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The way the Los Angeles Public Library got their hands on a treasure trove of vintage maps isn't something that happens everyday.
In filmmaker Alec Ernest's short documentary, "Living History: The John Feathers Map Collection," he chronicles how the LAPL doubled their maps collection in one day after their map librarian, Glen Creason, stumbled upon a ridiculously huge collection.
Creason said that a realtor contacted him in October 2012 about a Mt. Washington house belonging to the late John Feathers. The home was soon facing its fate of getting demolished, and apparently was "full of maps," according the Los Angeles Review of Books. He didn't expect to see much, but when Creason got there, he found the home packed with vintage maps in file cabinets and dressers. There were Los Angeles street guides in "pristine" condition, the first Thomas Guide that published in 1946, travel guides, and even pre-Thomas Guide guides.
When Creason realized what he had come across, his heart started pounding, and said, "That's when Matthew said, 'Well, you haven't seen anything yet. We're just upstairs. We have another whole floor of the house."
You can watch the 10-minute video here:
