INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the second of two interviews conducted in Collins' condo near Belmont Shore. As the interview progressed, the interviewer could smell chicken roasting. The interviewer grew up in Long Beach during the fight that Collins led against censorship of the Long Beach Public Library.
12/17/1979
Description:
SUBJECT BIO - Blanche Collins was Long Beach City Librarian when ultra conservatives tried to censor the books and periodicals that the library circulated. She led the fight to keep diverse materials available in the library. She came to Long Beach after graduating from library school. She served as branch librarian and then as head of all of the branches and supervised planning and construction of several new buildings to serve the area's growing post World War II population. In these two interviews, Collins talks about growing up in the California's central valley and the amazing changes she'd seen in her lifetime. When she became City Librarian, she participated in many community organizations and continued in these group after she retired.
TOPICS - Long Beach Public Library; City Librarian; main library; Wise Building; Friends of the Long Beach Public Library; and censorship;censorship; Long Beach City Council; Friends of the Long Beach Public Library; and community organizations;
