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Embarking on a treasure hunt for the art and artifacts held by the Los Angeles Unified School District is no small feat. 

The nation鈥檚 second-largest school district is home to 389,000 students and roughly 100,000 pieces of art, including paintings, sculptures, maps and murals.

The art can be found in schools and district buildings across the district鈥檚 over 700-square-mile terrain. It is part of its Art & Artifact Collection, which began sometime in the 1850s and morphed into a multi-million-dollar collection today.

Sure, the collection holds school records 鈥� classroom materials, photos, yearbooks. But it also has ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets dating back to 2100 BCE. Sculptures of 鈥淒on Quixote鈥� by Salvador Dal铆 from 1979. A 1931 鈥淏ugs Bunny & Friends鈥� by the animator Chuck Jones shows Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and The Road Runner reading a book entitled 鈥淗istory of the 9th St. School.鈥�

The collection predates the official formation of LAUSD in 1961. The city was served by the Los Angeles City School District and the Los Angeles City High School District, which later . Most of LAUSD鈥檚 notable pieces are donations from alumni, former administrators and members of the larger Los Angeles community. A 2008 appraisal estimated the value was more than $12 million, according to a 2022 district document obtained by EdSource.

鈥淟AUSD history is Los Angeles history,鈥� said Cintia Romero, the archive and museum鈥檚 curator and archivist. 鈥淲e have all the people here; we have all kinds of buildings; we have all kinds of architecture; we have all kinds of cultures.鈥� 

It is rare for school districts to hold on to such artifacts, says Brenda Gunn, the president-elect of the Society of American Archivists.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 very common at all,鈥� Gunn said. 鈥淚 think what typically happens is that the school districts don鈥檛 really invest in any sort of preservation. It鈥檚 not often that a school district has an archivist, and if they do have any preservation efforts, it鈥檚 usually by a nonprofessional.鈥� 

Treasures at school sites 

School officials also collect items unearthed at school sites during renovations 鈥� such as old fire alarms 鈥� as well as yearbooks and photographs that document LAUSD history. Los Angeles Unified says it maintains 鈥減rofessional standards for archival care and are intended to ensure that important pieces of the district鈥檚 history are maintained for future generations.鈥� 

鈥淪chool district records are like a continuous public diary of shifts in neighborhoods, how the school district has approached its curriculum, how did it manage desegregation or any big social and cultural events,鈥� Gunn said. She added that some might also be interested in viewing them for something more personal, like understanding family genealogy. 

There鈥檚 little the LAUSD archive turns down. The main criteria is whether the art can serve in an educational capacity or as a teaching aide, Romero said. While LAUSD does sometimes loan pieces out to other institutions, it is 鈥渘ot in the business of buying or selling artwork.鈥� And sometimes, she said, selling wouldn鈥檛 be in the 鈥渟pirit of the donors,鈥� some of whom were the original artists. 

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 necessarily have to be valuable to be accepted. It can be a teaching aid,鈥� Romero said. 鈥淪o, everything kind of has value, really. Everything can be somewhere.鈥�

And it is. 

The 鈥淴鈥� on LAUSD鈥檚 treasure map sits in a warehouse at the school police headquarters in rows of boxes that house a large portion of the collection. That includes the district鈥檚  collection donated by Venice High School鈥檚 historic Latin Museum, which operated from 1932 to 1997, and is now defunct.

In a small museum at the LAUSD headquarters on S. 鈥嬧�婤oundary Avenue, there is a display mimicking a late 19th-century classroom. 

In the 鈥渃lassroom鈥� are wooden phonics teaching tools with scrolling letters, antique maps and silver-colored vessels once used during home economics classes. 

The classroom has a list of 鈥淩ules for Teachers 1872鈥� that sits on the front desk: bring 鈥渁 bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day鈥檚 session,鈥� take 鈥渙ne evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they attend church regularly.鈥� 

Preservation at schools 

But it is among the modern-day classrooms with digital tablets and smart boards where the rest of the treasure lies:

Typically, in most school districts, items just end up sitting idly by for years, succumbing to what archivists call 鈥渂enign neglect,鈥� Gunn said.   

鈥淭here are all kinds of places that this archival material will end up,鈥� Gunn said. 鈥淎nd staff are like, 鈥極h, I don鈥檛 want to throw this away, but it can鈥檛 be in my office, so I鈥檓 going to store it somewhere,鈥� and then it stays there until the next person.鈥�

For Gunn, the hope is that school officials may take the extra step to preserve art, documents and history. Leaving something in a storage closet or in a box and walking away is not enough, she says.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e not hurting anything. You鈥檙e certainly not throwing things away, but you鈥檙e not helping this; you鈥檙e not improving the situation of the records,鈥� Gunn said. 鈥淏ut, what you hope is that someone down the road will see them, open that door and say, 鈥極h, these are valuable. And, if we can鈥檛 keep them here, then maybe there is another archive that will take them.鈥欌��

In the case of the LAUSD archive, there have been several thefts, including a painting at Dorsey High School. Romero said that while there aren鈥檛 many details of the painting, the president of the school鈥檚 alumni association has since found it, and traded $25,000 worth of posters and plans to leave it to LAUSD. 

Today, the district maintains that school security procedures, including key access, protect the pieces. 

Ensuring public access

While LAUSD students might enjoy little treasures displayed on their school walls and in hallway display cases, it鈥檚 more challenging for members of the public to view items in the collection. 

In the 1980s, a formal inventory of art was curated. And in 2004, the collection was digitized, Romero said.

So, since 2018, Romero and her small staff 鈥� made up of a volunteer and a small cohort of interns from Cal State Northridge and LAUSD鈥檚 Downtown Business Magnet school 鈥� continued to digitize items and add them to a public , which can be viewed for free. 

This process of digitizing the archive is largely made possible by donations and grants, though Romero鈥檚 position is funded through LAUSD鈥檚 general fund, according to the district. 

But curating the collection isn鈥檛 just about LAUSD鈥檚 or Los Angeles鈥檚 past. It鈥檚 also about the future. 

Romero and her team also keep tabs on ongoing renovation projects at school sites that could reveal new additions. 

鈥淲e have so many schools, and each school has something,鈥� Romero said. 鈥淓very school has some kind of history.鈥�

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