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Gerth Archives & Special Collections: Home

Donald R. & Beverly J. Gerth Archives and Special Collections

Welcome to the Gerth Archives

We welcome all to research and explore our collections. We are located in University Library South 5039 on the fifth floor. The closest parking is Parking Lot #6. Below are just a few of the services we offer to students, faculty, and the public. Explore our options below to schedule an appointment or visit us for a walk-in at any time during our hours of operation.

Hours of Operation

Monday-Friday: 9am-12pm, 1pm-4:30pm
We stop paging material at 4pm

Contact Information
Email: archives@csudh.edu
Telephone: (310) 243-3895

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Student Research Consultation
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Exhibition
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Collection Highlights

Two men on top of building with downtown Los Angel

Mr. Takano

See more photographs from the Ninomiya Studio Collection in the California State University Japanese American Digitization Project.

Kumekichi Ishibashi with children.

Kumekichi Ishibashi with Children

Learn about the Ishibashi Family Collection from the collection's finding aid.

Bleriot Monoplane owned by Didier Masson - side view

1910 Air Meet Digital Collection

See more images from the 1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet held at the CSUDH campus.

Faculty protest photograph from the California State University System Archives

Faculty and Staff Demonstrations

Browse images and text in the California State University System Archives digitization project.

Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers US Tour

Albert J. McNeil Collection

Learn more about the Alfred J. McNeil Collection from the collection's finding aid.

African American female and male theatre troupe.

The Jokerettes Comedy Troupe

See more materials about the Watts Labor Community Action Committee in our digital collections.

Two women carrying wood beam.

Century Freeway Project

See more digital items from the Tradeswomen Archive in our digital collections. 

Group of people on a boat.

The Esperanto Movement

See over 400 books in our catalog written in or about the international language of Esperanto.

Student Opportunities

The CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections offers volunteer, internship and work opportunities for students interested in various aspects of archival work including processing, describing and digitizing collections, and exhibition curation and research. Learn more.

In the News

Meet Your Archivist: Tracing CSU Activism Across Time

Come meet University Archivist, Amalia Castañeda and CSU System-wide Archivists Coryn Hardison and Shawne West as they showcase historical materials that highlight activism within CSUDH and the CSU university community. The event will take place at La Casita, LSU 110, from 3:30pm-4:30pm on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

Includes three images. Image one is a photograph of the Digital Free Press Homage Project Vol. 1, no. 2 front cover. Image two is the cover of the Los Angeles Free Press. Image three is of Alan Nakagawa with recording equitment pictured behind him.

CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections Presents: Every Reader is a Reporter

The CSU Dominguez Hills Gerth Archives & Special Collections presents the Digital Free Press Homage Project and Soundpiece, "Wall of Sound," by Artist-in-Residence, Alan Nakagawa with introductions to the Los Angeles Free Press Collection and material. Event is located in the CSUDH University Library, Room 5039, on April 15, 2024 from 5:45 pm - 7 pm. 

Portrait of author Dr. Donna J. Nicol and Dr. Natalie V. Nagthall. Includes cover of the book

Book Launch: Black Woman on Board

The book launch for "Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action" by Dr. Donna J. Nicol is May 7, 2024, on the 5th Floor of Library South at 4:00 pm. The book is based on Dr. Nicol's extensive use of the CSU System Archives at the Gerth Archives. Dr. Donna J. Nicol (former Chair of the Africana Studies Department at CSUDH and current Associate Dean for Personnel and Curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts at CSULB) and Dr. Natalie V. Nagthall (Founder and principal consultant for N2V Consulting, Inc.) will be discussing the book. 

Clippings of various alternative newspapers with a title that reads: New Exhibit Open! Alternative Takes: Community, Underground and Alternative Newspaper, Zines, and Comix at the CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections

“Alternate Takes” Exhibition Explores Alternative, Underground and Local Journalism

The exhibition, “Alternate Takes: Community, Underground and Alternative Newspapers, Zines, & Comix at the CSUDH Gerth Archives & Special Collections,” is now open in the Library Cultural Arts Gallery through May 2024.

Pamphlets in a boxes with titles, Spanish Civil War, Women, Asian American, Asia, LGBTQ, and Latinx.

Greg Williams, Director of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections, provides an overview of activist collections at the Gerth Archives

Greg Williams, Director of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections, recently presented at a virtual event co-sponsored by the Bibliographical Society (UK), Bibliographical Society of American, and the Bibliographical Society of Canada in a presentation recorded as part of the "Documenting Social Movement: Bibliography, Archives and Protest."

statue in front of CSUDH library

Gerth Archives Marks New Milestones in Documenting History

The CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections, noted for its preservation of Southern California histories and cultures, has had three major developments toward its mission of making materials more accessible to the public.

Amalia Medina Castaneda

University Archivist Named Mellon Cultural Heritage Fellow

Amalia Medina Castañeda, university archivist at the California State University, Dominguez Hills Gerth Archives and Special Collections, has been selected as one of 15 Rare Book School-Mellon Cultural Heritage Fellows for 2022-2024.

Oral History

The Gerth Archives and Special Collections received funding from California Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to launch an Oral History program

The grant, which is part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, allowed archivists from the department to attend an Oral History workshop and begin conducting Oral History interviews with CSUDH community members.

ARTchivist's Notebook

Seeing Ourselves In Archives On Giving Away Auntie's Things

Sharon Mizota recently wrote a newsletter about donating her aunt’s collection to the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project. Sharon Mizota, is the author of ARTchivist’s Notebook, an occasional newsletter musing on the intersection of archives, art, and social justice.

LA Free Press

Gerth Archives and Special Collections Acquires L.A. Free Press Archive

The Gerth Archives and Special Collections recently acquired the archive of the L.A. Free Press, one of the first underground newspapers in the U.S. which gave voice to the counterculture movement and Black, Chicano, LGBTQ and leftist communities.