Fletcher Bowron papers, 1934-1970

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Summary

Abstract:
This collection contains papers related to the life and career of Los Angeles Mayor and Superior Court Judge Fletcher Bowron (1877-1968). It includes official correspondence kept during Bowron's term as mayor of Los Angeles from 1938-1953, reports, and information on his election campaigns. There is also source material gathered for his Metropolitan Los Angeles History Project (1973), particularly in the fields of public housing, city planning, and transportation.
Extent:
58 Linear Feet (134 boxes and 53 volumes)
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Fletcher Bowron papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains letters, documents, manuscripts, photographs and ephemera related to the life and career of Los Angeles mayor and Superior Court judge Fletcher Bowron. It includes official correspondence kept during Bowron's term as mayor of Los Angeles, reports, and information on his election campaigns. There is also source material gathered for his Metropolitan Los Angeles History Project, particularly in the fields of public housing, city planning, and transportation. The papers are divided into three main sections. The first consists of carbon copies of Bowron's letters while he was mayor of Los Angeles, personal correspondence (1934-1965), reports, and information on the election campaigns of 1945, 1947, 1949, and 1950. The second section pertains to Bowron's Metropolitan Los Angeles History Project. The source material he gathered is filed alphabetically by subject and contains information on city planning and zoning, public housing, sanitation, transportation, water and power and many other topics. Following this are the notes, outlines, drafts, bibliographical material, card index files, etc., for the project. The third main section consists of boxes of clippings which are arranged in folders in chronological order, some with listings of subjects. There are also three photograph albums and some memorabilia. In the addenda there are 38 bound volumes containing addresses by Mayor Bowron from Sept. 1938-July 1953 as well as oversize awards, albums and maps.

Biographical / historical:

Fletcher Bowron (1887-1968), who was mayor of the city of Los Angeles, California, from 1938 to 1953, came into office as a reform candidate in a recall election. His goal was to eradicate political corruption and establish a professional municipal government. For 15 years he was continually reelected to this important position-fifteen years of tremendous growth and unusual problems for the Los Angeles area. Mayor Bowron had spent the years 1911 to 1917 as a newspaper reporter, followed by a return to college for a law degree, two years in private practice, then six years as Judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. During his terms as mayor, World War II brought the sudden expansion of war-related industries to Los Angeles and the immediate need for laborers, public housing, mass transportation, and pollution control. As mayor he worked not only for solutions to these problems but also for the creation of long range city planning and commercial development. After his years as mayor, Bowron was reelected to the bench as Judge of the Superior Court. In 1962 he retired and devoted himself to a Metropolitan History Project. When Judge Bowron passed away in 1968, the project continued under the supervision of Mrs. Bowron and reached its fruition in the publication of the bibliography of Los Angeles history, Los Angeles and Its Environs in the Twentieth Century, with Doyce B. Nunis, Jr., as editor.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Mrs. Fletcher Bowron, September 1974. The addenda was the gift of Mrs. Fletcher Bowron, January 1977, September 1983, March 1984, May 1984, January 1985, and November 1985.
Arrangement:

Arranged in six series: Series: 1. Correspondence and papers of Fletcher Bowron; Series 2. Metropolitan Los Angeles History Project; Series 3. Clippings; Series 4. Photograph albums; Series 5. Oversize albums; Series 6. Addenda.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Fletcher Bowron papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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