CSUDH Archival Research Guide Published

Guide to the Archival Collections of CSU Dominguez Hills and the CSU System http://archives.csudh.edu/Guide%20to%20CSUDH%20Collections.pdf The Archives and Special Collections Department in the University Library has published a Guide to the Archival Collections of CSU Dominguez Hills and the California State University System. Compiled by Greg Williams, Director of the Archives and Thomas Philo, cataloging archivist, the Guide represents the first comprehensive documentation of the extent and depth of the Archival Collections at Dominguez Hills. The 150 page guide has over 100 illustrations from the collection and is available online at the Archives website: http://www. archives.csudh.edu. The Archives has over 215 collections consisting of 2500 feet of archival material dating from the 1850s through the 2000s, 150,000 photographs and a digital collection of 6000 items. In addition there are over 5000 rare or special collection books dating back to 1555. The Guide contains shorter descriptions than the 115 CSUDH finding aids that are published on the Online Archive of California (OAC) http://www.oac.cdlib.org. The Guide has links to each OAC finding aid. The Guide also includes a history of the archives, information on archival collecting initiatives, materials on use of the collections, research topics by major, and a list of research areas featured in the collection. Because the Guide is on-line it will be updated when new collections are cataloged. This purpose of the Guide is to allow faculty and students to have a quick understanding of what is in our collections,” said Greg Williams. “This tremendous resource is available to all students, faculty and community members.”

The collection of history materials began at Dominguez Hills in the late 1960s with initiatives to collect Japanese American materials and Dominguez Family records by members of the History Department, and continued through the 1970s with the accumulation of a rare book collection in the library. In 1979 the University became the archive for the CSU System. The main responsibility of the Archives and Special Collections Department of the University Library at CSUDH is to serve the research needs of CSUDH students, faculty and the community. Additionally, the Archives also functions to encourage CSUDH students to use primary sources. The department serves several functions as the archives for the Dominguez Hills campus, the 23-campus California State University System and the Rancho San Pedro/Dominguez Family. In addition the Archives have various South Bay Los Angeles, Compton and Long Beach collections, an Asian Pacific Studies Collection, the congressional papers of Glenn Anderson and Juanita Millender-McDonald. The archives also has extensive material on the 1910 Los Angeles Aviation Meet at Dominguez Field, Tradeswomen, African Diaspora Sacred Music and many collections on Japanese Americans during World War II. In addition the Archives’ rare book collections include such topics as photography, Latin America, early 20th century bestsellers and the works of avant-garde publishers Boni-Liveright, Grove Press, Thomas Mosher Press and Peter Pauper Press. The Archives also has several on-line photo collections that are listed in the Guide.The Archives blog is located at http://csudharchives.blogspot.com/. The Archives is open to researchers Monday-Friday 10-4.