Daniel Corey

The Autograph Book of L.A.

By Daniel Corey

William Henry Drake

I was working on my new book today at the Downtown Central Library in Los Angeles when I came across a very cool exhibit called The Autograph Book of L.A.

The exhibit sign tells the story of how, in 1906, librarian Charles F. Lummis launched the Autograph Collection of Los Angeles…

Here are some notable signatures from the exhibit…

Charles Bukowski
Helen Keller
A hand-written poem by Langston Hughes
Joseph J. Mora
L. Frank Baum
Booker T. Washington
Letters to the Apollo 11 Astronauts

And they were looping the 1939 Walt Disney Donald Duck cartoon, “The Autograph Hound.”

There is also stationary available, so that you can sign your own autograph and contribute to the project.

The Autograph Book of L.A. runs just one more week, through 1/19/20, so go see it soon! For more info on the Los Angeles Public Library, visit lapl.org.

– DC