The fire at Shell Oil Co. on October 31, 1959. Photos courtesy of CSUDH/Long Beach Fire Department Museum.

Out of over 9,000 negatives and prints handed over to Cal State Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) by the Long Beach Fire Department Museum for preservation, 5,000 of them are now accessible and on digital display through the university’s Department of Archives and Special Collections’ website.

The collaboration was launched after the museum received a grant to digitize the images. Ultimately choosing CSUDH as their institution of choice, the timeless photographs that chronicle the varied histories of the LBFD, from handling the 1933 earthquake to extinguishing the Shell Oil Co. fire in 1959 are now fully preserved and accessible.

Prior to coming to CSUDH, the thousands of images were in acidic envelopes while the negatives were essentially inaccessible, according to Greg Williams, Director of Archives & Special Collections at CSUDH.

“By donating the images to CSUDH and participating in the scanning project, both entities were able to ensure access and preservation,” Williams said. “ A copy of all the digital images is retained by the museum while CSUDH has the originals and has spent several years cataloging the images. We, at CSUDH, were happy with [the museum choosing us as their preservation partner]. I think the museum folks were happy to get digital copies and even happier to continue their fine work on restoring fire engines.”

The Fire Prevention Parade along Ocean Blvd., with the former courthouse in the background on the right. Photo taken on October 4, 1964.

The images, digitized by Luna Imaging of Los Angeles, not only portrays the history of the Department—mostly from 1930s to the 1950s—but offers glimpses into the aforementioned earthquake and oil disasters as well as firefighter portraits and how the Department was involved in the life of the city.

“They escorted the Miss Universe contestants in 1957 when the pageant came to Long Beach,” Williams noted. “There are also a great deal of businesses long gone that show up either in photographs of fires or car accidents [such as the Imperial Theatre, pictured right, which was razed to make way for the Westin Hotel]. Many accidents that involved the Department were documented… And as much as the dented vehicles are interesting, it’s also what’s in the background that will keep future historians busy. For example, a set of photographs on the corner of Grand and Broadway in 1947 shows how the intersection has changed—a gas station used to be on the corner—to what hasn’t changed—the type of palm trees.”

In 2013, CSUDH displayed many of the physical images and documents from the Long Beach Firemen’s Historical Museum Collection in an exhibit, Jolt!: Responding to Environmental Disasters Large and Small in Southern Los Angeles.

The entire collection is available for research purposes at the archives office on the fifth floor of the University Library South Wing. For more information on this and other collections in the CSUDH Department of Archives and Special Collections, click here or call 310-243-3895.