Though the Clark Library has a decent number of music manuscripts and other works, William Andrews Clark, Jr.’s lifelong interest in music is perhaps best reflected by his founding of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  The Phil was founded in 1919 and soon replaced the Los Angeles Symphony (which Clark did not like) as the city’s…

An exhibition of highlights from the Paul Chrzanowski Collection will be on view at the Clark Library from January through April of 2010 (more anon). In the meantime, as a tease, we’d like to bring your attention to an item of interest, Edward Topsell’s Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes, published in London in 1607 by William…

From time to time, we’d like to highlight items in our collection that we think deserve some notice.  This week, it’s a manuscript acquired by the Clark in 1951 for the impressively small sum of US$13.60. MS.1951.018 is a bound manuscript from 1649, executed in careful calligraphy that imitates a printed book.  It contains the…

Two new finding aids, written by volunteers Ashley Johnston and Jamie Henricks respectively, have been posted to Clark’s OAC page this week: Finding aid to the Ted Freedman Collection: Letters to and from Freedman, H. Richard Archer and Grant and Helen Dahlstrom; ephemera designed and printed by Freedman and the Platen Press. Finding aid to…

A dispatch from Clark Library reference assistant and Horn Press student officer Derek Quezada: This past weekend, the latest incarnation of UCLA’s Horn Press had its first major meeting of the year. For the greater part of the afternoon, student officers, club members and anyone interested in the “slow technology” of letterpress printing sacrificed their…

A dispatch from Bruce Whiteman, Head Librarian On Saturday, November 7 in the morning, actor and writer Stephen Fry visited the Clark.  Stephen was in Los Angeles for a few days, and as a devoted Wildean was keen to see some of the Clark’s Wilde treasures.  He played Oscar Wilde in the 1997 film of…

(by Carol Sommer, Head of Reader Services and expert on Clark Library paranormal activity) From ghoulies and ghosties And long-leggedy beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us! (Scottish Saying) Since Halloween is nearly upon us, I’ve been asked about the ghost that haunts the Clark Library. Although never seen…

The Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood is the resting place of scores of Los Angeles luminaries, from movie stars to the Otis and Chandler families of the LA Times.  It is also the resting place of our library’s founder, William Andrews Clark, Jr.  His mausoleum, designed by architect Robert Farquhar and…