In an effort to document underappreciated and underfunded museums in the greater Los Angeles area, these portraits represent a small fraction of the eventual 75 institutions that will be featured in a forthcoming monograph, The Great Los Angeles Small Museum Tour (Angel City Press, 2024). This work is being made in collaboration with the Director of Special Projects of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, Todd Lerew, who has spearheaded the project and will be writing and editing the text.

These portraits serve as an anchor for the visual story of these institutions and the people who keep them alive, although they are just one element of the project. Photographs of select exhibits and museum holdings will also be included in the book, and an extensive website dedicated to the multiple years spent photographing and cataloging as much of each institution’s essence as possible will feature our entire archive. The museums range widely in subject matter and scale: from the African American Miniature Museum, created and run by a married couple in their own living room in Compton, to the Hsi Lai Bhuddist Temple, the Hacienda Heights branch of the monastic order of Fo Guang Shan, which spans many acres and multiple buildings, each institution featured has been chosen for the unique perspective, history, and experience it brings to visitors and viewers of the work.

The project’s chief goal is to present a detour from the typical museum experience and offer an important alternative: a chance to connect with communities and cultures that the average tourist might overlook. We believe these institutions are vital to the distinct and diverse social fabric of greater Los Angeles, and our hope is that this book will contribute to their longevity, which has historically been threatened by lack of exposure in traditional media structures and recently by economic uncertainty.