James L. Ruhle California Earthquake Collection
Finding aid created by Glendale Central Library History Room staff using RecordEXPRESS
Glendale Library, Arts and Culture. Glendale Central Library History Room
2021
222 E. Harvard Street
Glendale, California 91205
(818) 548-3749
libraryinfo@glendaleca.gov
http://www.glendalepubliclibrary.org/
Title: James L. Ruhle California Earthquake Collection
Dates: 1971
Collection Number: JLR
Creator/Collector:
Ruhle, James L.
Extent: 0.21 linear feet, 1 box
Repository:
Glendale Library, Arts and Culture. Glendale Central Library History Room
Glendale, California 91205
Abstract: The James L. Ruhle California Earthquake Collection consists of a small set of slides and prints documenting damage to structures
and roadways during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, also known as the Sylmar earthquake. The slides were prepared by geologist
and photographer James L. Ruhle who taught in the Geology Department at California State University, Fullerton. This collection
of 36 slides may have been replicated in a slide set titled, "San Fernando Earthquake," one of approximately 80 sets of audiovisual
teaching aids published by James L. Ruhle and Associates in the 1970s and 1980s.
Language of Material: English
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has not been transferred
to Glendale Central Library. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law beyond that allowed
by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially
exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
James L. Ruhle California Earthquake Collection. Glendale Library, Arts and Culture. Glendale Central Library History Room
Unknown
Scope and Content of Collection
The James L. Ruhle California Earthquake Collection consists of 36 numbered color 35 mm slides (plus one duplicate), and 41
color 8 x 10 photographic prints which replicate the slides. The collection also contains a list describing the context and
location of each photograph by slide number. The slides document the impact of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, also known
as the Sylmar earthquake, which was most severe in the northeastern section of the San Fernando Valley approximately 28 miles
north of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake caused 64 deaths, most from the collapse of a hospital administered by the
Veteran’s Administration. Other deaths occurred at the Olive View Medical Center which had opened only three weeks earlier.
The nearby Van Norman Reservoir lost 30 feet of its upper section, but due to an earlier water release, thousands of lives
were spared. The images in this collection document damage to the roofs, chimneys, and foundations of private residences,
buckled and uplifted sidewalks, the collapse of the emergency vehicle carport and one wing of Olive View Medical Center, buckled
sections and collapsed overpasses of the Golden State and Foothill Freeways, landslides in Lopez, Schwartz, and Grapevine
Canyons, and the collapsed upper section of Van Norman Reservoir. Color of the photographic prints is degraded.
Earthquakes--California--San Fernando
San Fernando Earthquake, Calif., 1971
Ruhle, James L., 1936-2016
Sylmar (Los Angeles, Calif.)
San Fernando Valley (Calif.)
Los Angeles County (Calif.)
Photographic Materials