The UCLA Library made an agreement on August 9 to acquire the historical records of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which date back to the late 19th century.
According to a press release from UCLA, the collection includes demographic surveys conducted in the 1920s to segregate school populations based on race, materials recording the school board’s response to the Crawford desegregation lawsuit filed in 1963 and decades of files documenting the district’s administration of busing and desegregation programs.
The extensive collection also includes official records of the Los Angeles Board of Education; district-wide publications distributed by Susan Miller Dorsey, appointed the first woman superintendent in 1920; material documenting Faye Allen, the first African American elected to the board, in 1939; and records of Japanese American students interned during World War II.
“We are honored that the LAUSD has given the UCLA Library these invaluable records,” said UCLA University Librarian Gary E. Strong. “As the leading public academic research library in Southern California, we plan to preserve these materials and make them publicly accessible as part of the university’s ongoing involvement with civic life and public education in this region.”
The LAUSD records complement the UCLA Library’s special collections that document Los Angeles schools and public education–related activities of judicial figures, activists and civic leaders. In addition, records held by the University Archives document UCLA’s relationships with the district and its schools.
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