Archive Fever, the second-annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, will showcase a wealth of Los Angeles-themed cultural, political and historical materials at the Huntington Library on Sept. 29.

Experts from 42 organizations will welcome students, K-12 educators, researchers and others curious about the complex story of Los Angeles.

Among those representing USC will be L.A. as Subject managing director Susan Anderson, university archivist and manuscript librarian Claude Zachary, USC College history professor Phil Ethington, special collections librarian Dace Taube, USC Libraries director of programming Tyson Gaskill and American studies and ethnicity graduate student Gilbert Estrada.

The bazaar will present a sampling of the larger group of institutions and individuals that participate in L.A. as Subject, a research alliance dedicated to improving access to archives that document the history of Los Angeles’ diverse peoples, languages, cultures and geography.

Members’ collections feature everything from 16th-century century maps showing California as an island to historic L.A. murals studied throughout the world.

Headquartered at the USC Libraries, L.A. as Subject supports interdisciplinary researchers in the greater Los Angeles community and beyond. Since coming to USC in 2000, L.A. as Subject has expanded its outreach efforts and grown to include more than 300 regional archives.

Anderson, who assumed leadership of the program in January, said, “L.A. as Subject is dedicated to bringing to light hidden resources and overlooked communities in the Los Angeles narrative.”

Added Ethington, “L.A. as Subject links smaller archives with major institutions such as USC and the Huntington Library. The Archives Bazaar gives equal space to large and small archives, so smaller collections can display their materials alongside the big players. This boosts their visibility and accessibility.”

Participating organizations at this year’s Los Angeles Archives Bazaar include the Autry National Center Museum of the American West, the Filipino American Library, the Japanese American National Museum, the Los Angeles Public Library, the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, the USC Libraries Special Collections and independent historian Marc Wanamaker’s Bison Archive.

In addition, this year’s bazaar will feature speakers covering family genealogy, historic preservation and local resources available for exploring Los Angeles history.

“Last year’s event was a tremendous success,” Anderson said. “More than 800 people attended, so our participating archives were exposed to large numbers of local history enthusiasts. This year, we’re featuring additional archives and programming, so we’re expecting an even bigger turnout.”

Added Ethington, “People streamed into the bazaar from all over the county. Many were just curious about L.A. history or their own family’s history, while others were affiliated with neighborhood history associations. It was extremely gratifying to see that we were serving such a widespread need outside the walls of the university.

“The Archives Bazaar has suddenly become the single most important public forum for archives in the L.A. area,” he continued. “It is a great credit to USC, which is fulfilling its commitment to serve the metropolis from its geographical center.”

Archivist Ken McGuire, of the St. Vincent Medical Center Historical Conservancy, chairs the executive committee of L.A. as Subject. He said, "Thanks to last year's bazaar, a Ph.D. candidate at Claremont Graduate University is now regularly conducting research in our archive for her dissertation on the early history of the Daughters of Charity in Southern California.

“Our participation in L.A. as Subject has created a new level of community access to our institution. In particular, the Archives Bazaar has increased the overall awareness of the rich scholarly materials contained at the conservancy."

The Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, under the leadership of USC College professor Bill Deverell, collaborated with L.A. as Subject to mount the Archives Bazaar.

“He and his group have been instrumental,” Anderson said. “They’ve helped us build on the success of last year’s bazaar to make it a vital attraction for local history enthusiasts.”

The Los Angeles Archives Bazaar is co-sponsored by L.A. as Subject, the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West and the Los Angeles History Research Group.

The bazaar will take place at the Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Road, in San Marino on Sept. 29, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking and admission to the event are free, and registration is not required.