By SARA VAN DYCK Special to the Daily Press
Thanks to the Museum of Flying, an important aspect of Santa Monica history will be preserved at the Santa Monica Public Library. The library is currently adding to its digital image archives copies of 500 images from the Museum’s Donald W. Douglas collection, which illustrate the role of aviation in the city’s history.
The first Douglas plant was established in Santa Monica in 1922, at 26th Street and Wilshire Boulevard, now Douglas Park. In 1929 the entire Douglas Aircraft Company moved to Clover Field, site of the present day Santa Monica Airport, where it continued major production until the 1960s.
According to Image Archive librarian Cynni Murphy, the collection contains some “extraordinary images.”
They record historic airplanes and events connected with Santa Monica, starting with the Cloudster, a biplane that attempted the first nonstop transcontinental flight in 1921. On March 17, 1924, four Douglas aircraft took off from Clover Field to begin the first around-the-world flight, completed by two of the planes five months later.
Other images show the building of the planes, the famous DC-3s, women at work in the plant, and Douglas workers being transported by Douglas trucks during a transit strike in Los Angeles. During the World War II, while the plant was rushing to produce military aircraft, photos show how the site itself was camouflaged with phony lawns and houses.
The image archives are an ongoing collection developed to make available images documenting the history of the city, its environs, and its industry. The Friends of the Library have provided $8,000 for the copy negatives, prints and digitizing of these images, and are seeking donations to help with this project. The library would also like to see other images of Santa Monica history that residents may possess. If you are interested in making a donation of money or images, please contact the Friends via our web site, www.friendsof-smpl.org, or call (310) 458-8608.
Meanwhile, library patrons will be pleased to know that the renovated Montana and Fairview branches are scheduled to reopen in December.
The present Main Library building will close also in December, with the temporary facility opening at 1324 Fifth Street in January. The temporary library will offer reference services and public access Internet, and will contain new materials, fiction, nonfiction, current magazines and newspapers, videos, DVDs, CDs, and many other collections, while most of the children’s materials will be housed at the Ocean Park Branch. For details, visit the library’s Web site: www.smpl.org.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 23, 2002. Read the original PDF.