The work of L.A. as Subject was accomplished over a four-year period through a structured process of multi-level collaboration, resulting in 1999 in the development of a community exhibition series, a two-day symposium and a manuscript and online publication of Cultural Inheritance/L.A.: A Directory of Less Visible Archives and Collections in the Los Angeles Region. The accomplishments of L.A. as Subject are the result of many hours of dedicated service and collaborative commitment by numerous institutions and individuals including the 178 organizations, universities, museums, cultural and religious institutions, and individuals who responded with trust and enthusiasm to the survey, and worked with staff through the numerous phase of the follow-up process to be included in the first edition of Cultural Inheritance/L.A.

A significant representation of the collaborative process used in the work of the L.A. as Subject project is the Advisory Forum, which was convened by the Research Institute in 1996, and includes over forty individuals and their affiliate institutions. The convening purpose of the Advisory Forum was twofold: (1) to inform the L.A. as Subject process; and (2) to provide a forum for custodians of cultural materials in the Los Angeles region to convene on a regular basis, and to more effectively share institutional resources, strategies and networks committed to preservation of local cultural resources. The Advisory Forum is scheduled to transfer with the Cultural Inheritance/L.A. database in Summer 2000 to the new host site, the Archival Research Center, located at the University of Southern California. Current Advisory Forum members and their affiliate institutions include: