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Historical Society of Long Beach

Where History Lives!

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    • THE LONG BEACH HISTORICAL NEWSPAPER COLLECTION
      • Long Beach Historical Newspaper Collection – Catalog
        • By Date
        • The Press (1910-1924)
        • The Press-Telegram (1924-1989)
        • The Sun (1925-1944)
        • The Independent (1938-1971)
        • Southland (1952-1966)
        • The Zone Adveritsing (1958-1967)
        • Miscellaneous Publications (1897-1938)
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  • Exhibitions & Programs
    • The Cambodian American 1.5 Generation Oral History Project & Colin Grafton Border Camp Photographs
    • The Workers’ Harbor – How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach
    • Discovering Jenny – The Personal Collection of a State Senator
    • Centro de La Raza: John A. Taboada Legacy Photo Collection, 1970-1985
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Collection Highlights


With a collection as diverse and impressive as ours, it’s hard to showcase everything but the following list is an introduction to some of the most popular and unique holdings.

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency

Click here for a more complete list of holdings.

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (LBRDA) Collection includes approximately 23,700 35mm slides as well as many photographic prints, negatives, digital files, oversized aerial photographs, maps, AV materials, and documents. These items show neighborhoods both before and after the completion of LBRDA projects. The LBRDA was formed in 1961 and dissolved by state law in 2012. Click here for a more complete list of holdings.

Long Beach Written and Oral Histories

Long Beach histories such as those written by Walter Case (1927, 1935, 1942 and 1948 editions); Fortune’s Harbor by Larry Meyer and Pat Kalayjian, 1983; The Golden Shore by Richard DeAtley, 1988; and The City and its People by Bill Hillburg, 2000.

North Long Beach Archive including oral history interviews, ephemera, artifacts, photos and digitized copies of all of the existing issues of that neighborhood’s newspaper, the Long Beach Argus.

City Manager Files

City Manager Files spanning the years from 1923 until 1953 illustrate the municipal government’s involvement in developments during those years including some of the most important events to impact Long Beach: the 1933 earthquake, the discovery of oil, and World War II.

Surveys and Directoires

Cultural Resource Surveys of some of Long Beach’s first established historic districts.

Polk City Directories 1899 to 1969 similar to telephone books with listings by address, alphabetical listings, and business categories.

Scrapbooks and Yearbooks

Balboa Studios scrapbook from the City’s pioneering movie studio, with materials not available in any other collection.

Ledgers and scrapbooks from local families and organizations unique to the HSLB collection.

Yearbooks from many Long Beach high schools and colleges.

Maps and Architectural Drawings

Maps beginning with the earliest local subdivisions to those based on satellite photos taken in the 1990s.

Architectural drawings of some of the area’s suburban developers such as Poper, Roberts, Jones, Power, and Lockett.

Cambodian Community History

Click here for Cambodian Community History

Cambodian Community History and Archive Project’s collection is now available by appointment. Call 562.424.2220 and visit

Newspapers

In July 2011, after six months of negotiations and years of discussion, the Press-Telegram’s collection of bound newspaper volumes was deposited with the Historical Society of Long Beach (HSLB) for proper archival, long-term storage, and public access. This 1,400 volume collection represents one of the richest sources of local, historical materials. 

Click here to learn more about the Historical Newspaper Collection

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