We are a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library located in Highland Park. Keep yourself updated on our doings here...
Today we’ll browse into the Fashion Plate collection and take a look at this illustration from August of 1813. Here we have a morning walking dress. White ankle length dress with high collar. The back of the dress is covered with a green mantle with tassels on the corners. Additional accessories include yellow gloves, light green parasol, and straw bonnet with green ribbon.
Access the image here
November is a non-fiction month for the Arroyo Book Club. November is also Native American Heritage Month so this time around we will be reading a striking memoir. Specifically, Whiskey Tender by Deborah Jackson Taffa. The catalog describes the book with, “a memoir of family and survival, coming-of-age on and off the reservation, and of the frictions between mainstream American culture and Native inheritance; assimilation and reverence for tradition.”
Stop by the branch to pick up a copy to read, while they last. You will find them in the usual location, just ask if you don’t know where that is. The book may also be found as an ebook (an option if all the paper books are checked out) in Hoopla. Find it here
We will meet to discuss the book on Saturday, November 23 at 3 p.m., unusually, it will be before Thanksgiving. It will be a hybrid meeting so you have the option of attending in person or via Zoom. If you’d like to join us via Zoom let us know at ayosco@lapl.org so we can get the link to you.
Turning our attention to the map collection, take a look at a 1915 United States Forest Service map of the Angeles National Forest.
Find the full map here
This month we asked where is Suriname and what is their official language. Suriname is a South American country located north of Brazil. Its official language is Dutch but Sranan Tongo (literally, “Suriname language”), a Creole language, is the most common choice for informal conversation.
The question, and answer, were found in CultureGrams. This database provides brief country reports with concise information on the history, people, customs, lifestyle, society, travel information and more for over 175 countries.
Find the CultureGrams on the library’s Research & Homework page under “C” and access it with your library card.
All in all a powerful book that is quite hard to read and can at points leave you angry about where we are. It is important however to know where we are and to share the author’s optimism that hard work and radical change might (might) help us past it. Recommended.
Here is another fruit crate label from Fillmore, CA – a town this author has a personal link to. This time we see the label from Red Ball. The portrayed landscape is likely up the Sespe River.
Access the label here
Program is intended for adults and teens.
Do you have questions about the election? How does Prop 5 make it easier for local governments to borrow money? Why would Prop 36 partly roll back another proposition that voters approved in 2014?
Please join us on October 7 at 5:00 p.m. as we welcome the nonprofit statewide publication CalMatters, as they breakdown, analyze, and answer your burning questions about this year’s ballot propositions, in a conversation centered around the latest edition of their Voter Guide.
This month let’s ask where is Suriname and what is their official language?