A Time of Transition: Whittier Communities in the Post-War Era

FAIN: PY-234215-16

Whittier Public Library (Whittier, CA 90602-1730)
Paymaneh Maghsoudi (Project Director: June 2015 to October 2017)

A region-wide series of public programs and a digitization event hosted by the Whittier Library and the Whitter Museum that would solicit cultural heritage materials from local citizens documenting the important history of postwar Whittier, California, and its rapid suburbanization. Employing established local networks and staff of the library and the museum, the project will support two public programs featuring a presentation of the library’s holdings and a lecture about the region’s history. A culminating event at the library would feature a slideshow and contextual interpretation of the public’s digitized artifacts, which would be on display permanently in the Whittier’s digital archives.

This project will encourage community members to contribute to the library’s digital collections photographs, documents, ephemera, and artifacts representing the post-war era in Whittier (1940s-1960s). Bilingual promotional materials and invitations to community leaders will be used to focus outreach on Whittier’s Latino community, which makes up 66% of incorporated Whittier, 77% of South Whittier, and 87% of West Whittier. Programs will highlight Whittier’s Latino population during a time of transition in Whittier history. A population explosion, the development of ranch and orchard land into suburban housing, and the extension of the 605 freeway into West Whittier are examples of major changes to be explored in public programming. This project will build on the California State Library grant-funded Shades of Whittier digitization project, as well as the recently-awarded ALA grant “Latino Americans: 500 Years of History,” to diversify Whittier's digital archives.