The Library will be closed on Sunday, March 31, 2024, in observance of Easter

Glen Creason, Librarian III, History & Genealogy Department

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Glen Creason and his daughter Carrie

When a Librarian Retires

May 13, 2022

I dislike the question “how do you like retirement?” I mean, this is like asking “how do you like breathing?” Life is a one-way street and there are no U-turns on the way toward the great unknown.


Glen Creason holding map

Fare Thee Well, Glen Creason

October 14, 2021

“I’m going from my valley. And this time, I shall never return. I am leaving behind me my fifty years of memory. Memory.


1932 Olympic Map Olympic Games Los Angeles Los Angeles

1932 Olympics Through the Lens of the Library

July 30, 2021

While today’s Olympic athletes are breaking records in Tokyo with the help of modern science and training methods the event is no more incredible or impressive than the “little games that could” in the Summer of 1932 in our own dear LA.


Cartograph of Southern California by Ruth Taylor White

Ruth Taylor White: The Great Cartographer With an Asterisk

March 26, 2021

After admiring her maps for several decades I began to ponder why the great Ruth Taylor White does not have a place in Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers or even a Wikipedia page. After all, she must be considered at the top of popular cartographers with few peers amongst pictorial mapmakers.


1935 postcard of the Los Angeles Central Library

Yes Virginia, There is a Central Library

December 24, 2020

Dear History and Genealogy Department:
I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Central Library anymore.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in on the website it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Central Library?


Hansen sketch of Los Angeles after statehood. A War Department publication in 1856, “Reports of Explorations and Surveys”

What Christmas in L.A. Was Like in 1851

December 24, 2020

We don’t have a typical Christmas season here in L.A., like the ones in syrupy movies with snow, ear muffs, winter coats, and people standing in a blizzard preparing to jump off a trestle.


Glean Creason from 1984

Of Friends: A Librarian Reflects

July 01, 2020

Libraries are empty of customers and that is sad as hell. Sad for library workers who not only love the musty smell of the stacks but also the everyday challenges of actual patrons!


1918 Poster about influenza

When L.A. Fought the Pandemic and Won

April 18, 2020

It was a time when Angelenos should have been preparing to head out into the streets waving victory flags and knocking back belts of whiskey before the commencement of the dreaded Volstead act.


The Junior League created this tourist map in 1980 showing a festive looking Chinatown

Chinatown: On the Map

March 13, 2019

Chinatown in Los Angeles has been demeaned and misunderstood for about a century and a half.


close up view of Forest Lawn Cemetery

Where the Souls Sleep on All Saints Eve

October 31, 2018

Halloween has become a huge, month-long celebration in these modern times and not just for candy and death as I recall it meant when I was a brat.


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