The collection reflects the activities of the California Historical Society’s Southern California Branch from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, a period when the Society established a History Center in Los Angeles devoted to collecting photographic and archival materials. The primary visual collection was the C.C. Pierce photographic collection, acquired by the Society from the Title Insurance and Trust Corporation (TICOR) in 1941. The collections served historians and researchers well into the 1980s, when the History Center closed. The CHS collection was transferred to the University of Southern California in 1990 on a long-term loan. The majority of the photographic materials have been digitized and incorporated into the USC Digital Library.