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About the Exhibition

In Our Own Backyard: Resisting Nazi Propaganda in Southern California, 1933-1945 was first exhibited August 28 to September 30, 1989 in the University Library at California State University, Northridge, under the auspices of the CSUN Urban Archives Center and the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles.

The exhibition traveled during the 1989-1990 academic year to three additional venues in Los Angeles:

  • Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus, West Hills
  • Doheny Library, University of Southern California
  • Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles

The exhibition was co-sponsored by:

  • The Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles
  • The Martyrs Memorial & Museum of the Holocaust, Los Angeles
  • CSUN Bibliographic Society

Exhibit Staff:

  • Exhibit Curator: Bobbette Fleschler
  • Exhibit Designer: Robert G. Marshall
  • History Consultants: Morris Schonbach, Professor of History, CSUN; Leonard Pitt, Professor of History, CSUN
  • Special Consultant: Joseph Roos
  • Exhibit Assistants: Gail Stein, Randall H. Stoner, Robert Pflug, Rosalee Overmire
  • Catalog Staff: Tom Reilly, editor; Dina Fisher, design; Rosalee Overmire, writer.

Contributors to the Exhibit

In addition to the selections from the collections of the Urban Archives Center the following loaned original materials for the exhibit:

  • California State University, Northridge University Library Special Collections and General Collections
  • Joseph Roos
  • Special Collections Dept, University Research Library, UCLA
  • Secretary of State, California State Archives

Special Acknowledgements

Many people contributed generously to the development of the exhibit, and we particularly thank Kent Brecheen-Kirkton, Michael Meyer, Harold Rockwell, James Sefton, James Mason, Ronald F. Rieder, Steven F. Windmueller, Michael Nutkiewicz, Norman Tanis, Cindy Ventuleth, Tony Gardner, Jerry Biederman, Betty Trotter, Betty Erlandson, Marcella Tyler; in the Jewish Federation Council San Fernando Valley Region Office, Amy Brewstein and H. Jack Mayer; and in the California State Archives in Sacramento, John Burns, Melodi Andersen, Genevieve Tooka, David Snyder and Nancy Zimmelman.

Urban Archives Center Staff

  • Tom Reilly, Director (1987-1990)
  • Robert G. Marshall, Head Archivist (1985-present)
  • Yolanda Greenhalgh, Secretary

Urban Archives Center Advisory Board (1989)

  • Elizabeth Berry, CSUN Associate Vice President for Academic Programs
  • Michael Barrett, Reference Librarian, University Library
  • Susan Henry, Professor of Journalism
  • Jose Hernandez, Professor of Chicano Studies and Urban Studies Coordinator
  • Leonard Pitt, Professor of History
  • Gerald Prescott, Professor of History
  • Betty Trotter, former President of League of Women Voters, Los Angeles Chapter
  • Nathan Weinberg, Professor of Sociology