Avery Clayton

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Tucked away in Culver City in a former courthouse sits one of Los Angeles’ yet-to-be discovered gems – the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum. The collection of African American historical artifacts is one of the premier collections of its type in existence.

The museum and library, named for the woman who originally assembled the collection, also is a testament to her son, UCLA alumnus Avery Clayton, who served as its chairman and chief executive officer, and carried on his mother’s work until his death on Nov. 26, 2009.

Although the museum isn’t scheduled to open to the public, the organization recently collaborated with the Huntington Library on “Central Avenue and Beyond: The Harlem Renaissance in Los Angeles,” which runs through Feb. 8, 2010. The exhibit and series of events is devoted to the lively cultural scene that emerged just south of downtown Los Angeles during the first part of the 20th century.

The collection includes rare treasures, photographs, films, documents, manuscripts and books such as a 1773 signed and dated copy of Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral penned by slave Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American author. The items span from Civil War-era artifacts to works from the Harlem Renaissance. Museum staff and volunteers are currently still in the process of being cataloging the collection.

Mayme Clayton’s black film collection is the largest of its kind in the world, comprising 1,700 titles spanning back to 1916. It is currently housed at the UCLA School of Film and Television and will remain at the University in exchange for restoration work required to preserve the films for future audiences.

Since Avery acquired the former Culver City courthouse for the price of $1 per year in 2006, he had devoted his energies to gain the necessary funding to open up the facility to the public. He co-curated “Central Avenue and Beyond” exhibit with Sue Hodson M.L.S. ’79, the literary manuscripts curator at the Huntington Library.

“[Clayton] had such a dream and a vision and a passion for what he was doing,” Hodson told the Los Angeles Times after his death. “He wanted something that would reach out to everyone. He especially wanted black children to see evidence of important historic events that they might not learn about in school but that were an important part of their heritage.”

Mayme worked as a law librarian at the University from 1959 until the early 1970s, and she helped found the African American Studies Center Library at the University in 1969. She passed away in 2006, days after the courthouse was secured for the future site of the museum.

Avery was an art teacher for Los Angeles and Pasadena Unified School Districts before beginning full-time work on the collection in 2002. He was also an accomplished artist, and he was the owner and operator of Creative Concepts International, a fine art publishing and distribution firm. In the mid-1970s, he studied painting, sculpture, graphic arts, and art history with an emphasis on African and contemporary American art at UCLA.

For information on the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum.