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Author Scott Thomas and his latest novel, Midwestern Gothic
Author Scott Thomas and his latest novel, Midwestern Gothic
Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library, September 19, 2024

Scott Thomas is the Stoker-nominated author of Kill Creek, which was selected by the American Library Association's reader committee as the top horror book of 2017,...

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Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953)

Ruth Crawford Seeger: Musical Ultra-Modernist and Folklorist

Alan Westby, Librarian, Art, Music & Recreation Department, Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) is widely recognized both as the most important American woman composer of the Twentieth Century, and as a major figure in the study and preservation of American folk music.


Bitcoin logo.

Bitcoin: The Age of Cryptocurrency

Tamara Holub, Librarian, Business Department, Friday, March 17, 2017

Bitcoin is both a currency (monetary system) and a software program. Introduced in 2009 as open-source software, Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. It is decentralized in the sense that is has no regulatory authority such as a central bank.


Illuminations, a series of lanterns by Ann Preston in the Bradley Wing. Photo courtesy of Karina Buck

Ann Preston's Lamps Illuminate the Bradley Wing

Central Docents, Central Library, Wednesday, March 15, 2017

A highlight of our docent tours is Ann Preston's Illuminations, a series of lanterns that descend the southern escalator landings of the Tom Bradley Wing.


Lucille Raport shown at her architectural firm in 1961 (detail)

Women's History Month Spotlight on Lucille Bryant Raport: North Hollywood Architect

Christina Rice, Senior Librarian, Photo Collection, Monday, March 6, 2017

For many, the predominant image of the post-War woman is the suburban mother and consummate homemaker as immortalized in television characters of the period such as Donna Stone (The Donna Reed Show), Harriet Nelson (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet), and June Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver).


 Suffragettes on Parade, LAPL Photo Collection (sometime before 1920)

The Legacy of Equal Rights Magazine

Social Science, Philosophy and Religion Department, Central Library, Saturday, March 4, 2017

March 8 marks International Women’s Day, a global celebration that has taken place yearly since the early 1900s. IWD celebrates women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements and contributions and calls for action to increase gender equality.


Portrait of Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall - An American Hero

Social Science, Philosophy and Religion Department, Central Library, Sunday, February 26, 2017

“You do what you think is right and let the law catch up”—Thurgood Marshall


Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin, Treemonisha and American Opera

Alan Westby, Librarian, Art, Music & Recreation Department, Tuesday, February 21, 2017

2017 marks the hundredth anniversary of the death, at the age of 49, of Scott Joplin, one of America's first great composers, and the composer of arguably the first important American opera: Treemonisha.


Love tree

Two LAPL Love Stories

Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction, Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Los Angeles Public Library has several branches and community rooms named in honor of notable writers. Two branches are named in honor of writers whose lives include wonderful love stories.


Tower Reconstruction, 1991.

What Are "Air Rights" and Why Are They Important to Central?

Central Docents, Central Library, Friday, February 10, 2017

The shortest answer to the question of importance is that without the funds which the city received for the sale of the air rights above the Central Library site, we might not have the Goodhue Building today. Instead of being renovated, it easily might have been demolished.


The University of California at Los Angeles after trailing California at Berkeley through the first quarter, finally came into its own at the Memorial Coliseum. In this photo, Kenny Washington, brilliant Bruin halfback, is away to a smashing gain as his teammate, Woody Strode, effectively blocks out the California secondary defense. Dated November 4, 1939

Los Angeles and the Reintegration of the NFL

Bob Timmermann, Senior Librarian, History & Genealogy Department, Friday, February 3, 2017

In 1995, after playing in Southern California for nearly 50 years, the Los Angeles Rams left the West Coast for the Midwest, to become the St. Louis Rams. They would stay there for 21 years, winning one Super Bowl title and losing in a second, before coming back to the Southland last year.


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