University of California, Los Angeles
University of Southern California
Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
Fall 2011
HIST 655
Seminar in Western American History: Los Angeles
Tuesdays 12:00 – 3:00
Course meetings will be held at UCLA, USC, and The Huntington Library
Professor Eric Avila
eavila@ucla.edu
Professor William Deverell
deverell@usc.edu
This course is a graduate-level research seminar co-taught by Professors Avila and
Deverell of UCLA and USC. Successful completion of this course will be sufficient
preparation for teaching undergraduate courses in the history of Los Angeles, and ought
to likewise provide sufficient preparation for doctoral-level examinations in this sub-field
of western and California history. In addition, students will produce a publishablequality research essay on some aspect of Los Angeles history by the end of the term, with
supervision and consultation by Professors Avila and Deverell.
Students will be granted rare book access to the Huntington’s research collections for the
duration of the term.
All books listed for this course are required.
Title: ARCHITECTURE OF FOUR ECOLOGIES, 2ND EDITION
Author: BANHAM
Title: ISLAND OF THE LAND
Author: MC WILLIAMS
Title: BECOMING MEXICAN AMERICAN
Author: SANCHEZ
Title: DAY OF THE LOCUST
Author: WEST
Title: WHITEWASHED ADOBE
Author: DEVERELL
Title: CALIFORNIA VIEJA
Author: KROPP
.
Title: POP L.A.
Author: WHITING
BOHEMIAN LOS ANGELES
Author: HUREWITZ
Title: POPULAR CULTURE IN THE AGE OF WHITE FLIGHT
Author: AVILA
Title: LITERARY LOS ANGELES
Author: ULIN
Title: THE GREAT BLACK WAY
Author: SMITH
Title: BOUND FOR FREEDOM
Author: FLAMMING
Title: MY BLUE HEAVEN
Author: NICOLAIDES
Title: SUNBELT RISING
Author: NICKERSON AND DOCHUK
Title: HOLY LAND
Author: WALDIE
Title: MAGNETIC LOS ANGELES
Author: HISE
Course requirements:
In addition to weekly attendance and enthusiastic participation, students will be expected
to complete an in-class assignment and a term research paper. All work must be
completed by the end of term. In-class assignments are to be in the form of formal oral
presentaitons (ten to fifteen minutes long) and you are to turn in a written up version of
the presentation on that day (approximately 3-5 pp. long). You are to place the topic
within a larger analysis of the history of Los Angeles, which will require you to place the
topic within the appropriate scholarly literature. Professors Avila and Deverell can
elaborate upon shorthand descriptions of any presentation topics below (and you are
encouraged to propose your own topic if you wish). These will begin as early as August
30th. We will attempt to have only a couple of these per week, so as not to use up too
much of our seminar time on them. We expect that much of the research necessary for
these in-class presentations will take place in the Huntington’s collections or in Special
Collections at UCLA or at YRL, though it is also acceptable to do the work elsewhere
when appropriate (The Doheny Library, for example, or the Seaver Center at the Museum
of Natural History, or the Los Angeles Public Library). We will help guide you to the
appropriate collections.
Each participant in the seminar must complete a formal research essay of approximately
25-30 pages by the end of term. The specific topic is up to you, though we must approve
it in advance; work leading to a thesis project is perfectly acceptable but not required.
These are due at term’s end; they are to be turned in as hard copies and as email
attachments so that every member of the seminar will receive a copy of everyone’s work.
Tuesday August 23
Course Introduction; introduction to Huntington Library; processing of privileges
Tuesday August30
Overview: Los Angeles History and Writing Los Angeles
Please read Ulin, works by Austin; Jackson; Lindsay; Adamic; Huxley; Wilson; Waugh;
Lambert; Cain; Chandler; Fante; Didion; and Snyder.
Please read McWilliams
Presentation topics:
Review of Mike Davis, City of Quartz
Review of Jim Paul, Medieval in L.A.
Review of special LA issue of American Quarterly
Review of Schrank
Review of Sides
Review of Creason, Los Angeles in Maps
Tuesday September 6
Please read Sanchez
Antecedents and the regional landscape
Please take an hour or two and read through random selections of regional newspaper(s)
from the period 1850s – 1880s; take notes on landscape, land-use, and geo-political (i.e.
Mexican/American issues that are discussed). ProQuest Los Angeles Times will allow
access to the Times from the latter 1880s; you’ll have to dig a bit deeper to see earlier
papers.
