By Ricardo Elorza

Intersections South LA was awarded a USC UNO (University Neighborhood Outreach) grant in 2010 for work at Manual Arts High School.  The grant funds two important projects:  1) USC journalism students mentor in MAHS classes each week; and 2) MAHS students learn how to digitize and archive the school’s newspaper collection which were rapidly deteriorating.  Ricardo Elorza, a MAHS alumnus, is leading the archiving process and has been blogging about the process.

It is difficult to distinguish which one (Concord/Discord or Discord/Concord) as the valid idea when you see pictures like the one presented here. However, let me assure you with the utmost sincerity that the right frame of mind is found in Concord/Discord.

Thanks to Manual Arts students like Alexis (seen in photo) the Manual Arts High School Archive Room is getting revamped and cleaned from years of dust and humidity. As the room remains open for clean-up, it is not difficult to find people passing along and gasping from utter amazement. Teachers, faculty, and students alike signal their first question, “what is all of this?” while poking their head inside the collection room.  My answer, “Newspapers and yearbooks.”

Their follow up question is always the same, “so what do you plan to do with all of these books?” I answer, “We are archiving and digitizing the newspaper collection that dates as far back as 1913.” Their natural respond is always the same too, “Wow! Never thought the school was that old.” I was amazed too at the end of my senior year at Manual Arts that the place where I had spent four-years had its birth in 1909. There was no way I could not come back to work on the archives after knowing that.

A common theme coming from people passing by—and it does not matter if they are a freshmen or senior student, a veteran teacher or a recent hired, an administrator or parent—is that they conclude with the same curiosity: “Can I take a look at one of the yearbooks or newspapers?” and my favorite, “This is a good job, thank you and please keep doing it.”

The pride of Manual Arts is in every corner, the rich history is found everywhere, in every page and in every classroom. Manual Arts students live in an ancient palace that foretells many stories of triumph and reflection, of renovation and tenacity. This week concludes the third week of renovation and the place, maybe not quite appreciated from the pictures here, is getting cleaned and renovated thanks to the UNO grant from USC Good Neighbors Campaign.

The left side of the room is composed of the newspaper bounded books, while the right side houses the yearbooks. The renovation is done on the newspapers and now the work turns to the yearbooks and overall house clean-up. I invite all of you to stop by and look at some pages from the past. You will notice that you are not only seeing the history of Manual Arts High School, but the history of the Los Angeles City as well.