LAPL Blog
Deborah Savage, Librarian, History & Genealogy Department

Memoirs of Japanese-Americans Incarcerated During World War II
By the late nineteenth century, the West Coast of the United States was home to thriving Japanese communities. After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred the immigration of Chinese workers, Japanese laborers were sought for many industries, including agriculture and fishing.
Women Who Risked Everything: Female Spies of World War II
World War II required an enormous number of troops and personnel throughout the world. The unrelenting demand for labor opened up new opportunities for women. For the first time, the United States military established separate branches for women.
Honoring Native American Veterans
November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the cultures, histories, traditions, and achievements of Native people. We also honor veterans this month, on November 11.
Ansel Adams….Yosemite, Manzanar and Beyond
While many books by and about photographer Ansel Adams are in the Art Department, the History Department also holds many books he wrote and illustrated. Born in San Francisco a few years before the 1906 earthquake, Adams achieved fame for his beautiful black and white photographs of Yosemite Valley.
Hippos, Crocodiles, and Rhinos! Oh My!
A colleague in the History Department recently came across an old book whose drab cover hides a fascinating adventure story. Woman on a Horse, written in 1956, is Ana Beker’s account of the four years she spent riding h
The No-Longer-Lost Franklin Expedition
On Sept. 8, 2014, the Canadian Prime Minister announced that one of the ships from the doomed Franklin Expedition had been found in the Arctic. Canadian scientists have been searching for the ships since 2008.
Wonderful Things: King Tut's Tomb
The archeaologist Howard Carter toiled in Egypt for three decades with little success. Under the sponsorship of Lord Carnarvon, he spent seven years searching the Valley of the Kings for the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamen. Yet by November of 1922, Carter's luck was running out.
Travel With a Famous Novelist This Summer
Literary giants like Ernest Hemingway and Charles Dickens usually reside
upstairs in the Literature and Fiction Department. However, many notable
novelists have written travelogues documenting a particular country at a
specific point in history. These reside in the History Department. If you