Conditions Governing Access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Preferred Citation
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Processing Information
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Existence and Location of Copies
Other Finding Aids
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive
Creator:
Los Angeles Times (Firm)
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1429
Physical Description:
1528.4 Linear Feet
(3446 boxes and 750 shoeboxes)
Date (inclusive): circa 1918-1990
Abstract: The
Los Angeles Times was founded in 1881 and was incorporated as the Times-Mirror Company in 1884. The collection consists of photonegatives as
well as photographic prints documenting events and people in Southern California, the U. S., and the world. The material originates
from the
Los Angeles Times newspaper and includes glass negatives (circa 1918-1932), nitrate negatives (circa 1925-45), and safety negatives (circa
1935-present). Also includes prints and negatives from the
Los Angeles Times Orange County and San Diego bureaus.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research, with the following exceptions: Boxes 3701-3702 are closed until Library Preservation completes treatment
of materials.
Nitrate negatives are restricted from use.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
PORTIONS OF THIS COLLECTION HAVE BEEN DIGITIZED. See the Existence and Location of Copies note for the link to the digitized
materials.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Copyright to portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library Special Collections. The library can grant
permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish must be submitted
in writing to Library Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: The Regents of the University of California on
behalf of the UCLA Library Special Collections.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Times Mirror Company, 1983-1995.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
Prints processed by Manuscripts Division staff. Review and cleanup of negative indexes by Courtney Dean, 2014-2016.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
The
Los Angeles Times was founded as the
Los Angeles Daily Times on December 4, 1881 by Nathan Cole Jr. and Thomas Gardiner. The following year Cole and Gardiner relinquished ownership
of the newspaper to its printer, the Mirror Printing Office and Book Bindery. Harrison Gray Otis was hired as editor in 1882
and the paper quickly became a financial success.
In 1884 Otis and his partner H. H. Boyce purchased the Times and Mirror properties and incorporated them as the Times-Mirror
Company. Otis bought out his partner two years later. In October 1886, "Daily" was dropped from the name, and the paper became
known as the
Los Angeles Times. On October 1, 1910 the
Times building was bombed by union leaders, resulting in the death of twenty-one people.
The
Times continued to be owned and published by Harrison Grey Otis' descendants, including son-in-law Harry Chandler (publisher, 1917-1944);
grandson Norman Chandler (1944-1960); and great-grandson Otis Chandler (1960-1980). Despite fierce competition amongst local
newspapers, the
Los Angeles Times became the city's leading newspaper in the mid-1940s. In the 1960s, the paper won four Pulitzer Prizes.
In 1948 the
Times launched the afternoon tabloid the
Los Angeles Mirror, which absorbed the
Los Angeles Daily News in 1954 and ceased publication in 1962. The Times-Mirror Company was also an original owner of Los Angeles television station
KTTV which debuted in January 1949.
The Chandler family continued to own the
Times until June 2000, when the Tribune Company acquired Times Mirror, and the
Los Angeles Times became a Tribune Publishing Newspaper. In 2016, it is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the United States.
Scope and Content
The collection dates from circa 1918 to 1990 and provides a record of major world events, what the
Times considered as significant news in the moment. The scope of its contents is near-comprehensive as a document of events, personalities,
movements, and institutions in the news. The collection contains images of scandals and crimes from the Fatty Arbuckle trial
(1921) to the Munich Massacre (1972); coverage of wars from WWII through Vietnam and the wars in the Gulf region; disasters
and tragedies from the Hindenburg explosion (1937) to the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster and Chernobyl (1986). Advances
in science are recorded, from the first open-heart surgery (1952) to the first moon landing (1969) and the first test-tube
baby (1978), as well as images from reporting on global social justice movements such as the anti-apartheid movement in South
Africa, democracy movements in Eastern Europe, anti-militarist struggles in Latin America, and the U.S. civil rights movement,
among others.
Unique among its content is the amount of photographic evidence concerning the Los Angeles region during this time. The range
of documentary material reflecting L.A. politics, the built environment, arts and culture, race relations, industry, growth
and development is perhaps unrivaled. The photographic records resulting from the
Times' diligent and constant coverage of the Hollywood entertainment industry are a particularly important cache.
Materials include glass negatives (circa 1918-1932), nitrate negatives (1930-circa 1948), safety negatives (circa 1935-1990),
and working prints and wire service photos (circa 1920-1990). The collection also includes prints and negatives from the
Los Angeles Times Orange County and San Diego bureaus. Negatives are not limited to published images and include a significant amount of images
which never appeared in the paper. A small number of assorted historic negatives are still in the procession of the
LA Times.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Prints
- Glass negatives
- Nitrate negatives
- Safety negatives
Existence and Location of Copies
Digitized images from the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive available through the
UCLA Digital Library.
Other Finding Aids
Negatives are searchable through paper indexes housed at the Library Special Collections reference desk on the A level of
the Charles E. Young Research Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photonegatives.
Negatives (photographs).
Photographs.
American newspapers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archives.
Los Angeles Times (Firm) -- Archives