History & Genealogy Department - Los Angeles Public Library

04/21/2026

The landmark Los Angeles Central Library opened to the public in July 1926. On January 29, 2026, to kick off the library's centennial year, a time capsule that was placed in the building's cornerstone during the original construction was unveiled to the public for the first time. This video highlights the year-long journey to recover the capsule and spotlights some of its unique contents.

The landmark Los Angeles Central Library opened to the public in July 1926. On January 29, 2026, to kick off the library's centennial year, a time capsule that was placed in the building's cornerstone during the original construction was unveiled to the public for the first time. This video highligh...

02/05/2026

Join us on Saturday February 7, 12PM @ Central Library as author Brian Dervin Dillon, Ph.D. tells the story of one of the most remarkable, unsung women of WWII, Alice Chong.

Chong was the only American-born Chinese female War Correspondent publishing articles in the Honolulu Newspapers (1938-1940), and the only American-born Chinese woman to work for General Claire (Flying Tigers) Chennault at his Kunming 14th U.S. Army Air Force base (1943-45) as his on-call interpreter and intelligence expert.

Dillon will give a presentation, take questions and sign copies of his book., An American Heroine: Behind the Lines with Alice Chong in Hawaii and China, 1909-1972.

Central Library - Meeting Room A, 12PM.

For ADA accommodations, call (213) 228-7430 at least 72 hours prior to the event.

Brian Dervin Dillon, Ph.D. presents his new book, An American Heroine: Behind the Lines with Alice Chong in Hawaii and China, 1909-1972, about Alice Chong, a war correspondent, intelligence officer, interpreter, and one of the most remarkable women to serve in World War II.

02/03/2026

It’s 2026, and we’re looking forward to commemorating 100 years of the Central Library. While the opening of the Central Library was truly momentous, it wasn't the only exciting thing going on in L.A. Visit the blog to see what else was happening in 1926: http://lapl.me/nT3yQAE

01/27/2026

https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/trivia-central

Test your knowledge by joining us tomorrow 1/28 for a game of trivia hosted by It Wonders Me Trivia. Bring your brains, leave your phones. Form a team or come alone. The prizes may be small, but the bragging rights are huge!

Join "It Wonders Me Trivia" for two knowledge-packed rounds of trivia and fun! Bring your brains, leave your phones. Form a team or come alone. The prizes may be small, but the bragging rights are huge!

08/17/2024

Map Librarian Peter Hauge takes us on a tour of the ghost towns and gold mines of California through a few maps found in our collection.

07/09/2024

Kelly Wallace is a California history subject specialist

04/25/2024

A colorful, eccentric figure from L.A.’s recent past, Judge Noel Cannon was smart, tough, and totally unpredictable; she was a “Judge Judy” type long before there was a Judge Judy. Loathed, feared, and adored in equal measures, Noel Cannon would prove to be a one-woman tornado blowing through the Los Angeles legal landscape. Today, her name and reputation inhabit a median space between a punchline and a warning, but her story is not that cut-and-dry.

On Wednesday, May 17, 1967, a petite woman sporting a pink babydoll dress and white patent leather Mary Jane shoes pulled a pearl-handled Derringer revolver and pointed it in the direction of Los Angeles reporters and photographers. Bearing a passing resemblance to one of the Gabor sisters, the mode...

03/27/2024

At the Vernon - Leon H. Washington Jr. Memorial Branch Library, there is a wall in the meeting room adorned with four framed portraits. Two are paintings: one depicts writer Langston Hughes and is a gift from Miriam Matthews, the Los Angeles Public Library’s first Black librarian. The other is Leo...

03/12/2024

Our Genealogy Librarian, Julie shows us the value of City Directories when doing research here at Central Library. The Genealogy Collection at Central Library is one of the largest on the west coast, numbering more than 45,000 volumes, including over 10,000 family histories.

01/30/2024

On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold on the property of Johann A. Sutter near Coloma, California kicking off the gold rush.

Map Librarian Peter Hauge takes a look at a few maps documenting the Gold Chain that brought hundreds of thousands of folks to California looking for gold.