Presentation topics:
Review of S. Hackel’s Children of Coyote
Scholarly assessment of BD Wilson papers
Scholarly assessment of Matthew Keller papers
Scholarly assessment of the Solano Reeve collection
Cartography of 19th century citrus in Los Angeles
Scholarly review of El Clamor Publico (newspaper, 1850s LA) (in Spanish)
Scholarly review of the Civil War in Los Angeles
Scholarly review of Serra sainthood effort
Scholarly review of D. Sackman book Orange Empires
Review of Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Collections
Tuesday September 13
Please read Banham
Presentation topics:
Census overview and spatial overview of population distribution, 1850-1900
Scholarly assessment of Harrison Gray Otis and Harry Chandler
Scholarly assessment of Charles Fletcher Lummis
Scholarly assessment of I.W. Hellman and Farmers and Merchants Bank
Scholarly assessment of E.L. Doheny
Tuesday September 20
Please read Kropp
Tuesday September 27
Please read Avila
Presentation topics:
Bromley Oxnam and the Church of All Nations
Settlement houses in Progressive-era Los Angeles
Review of Mowry’s California Progressives (focused on Los Angeles)
Scholarly assessment of Rev. Robert Burdette
Scholarly assessment of Charles Fuller
Scholarly assessment of Robert Shuler
Review of Cowan’s Darrow biography
Scholarly review of history of La Opinion or other Los Angeles Spanish-language paper
Review of C. Davis book on Los Angeles white-collar work
Tuesday October 4
Please read Flamming and Smith
Presentation topics:
Cartography of African American Los Angeles, 1850-1940
Scholarly assessment of Los Angeles Urban League Papers (YRL)
Scholarly assessment of Ralph Bunche Papers (YRL)
Scholarly review of the Shades of Los Angeles photo project, LAPL
Scholarly assessment of race and Los Angeles public education, pre-Brown v Board
City Survey Files, Homeowners’ Loan Corporation, (H.O.L.C.), Los Angeles
neighborhoods
Review of Lipsitz, Possessive Investment in Whiteness
Tuesday October 11
Please read Day of the Locust
Please read Hurewitz
Tuesday October 18
Please read Deverell
Presentation topics:
Scholarly assessment of John Anson Ford
Scholarly assessment of Augustus Hawkins
Scholarly assessment of John Randolph Haynes
Scholarly assessment of Clifford Clinton
Forest Lawn Memorial Park and the Evolution of the American Cemetery
E.P.I.C. movement in Los Angeles
Socialism in Los Angeles, 1930s
Griffith Family Papers
Wilshire Family Papers
Tuesday October 25
Please read Nicolaides
Presentation topics:
Scholarly assessment of Kenneth Hahn
Scholarly review of Watts riots
Scholarly assessment of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company (archives, YRL)
Scholarly review of special LA issue of American Quarterly (if not done earlier)
Scholarly assessment of Hollywood Studio Strike Collection, 1944-1985 (YRL)
Scholarly assessment of A. Quincy Jones (architect) papers (YRL)
Scholarly report on holdings (and history) of Southern California Library for Social
Studies and Research
Review of Dorothy Chandler Papers
Tuesday November 1
Please read Hise
Presentation topics:
Review of Hise and Deverell, Eden by Design
Overview of urban planning in Los Angeles, 1900-1940
Scholarly overview of post-war Los Angeles architecture
Scholarly assessment of “Arts and Architecture” Magazine, 1943-1965
Scholarly assessment of The Case Study House Program
Scholarly assessment of Marie Koenig archive
Scholarly assessment of Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)
Scholarly assessment of Ralph Bunche Papers (YRL)
Scholarly assessment of Frank Wilkinson
Historiographical summary of Chavez Ravine scholarship
Scholarly review of LA photography of Robbert Flick compared with LA photography of
Ed Ruscha
Tuesday November 8
Please read Waldie
Presentation topics:
Didion essays/books on Los Angeles
History of Los Angeles aerospace industry
Freeway history of Los Angeles, with bibliography of best secondary works
Tuesday November 15
No reading this week. Course meeting will be devoted to discussion of potential thesis
topics in Los Angeles history. Each member of the seminar is to prepare a list of six to
ten topics (described in a paragraph each) that would make a significant contribution to
Los Angeles historiography if pursued as a doctoral thesis. Each list is to include topics
from the 19th and the 20th centuries. Students are to rank order their lists in terms of
either most important or most interesting.
Presentation topics:
Review of Orsi’s book on Los Angeles hydraulic engineering
Review of Gumprecht’s Los Angeles River book
Scholarly assessment of Los Angeles Air Quality Management District history
Scholarly assessment of Los Angeles Flood Control District history
Scholarly assessment of public beach law/access, Southern California, 20th century
Tuesday November 22
Please read Ulin; works by Himes; Rechy; Weschler (LA Glows); Muske; Simpson; See;
Martínez; George; Cooper; Vollman; Waldie; Thomson.
Please read Nickerson and Dochuk
Presentation topics:
Annotated list of research topics (with sources) on popular culture in Los Angeles
Collection of Books About Hollywood in Literature (YRL)
Annotated list of research topics on the Zoot Suit and “Zoot Suit Riots”
Scholarly assessment of Joan Didion’s work on Los Angeles
Scholarly assessment of Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee Papers (YRL)
Review of McWilliams works on Los Angeles
Review of Carey McWilliams Papers (YRL)
Scholarly assessment of Los Angeles sources at the Seaver Center
Manzanar War Relocation Papers
Edward Roybal Papers
Norris Poulson Papers
Tuesday November 29
Please read Whiting
Presentation topics:
Geography of aerospace industry in Southern California, 1940-1980
Scholarly assessment of Los Angeles real estate titans, post-1940
Scholarly review of Richard and Dion Neutra papers (YRL)
Scholarly assessment of photographic work (Los Angeles specific) of Cathy Opie and
Karen Halverson (comparative) (or two other photographers)
Scholarly assessment of “Los Angeles” (City Magazine), 1961 -1975 (take notes on
landscape, suburban “good life,” advertisements, etc.)
Los Angeles Olympics, 1984, Organizing Committee Collection
Tuesday December 6
In-class discussion of research work from all participants. Ten minutes each: outline of
topic, research strategy, expected findings, interpretive contribution, publication ideas.