creation of this exhibit, and for assisting us in our goal of enhancing the UCLA Library Digital Collections, UCLA Library Special Collections, and the UCLA Center for Oral History Research.