From left: Ms. Moore, Senior Librarian, Helen Spotts, formerly head of Vermont Square & Hollywood branches, an unidentified patron of the library, an unidentified man, and Miriam Matthews. They are holding a banner with the message "45th Anniversary." Miriam Matthews was hired as the first African American librarian in the Los Angeles Public Library in 1927. Matthews was also a civil rights activist, historian, and collector of African American art and primary source materials. She was the sister of businesswoman Ella Matthews and lawyer Charles Matthews Helen Spotts was the head of the Vermont Square and the Hollywood branches of the Los Angeles Public Library system. The Vermont Square Library was designed by architects Sumner Hunt and Silas Reese Burns, Funded by a grant from Andrew Carnegie, it was completed in 1913. Located at 1201 W. 48th St. in the Vermont Square district, it is the oldest branch library in the Los Angeles Public Library system. One of the three surviving Carnegie libraries in Los Angeles, it has been designated a Historic-Cultural Monument and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Written on back of photo: Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the Vermont Square Regional Library, April 1958. From right: (1) Miriam Matthews, Regional Librarian, (2) and (3) Vermont Square's two oldest patrons, (4) Helen Spotts formerly head of the Vermont Square & the Hollywood Branches, and (5) _____ Moore, Senior librarian at Vermont Square.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b20_f19_002a.tif ark:/21198/z19c8fj2
Subject
African American librarians Branch libraries Spotts, Helen, b. 1893 or 94 Los Angeles Public Library (Calif.). Vermont Square Branch Library Matthews, Miriam
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