On Jan. 29, the Library kicked off a party 100 years in the making.
As Alive! reported last month, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the iconic Central Library building downtown. A kickoff event for “Central 100: Celebrating a Century of Light and Learning” took place to announce the department’s schedule of related events throughout the year, and to present to the public the contents of a time capsule placed in the cornerstone at the building’s completion in 1926. The time capsule was recently opened for the anniversary.
Highlights planned for the year include exhibits, presentations, a new limited-edition library card, special merchandise, book releases, a festival, oral histories, additional celebrations and special programs.
Contents of the time capsule include:
- A scrapbook of photos and descriptions of the previous locations of the library’s central buildings;
- A list of all the library’s employees;
- Notes from the building’s architects;
- A smaller time-capsule-within-a-capsule, containing cornerstone contents of the building that occupied the space where the Central Library was constructed. That building, the California State Normal School was the precursor of UCLA. Contents of that smaller time capsule date from 1881. Contents included newspapers in several languages;
- And other items.
- Inside was a scrapbook, “Homes of the Los Angeles Public Library,” which included photos of significant downtown buildings. A typed list of every library employee, including stenographers and janitors, along with City Librarian Everett R. Perry, was inside, as well as the design story, told by the architects of the building.
The contents of the pair of time capsules should be on display at Central Library by the time you read this. City Librarian John F. Szabo, Club Member, said the Library will produce its own time capsule at the conclusion of this anniversary year, and place it in the building’s cornerstone.
The yearlong celebration is being produced with substantial contributions from the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Todd Lerew, Director of Special Projects for the Library Foundation, managed the project that unearthed the time capsule for the 100th anniversary.
Congratulations to the Library and Library Foundation on launching this special anniversary!
