LOCAL HISTORY NOW ON MICROFILM LIBRARY HAS 37 YEARS OF NEWSPAPER'S ARCHIVES.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

LA CRESCENTA - Local history buffs are in for a treat with new microfilms of old newspapers that document the history of the Crescenta Valley from 1929 to 1966.

``It's a nice piece of local history,'' said Sue Renyer, manager of the La Canada County Library, which is temporarily housing the films until the Crescenta Valley Library expands and purchases microfilm readers. ``It should be something that people interested in the history of this area would find useful.''

While the library's Life magazine microfilms date back to 1941 and Time magazine to 1939, the scanned issues of The Crescenta Valley Ledger, which began in 1929 and ended in 1966, are the oldest housed by the library.

Michael Crosby, a librarian at the La Canada library, scanned the first reel and said it was full of local news including about a cruise to the Far East on a steamship and a local druggist purchasing a franchise for Rexall Drugs.

``It's a very hometown kind of thing,'' Crosby said.

He noticed advertisements for gasoline at 13.5 cents a gallon and news about widening streets and putting in drainage systems.

``The big topic was the widening of Verdugo Boulevard and there was a town meeting discussing the pros and cons of widening the street,'' Crosby said. ``I could see where this could be used for information on the growth of the city.''

Fifth District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich provided $1,200 and The Friends of the La Crescenta Library contributed $300 to purchase the 84 reels of microfilm with scanned issues of The Crescenta Valley Ledger, which was eventually renamed The Ledger.

The year-old Historical Society of La Crescenta spearheaded the movement to purchase the films from the University of California at Berkeley when it became aware of the newspapers' preservation by the school.

But the acquisition of the films was also partly in response to interest expressed by members of the La Crescenta community to have a local history section at their library.

The library, which is currently studying either expanding its existing building or moving to a new facility, polled focus groups to determine what resources the community would like to see at a new library.

``One of the things that came out is an interest in the local history materials and in having a local history collection,'' said Nancy Mahr, the public information officer for Los Angeles County Library.

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com