Research Guides: Los Angeles History and Culture in Library Special Collections: Politics and Government

Resources and Search Strategies

The politics and government of the Los Angeles region are documented through the papers of individuals involved in local, state, and national government.

Finding aids for collections related to politics and government can be found in the Online Archive of California. Abstracts of oral histories, and often transcripts and audio recordings as well, are located on the Center for Oral History Research’s website under Politics and Government.

California State and US Government

Anthony C. Beilenson Papers (Collection 391)
Beilenson served in the US House of Representatives from 1977 to 1997.
Interview of Anthony C. Beilenson (1982)
59th District California State Assembly member from 1963 to 1967. California senator from 1967 to 1976. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1997.
Interview of Anthony C, Beilenson (1998)
California assembly member from 1963 to 1967, California senator from 1967 to 1976, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives in California from 1977 to 1997.
Katherine Edson Papers (Collection 235)
Edson was a prominent member of the Progressive Party in Southern California and a member of the California Industrial Welfare Commission.
Augustus Hawkins Papers (Collection1642)
Hawkins was a member of the California State Assembly from 1935 to 1963 and a Democrat in the US Congress from 1963 to 1991.
Interview of Augustus F. Hawkins (1988)
California assembly member from 1935 to 1963. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives in California from 1963 to 1991.
Interview of Augustus F. Hawkins (1992)
62nd district California State Assembly member from 1935 to 1963. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1963 to 1991 serving as the first black politician west of the Mississippi River elected to the House of Representatives.
Edward Ross Roybal Papers (Collection 847)
Roybal was a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1949 to 1962 and a Democrat in the US House of Representatives from 1963 to 1993.

Los Angeles City Government

Eugene Biscailuz Papers (Collection 773)
Biscailuz was the first superintendent of the California Highway Patrol and sheriff of Los Angeles County from 1932 to 1958.
Reuben Borough Papers (Collection 927)
Borough was a reporter for the Los Angeles Record, founding member of the Independent Progressive Party, and a key organizer of the recall campaign that ousted Los Angeles Mayor Frank Shaw and elected Mayor Fletcher Bowron.
Interview of Reuben W. Borough
Member of the Socialist Party and active in the Populist movement. Reporter for the Los Angeles Record, editor of EPIC News, and a commissioner on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works.
Mayor Tom Bradley Administration papers, 1920-1993 (bulk 1973-1993)
Records of the administration of the Los Angeles mayor who served from 1973 to 1993.
The Bradley Years: Los Angeles City Government, 1973-1993
Oral history interviews with members of Mayor Tom Bradley’s administration.
Clifford E. Clinton Papers (Collection 2018)
Clinton was a restaurateur who was involved with the recall of Los Angeles mayor Frank Shaw, supported Fletcher Bowron as mayor of Los Angeles, helped organize the Citizen's Independent Vice Investigating Committee, and was active in various civic reform movements.
John Randolph Haynes Papers (Collection 1241)
Haynes was involved with incorporating initiative, referendum, and recall amendments in the Los Angeles City Charter and served on the Los Angeles County Probation Committee, the Los Angeles Civil Service Commission, and the University of California Board of Regents (1923-37). He also founded the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation.
Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC), 1978-1984 (Collection 1403)
Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education Records, 1875-2012 (Collection 1923)
The Los Angeles City Board of Education collection consists of minutes, board and committee reports, administrative guides, annual reports, bulletins, classification reports, index cards, financial records, school and teacher directories, maps, publications and subject files published from 1875-2012.
Norris Poulson Papers (Collection 787)
Poulson served in the California State Assembly, was elected to the House of Representatives, and served as mayor of Los Angeles from 1953 to 1961.
Interview of Norris Poulson
Mayor of Los Angeles, 56th district California State Assembly member from 1939 to 1943, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Joseph Edward Shaw Papers (Collection 840)
Shaw was the brother and secretary of Los Angeles Mayor Frank L. Shaw, who was recalled after accusations of corruption.
Helene V. Smookler Papers on School Integration (Collection 1547)
Smookler was a lawyer involved in the Crawford et al. vs. Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles desegregation case.