Numbering some 65,000 volumes, this author-based collection of North American writing emphasizes the period from 1850 to 1975. Significant holdings include Hamlin Garland's library and papers, including his correspondence with Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.  Highlights of the rare book collection - the oldest of its kind in Los Angeles - are early editions of works by Lewis Carroll, a first edition of Audubon's Birds of America and Christopher Columbus' 1493 account of his discovery of the New World known as The Columbus Letter.

Established in 1985, the Boeckmann Center's collections include an 80,000-volume donation from Mr. and Mrs. Herbert F. Boeckmann II, as well as several distinguished but smaller book collections, such as the L. A. Murillo Cervantes Collection, the Radell Cuban Collection, Lorente Cuban Exiles Studies Collection, South American books and pamphlets donated by the San Martin Society of the San Fernando Valley, and archival materials of the Central American Research Institute Collection and the Cuban California Archive, supported by members of the Patronato Jose Marti of Los Angeles. 

The East Asian Library includes Chinese, Japanese, and Korean-language materials in all fields, but with an emphasis on the social sciences and humanities. Several notable donations have been combined to comprise a core collection of Chinese materials: the Theodore H.E. Chen Collection, the Suski Collection, the Tam Kai Chung Collection, and the Chow Tse-Tsung Collection (donation in progress). Since 1985, the main thrust of the East Asian Library has been to build a strong research collection for Korean studies which, under the name the Korean Heritage Library, has attained a national and international stature.

The Korean Heritage Library, comprising a portion of USC's East Asian Library, was established in April 1986 with the aim of building comprehensive collections in all areas of Korean studies. Its current collection includes more than 40,000 books, 500 serials, 650 videocassettes, 2,000 reels of microfilm, 200 maps (including 170 antique maps), several hundred photographs, and significant holdings of archival materials. The Korean American Digital Archive includes more than 11,000 pages from nearly 900 documents and more than 1,800 photographers related to the "first wave" Korean-American community in the United States and is available through the Digital Archive. The KHL's particular strengths are in Korean newspapers, Korean-American and immigration history, Korean cinema, journalism and mass media, Korean independence movements, the Korean War, and local materials of the Cholla-do region.

The Feuchtwanger Library comprises the most significant archive documenting German Jewish and other exiles in Southern California prior to, during and after World War II. The archive includes Lion Feuchtwanger's personal and business correspondence, a book collection, reviews of his works, photographs and other personal artifacts.

Among the USC Regional History Collection's extensive holdings are the Hearst collection of clippings and more than one million photographs from 1930 to 1961 and bound volumes of the Evening Express, 1872-1899; the papers of Governor Edmund "Jerry" Brown, Jr.; the California Historical Society Collection of 23,000 photographs that document the development of Los Angeles between 1860 and 1960; the Christopher Commission archive detailing the investigation into the 1992 Los Angeles riots; and the Southern California Social Welfare Archives.

The University Archives document more than 120 years of academic life at Southern California's first university and include books, manuscripts, USC periodicals and newspapers, ephemera, photographic images, disc and tape recordings, and other archival items.

A number of USC schools have developed impressive holdings that come under the research center's umbrella. Among these are:

• the School of Architecture archives, which includes a strong collection relating to the building of the Wilshire Boulevard commercial corridor;
• the archives of the School of Cinema-Television, the largest of its kind in the world, that include the David L. Wolper Archives, the Archive of Film and Television Music and the Louis B. Mayer Film and Television Center;
• the Thornton School of Music archives, which include original manuscripts, as well as the private score and monograph collections of composers Ingolf Dahl and Rayner Brown; and
• the USC Southern California Social Work Archive, which has a strong regional focus. 

The research center is augmenting its substantial collections by gathering primary materials from Southern California's pioneer families and organizations that have made a significant impact on the development of the region. Scholars and researchers will be able to draw on these collections to compile an innovative and incisive history of the region as told by the people who made it. For example, the research center is documenting California Rancho families, First Century families, and early African-American and Asian-American families in the region.
Previous  |  Next