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Mitchell Red Cloud
Deborah Savage, November 21, 2016

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the cultures, histories, traditions, and achievements of Native people. We also honor veterans this month, on November 11.


Souper by Gaston La Touche (1854-1913)

The holiday season provides wonderful opportunities for people to attend social gatherings, whether office parties, family get-togethers, visiting with friends from out of town, catching up with acquaintances, and just spending time with loved ones.


Sphinxes
Central Docents, November 15, 2016

In Part 1 of our post we looked at sculpture on the library’s exterior as it reflects an overall theme, The Light of Learning.


Flower Street facade of Los Angeles Central Library
Central Docents, October 21, 2016

Since I began leading docent tours eight years ago at the Los Angeles Central Library, some tour goers ask—is hidden Masonic symbolism contained in the art that decorates the library? Unwilling to get into a debate about conspiracy theories or mind control, I always chose to deflect the question.


Celebrate Latino Heritage Month
Llyr Heller, September 19, 2016

September marks Latino heritage month. As of 2015 Latinos make up 17.4% of the population in the United States. Historians estimate that around 250,000 to 500,000 out of a total 2.7 million Latinos in the United States served in World War II.


UN World Peace Bell
Central Docents, September 14, 2016

Most visitors to the Central Library’s Maguire Gardens see Jud Fine's “Spine” installation and the unique collection of fountains that grace the gardens, but not everyone notices tucked away in the westernmost corner, nearest Flower Street, a quiet token of the most ambitious possibility, the World Peace B


Buddhist monks

Several months ago, while driving home during rush hour on a Friday night, my fiancée and I noticed a young teenager lying unconscious on the side of a busy street. We pulled over and called 911 to hopefully provide some help for him.


Detail of owl sculpture for the balconies of central library
Central Docents, August 16, 2016

The doors of wisdom are never shut.—Benjamin Franklin

The classic icon of wisdom, the owl, is found in several places around the original Bertram Goodhue Library building. These owls are not hidden, but they may not be obvious to the casual visitor.


Children dressed in the costumes of many different countries hold signs indicating the languages in which books are available at the Los Angeles Public Library, ca 1939
Teresa Mons, August 10, 2016

Los Angeles has been a multi-cultural, polyglot city from the earliest times. In 1781, the pobladores, a small group of racially diverse farmers from Sonora, Mexico, arrived near the banks of the Porciuncula River at a place that would later become Los Angeles.


Groovy, complicated heraldic achievement
Julie Huffman, August 08, 2016

I recently completed an online heraldry class conducted by the University of Strathclyde, and I learned a great deal that will be helpful to me as a genealogy librarian.


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