Ebell of LA Collections

The Ebell of Los Angeles is a women-founded and women-led nonprofit founded in 1894 with a mission to inspire women and build community through arts, culture, education, service and stewardship of our historic campus and collections. The iconic 94,000-square-foot campus along Wilshire Boulevard in the heart of Los Angeles is a noted architectural treasure built in 1927. The campus includes the historic Wilshire Ebell Theatre, gardens and dozens of rooms which host a diverse array of cultural, educational and civic programming events. The Ebell’s historic collections include works of art, musical instruments, furniture, furnishings, costumes and textiles, paper archives and ephemera. The archives also hold 130 years of organizational history including yearbooks, monthly magazines, board and operating company minutes, event and meeting programs and flyers, membership and scholarship records, photographs, and scrapbooks. In addition to the diverse array of programing aimed at amplifying women’s contributions to culture and society, The Ebell has launched The Ebell Institute for the Study of Women’s History in Los Angeles (TEI), which exists to cultivate dialogue around women’s history in Los Angeles and is grounded in the belief that “one cannot be what one cannot see.” Through TEI, The Ebell hosts the annual Ebell Women’s Symposium which aims to enrich public awareness of the historical Los Angeles women who have played pivotal roles in shaping our city culturally, politically, socially and beyond. Another tentpole effort of TEI is a multi-year project to make the organization’s treasured artifacts, and the stories they hold, available to all curious audiences. The organization is continuously working on cataloging all items in its collection. Updated records will be published regularly and made available to the public. The Ebell Institute and its programs are made possible in part thanks to the generous support of The John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation. The Ebell welcomes requests for information from interested researchers. Please direct any questions or requests to archives@ebellofla.org. For more information on The Ebell of Los Angeles or TEI, please visit www.EbellofLA.org or email ebell@ebellofla.org