Census record from the 1939 WPA Household Survey included in the project
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) recently awarded $160,000 to the USC Libraries for Excavating L.A.: USC’s Hidden Southern California Historical Collections.The grant will dramatically improve access to the Christopher and Webster Commission reports on the causes of the 1992 L.A. riots, the Bunker Hill Redevelopment and Century Freeway projects, documents on the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy, and other unique archival materials related to L.A. history.
The USC Libraries have started processing the collections, hiring Katie Richardson as the Excavating L.A project archivist on May 1. Richardson earned her master’s degree in library and information sciences in 2008, and she is gaining valuable experience by working closely with regional history librarian Dace Taube, senior archivist Jackie Morin, and project manager Deb Holmes-Wong. As the project continues, USC students with an interest in local history will have the opportunity to help process collections, gaining firsthand exposure to rarely seen materials about Southern California’s recent past.
Here's what Richardson had to say about the project:
When did you earn your MLIS degree?
I graduated from UCLA in June 2008 with a master’s in library and information science and an emphasis in archival management.
What interested you most about the Excavating L.A. project?
Before coming to USC I worked at the Huntington Library processing collections that dealt with California history and the American West. In fact, the Los Angeles area was the setting for many of the collections that I processed, and as a result, I became interested in the local history. I hope to continue learning more about Los Angeles history and work with collections that both students and researchers alike will want to access. I think it is the hope of every archivist to discover new and valuable information that continues to build on the current body of knowledge.
Which of the project's 26 collections seems most intriguing to you?
Honestly, all of the collections interest me, but I would have to say the papers of Gregory Freeman Stone and the Webster Commission records seem particularly interesting. Stone collected materials pertaining to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. I am most intrigued by this collection because Kennedy came from such a famous family and his assassination was one of the three most famous assassinations of the 1960s. His death altered the course of American history, as many people believe that he was in line to become the next president of the United States. The Webster Commission Records consists of 58 linear feet of materials devoted to the period of civil unrest starting in April 1992 after the acquittal of four police officers accused of beating Rodney King. For six days, people rioted in L.A., and when all was said and done, the city had experienced 1 billion dollars in property damage, 53 people had died, and thousands were injured. I can’t wait to process this large collection because it was such a famous event in L.A., and as the events unfolded, the entire nation watched.
What’s been the most interesting thing you’ve found so far?
Well, I have just started, so I am somewhat limited in what I can share. The first collection I will be working on is the Homefront collection, which consists of 13 boxes of paper materials and an additional 56 boxes of audio reels that include first-person accounts of ordinary citizens and their experiences during WWII. USC’s history department was responsible for this project, which produced a book in 1984 and a ninety-minute television special for PBS entitled The Homefront: America During World War II in 1985. At the time, USC ran advertisements in the papers across the country looking for people who were interested in sharing their experiences. I find these kinds of things so interesting, because they help to bring history to life. A substantial amount of these original letters were saved and are part of the collection. For example, John and Carolyn were a young married couple just starting their lives together. Right before shipping out, Carolyn told John that she was pregnant. In January 1942, John was taken prisoner and sent to a POW camp in Shanghai. It wasn’t until May that Carolyn received word that John was even missing. It was another four years before John was released and allowed to return home. By this time, his baby girl was 3 ½ years old. Reading such letters is just like listening to my grandfather talk about his WWII experiences. It personalizes the historical experience and reminds us of the sacrifices that the average person made in fighting for our nation.