The Haynes Foundation is the oldest private foundation in the city of Los Angeles and devotes 10 percent of its annual research budget to support archival and cataloging projects at libraries and local institutions that preserve historic materials important to Southern California.

"This is very exciting," said Robert Marshall, director of CSUN's Urban Archive Center, where the collection will be housed. "We are going to be opening up to researchers information about the precursor organizations to the United Way. The collection can give us insight into the idea of communities helping each other in the times of need and stress during in the history of our city."

Marshall said the gift from the Haynes Foundation was only the first step in making the entire collection available to researchers.

"We still need more money to finish the project," he said.

The United Way Collection documents the period from 1920 to 1962 and details the rich history of charitable giving and shifting social priorities in Los Angeles during this period. It features items from the Welfare Federation of Los Angeles Area (1924-1962), the Los Angeles Community Chest (1932-1962) and the Los Angeles War Chest (1942-1947).

The foundation grant will enable the library to begin preservation work, write a descriptive finding guide, and create catalog records and web links for the collection. Initial processing will focus on post-World War II documents.