Border Studies
The Tom & Ethel Bradley Center's Border Studies Collection examines the issues surrounding the border between the United States and Mexico. Through photographic collections, oral histories, manuscripts, videos, newspaper archives and guest lectures issues such as immigration, human rights, globalization, and economic violence are examined.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is to collect, preserve, and disseminate the visual history of the region with an emphasis on ethnic minority communities and photographers. The Bradley Center also promotes research, serves as a center for the exchange of ideas about our visual history, and contributes to the region’s educational efforts through our exhibitions, programs, and digital archives.
Tom & Ethel Bradley Center
The Tom & Ethel Bradley Center's archives contain over one million images from Los Angeles based freelance and independent photographers between the 1930s to the present. Approximately 80% of the collection is comprised of African American photographers in and near Los Angeles. IAM is the only repository for photographs before 1993 from the Los Angeles Sentinel. Oral histories, manuscripts, and other ephemeral materials support the photographic collection. Additionally, the archives contain over six-dozen oral histories from African American photographers, Civil Rights leaders and organizers, individuals involved with the history of Los Angeles, Journalism, the group Mexicans in Exile, and the United Farmworkers. Audio and video comprise the collection along with the personal papers of many individuals and organizations. The manuscript collection contains the papers of many Los Angeles civic leaders, the AFL-CIO, AFT, CA Federation of Teachers, Community Relations Committee of the Jewish-Federation Council of L.A., CPPA, League of Women Voters of L.A., and the United Way of L.A. Other collections include the archives of Journalist Michael Emery and the United Farmworkers Organization. Additionally, the Bradley Center has a Border Studies Collection that examines the issues surrounding the border between the United States and Mexico.
The Bradley Center was established in 1981 in the Department of Journalism, California State University, Northridge by Dr. Kent Kirkton as the Center for Photojournalism & Visual History. It was renamed the Institute for Arts & Media in 2008 as its mission and participation had broadened over the years. In 2015, the Institute for Arts & Media developed an ongoing relationship with the Tom & Ethel Bradley Foundation and was renamed the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center.