The HSLB has many ongoing programs, some are public events and some are preservation activities. All help bring history to life at the HSLB.

Annual Cemetery Tour

CamCHAP
In 2008, the Cambodian Community History and Archive Project (CamCHAP) was established as part of the HSLB. A partnership between California State Universities at Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) and Long Beach (CSULB), and the HSLB, where the collection is housed, CamCHAP ensures that the local Cambodian community is documented and included in the city’s historical narrative. CamCHAP founders have conducted ethnographic and linguistic research in this community since 1988, and have collected more than 2,000 photographs, nearly 1,400 English and Khmer newspapers, documents, unpublished manuscripts and reports from researchers, community members, and Cambodian-led and Cambodian-serving organizations. The co-founders, Dr. Susan Needham, CSUDH, and Dr. Karen Quintiliani, CSULB, in conjunction with Julie Bartolotto, HSLB Executive Director, formed CamCHAP to make certain the Cambodian history in Long Beach is accessible to community members, students, and scholars. The collection will be publicly accessible in 2012.

First Fridays
Each month, the HSLB enjoys being part of Atlantic Avenue’s popular First Friday Art Walk event. While the gallery exhibits would certainly be enough to entertain the guests, the HSLB often produces special programming for the event. In the past, we have shown films from Lion’s Drag Strip, hosted a string quartet, cheerleaders from Poly High School, and featured the 1940s vocal trio, the Swing Dolls. The programs are always free and always fun.

Oral History Program
For more than 20 years, the HSLB has collected oral histories. Our youth oral history program is entitled “Tell Me Your Story” and was created by Karen Harper as a celebration for Women’s History Month. Ms. Harper worked with the city’s elementary, middle and high schools to encourage students to collect the stories from the women in their families. The students turn the oral histories into essays, and the best essays are presented at a public program featuring the student and his or her storyteller. Click here to read a few of the essays that have been collected.

In 2008, the HSLB received a two-year grant from the James Irvine Foundation to collect oral histories from individuals who were groundbreakers in the city’s history. In 2008, we collected stories from Judge Marcus Tucker, the city’s first African American judge; Jean Bixby Smith, whose family owned Rancho Los Cerritos, and headed Bixby Land Company; and Evan Anderson Braude, former city council member whose stepfather served as lieutenant governor for California in the Edmund Brown administration. In 2009, we collected the oral histories of the city’s five living past mayors and the current mayor in public forums. The mayors, including Ernie Kell, Beverly O’Neill, Eunice Sato, Tom Clark and Bob Foster, were interviewed by notable officials including Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe and Doris Topsy-Elvord, the first African American woman to sit on the Long Beach Harbor Commission.

See, Sip & Savor
In 2010, the HSLB will host its fourth See, Sip & Savor event. Conceived by historian, Karen Harper, See, Sip and Savor is a house tour unlike any other. For the event, Ms. Harper asks four homeowners in Belmont Heights to welcome visitors into their homes for hors d’oeuvres, wine and desserts. Unlike most home tours, guests of the See, Sip and Savor event are welcomed into majestic homes and encouraged to linger a while and enjoy the hospitality of the homeowners, sharing food, drink and a lovely summer evening. The tour concentrates on the homes just north of Broadway, most of which are in the Spanish Revival style. Along with a tour of the homes and gardens, guests learn about the history of the area and the house including previous residents. On a past tour, one of the featured homes had the distinction of once being owned by a “magnetic healer” who quickly and mysteriously left town, just ahead of an investigation by law enforcement.

Workshops & Presentations
The HSLB frequently offers workshops and presentations. Generally offered by HSLB historians, past workshops and presentations have included a how-to seminar on using the archives to conduct research, the 1933 earthquake, the stories of actual “Rosie the riveters” and a reader’s theater based on the oral history of the city’s first African American judge, Marcus Tucker. Check out the Calendar of Events tab for upcoming events.