Madrona Marsh Preserve is a 44-acre nature preserve in Torrance, CA. The preserve was established during the 1970s in a partnership between the Friends of Madrona Marsh and the City of Torrance. The collection includes material related to the history and founding of the preserve; financial documents; correspondence; memorandums; photographs; documents related to programming, projects, wildlife, and education; papers related to the Friends of Madrona Marsh; reference material including newsletters, clippings, articles, and other material regarding other parks, wetlands, animals, plants; and other related topics.

In the early 1970s, developers expressed interest in the prime real estate on which the area in Torrance, near the Madrona Marsh was located, which started a conflict for the Madrona Marsh. Resistance came from environmentalists who wanted to preserve as much of the wildlife area as possible. As a result, a group formed in 1972 and was called the Friends of the Madrona Marsh. The Friends of Madrona Marsh is a non-profit organization that was established in 1972. They are dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the marsh through an assortment of activities throughout the year to bring awareness. Debate continued throughout all the 1970s regarding this piece of property. In 1980s, the city of Torrance was given a 34.4 acres deed to the marsh for wildlife preservation. Three decades later after the first argument started, in 2001, the preserve came to be with the opening of the Madrona Marsh Nature Center in 2001.

36 boxes ( 8 record storage, 17 document cases, 2 oversized boxes, 9 photograph boxes)

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

This collection is open for research.