March 2026

February 2026

January 2026

The Birth of an Archive for Pasadena Village

Hear ye! Hear ye! Today, you have the opportunity to make History! At the same time, Pasadena Village has an opportunity to preserve History. How? By creating an archive of Villagers’ experiences with the Eaton Fire. Villagers are being asked to join in! What did you experience during and after the Eaton Fire? 

The Eaton Fire left an indelible mark on thousands of lives - destroying homes, displacing families, and reshaping a community that many had called home for generations. In the face of such loss, the act of archiving personal essays and photographs becomes far more than a sentimental exercise; it is an act of preservation, resistance, and collective memory. Individual accounts capture what official reports cannot - the smell of smoke on a familiar street, the surreal calm before an evacuation, the grief of returning to an empty lot where a childhood home once stood. These personal records become primary sources for future historians, urban planners, and policymakers working to understand how communities experience and recover from catastrophic wildfire. More immediately, they give survivors a way to process trauma, affirm that their experiences were real and significant, and contribute their voice to a shared story. When gathered together, these individual fragments form something larger - a living archive that honors what was lost while bearing witness to the strength and humanity that endures.

Villagers have already begun building an archive on the Village website in the Blog section PV Response to the Eaton Fire. You can view the archive articles by selecting the tag LA Fires. There you will find over 40 essays about individual experiences with the Eaton Fire, as well as messages from Village President Dick Myers about how the Village has responded to the needs of its members. Now, we want to hear from ALL of the Villagers!  

Currently, contributions to the Pasadena Village archive consist primarily of written stories from Villagers. Other types of media, like photos or videos, may be considered in the future and could potentially be incorporated into the archive. If you’ve got something that could be of interest to future generations, as well as to current Villagers, by all means contact Dick via the Member Directory and let him know what you have. 

Pasadena Village is collaborating with Cal State LA, and with Kirsten Farrell, Director of the Goodman Center “where good people learn to do better.” Also in the mix is a Pasadena City College student who is studying archival work and is interested in pursuing a career in archiving. All of this collaboration gives the project a meaningful multigenerational dimension.

Eventually, an archive of our Village reflections on the Eaton Fire will be placed into the permanent collection at Cal State Los Angeles. The archive will be accessible through their website and preserved as part of the university’s long-term secure archival collection.

This is an ongoing and evolving effort, and future contributions will depend on what materials are available and appropriate to preserve. All Villagers are invited to contribute their experiences so they can be preserved in the archive for the benefit of future generations.