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Wachs Papers. Series Descriptions
Wachs Papers. Series Descriptions
THE THOMAS AND DOROTHY LEAVEY CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF LOS ANGELES RESEARCH COLLECTION
JOEL WACHS PAPERS, 1951-2002 (CSLA-29)
Series Descriptions
COLLECTION TITLE AND NUMBER: Joel Wachs Papers, 1951-2002. CSLA-29
ACCESSION NUMBER: 2005.66; gift of Joel Wachs
COLLECTION SIZE: 116 archival document boxes, 1 records storage box,4 oversize boxes, 4 flat files
Joel Wachs himself donated the Joel Wachs Papers to the CSLA Research Collection in June 2005. They consist of correspondence, city campaign forms, newspaper articles, some photographs, audiocassettes and videocassettes, ephemera, and campaign materials such as schedules, briefing papers, speeches, appointment books, fact sheets, polls, and campaign consultants’ bids and agreements. Because of Wachs’s long-tenure in the city council, the collection is a source for understanding important issues in the history of Los Angeles in the last twenty-five years of the twentieth century: rent control, development, AIDS, the Rodney King incident and subsequent riot, economic development, Jews in Los Angeles, the arts, and public education in Los Angeles. Some financial records from Wachs's city council and mayoral races have not yet been processed because of privacy concerns but will become available for research use in the collection as copies with private information deleted are made.
The Joel Wachs Papers have been divided into eleven series based on subject or type of materials. A description of each series is provided below. To consult the series descriptions, select the appropriate following series title: Series 1: Constituent Correspondence | Series 2: City Council Races | Series 3: Mayoral Races | Series 4: City Council Presidency | Series 5: Speeches | Series 6: Campaign Supporters Lists | Series 7: Personal Papers | Series 8: Audiocassettes and Videocassettes | Series 9: Ephemera and Photographs | Series 10: Appointment Books | Series 11: Scrapbooks.
To view the box and folder lists (indices of each series' or subseries' arrangement and content in archival boxes), select the appropriate links noted below in the series descriptions.
SERIES 1: CONSTITUENT CORRESPONDENCE. Inclusive dates: 1969-2000. Series size: 38 document boxes.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 1.
This series consists of favorable letters, faxes, and written records of phone messages from the constituents of Joel Wachs’s Council District 2. These materials were filed in the "Good Letters" files in Joel Wachs office, with the date typed on the side of the correspondence to facilitate the filing of the letters chronologically. This series’ holdings provide evidence on such issues as rent control, crime, taxation, and maintenance of the city infrastructure. Correspondents of note include Richard Riordan, Sheila Kuehl, Sugar Ray Robinson, Tom Bradley, Duke Comegys, Daryl Gates, Ed Davis, Shirley MacLaine, and Charlton Heston.
Two groups of letters came filed separately from the general constituent correspondence under the titles of "Wachs-Personal" and "Issues." Topics in the latter group include condominium conversion, a moratorium on high rise buildings, police, and water and power service. "Wachs-Personal" and "Issues" have received separate sub-series: Subseries A: Issues (2 boxes); and Subseries B: Personal (2 boxes). To view their box and folder lists, select the following titles: Subseries A; Subseries B.
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SERIES 2: CITY COUNCIL RACES. Inclusive dates: 1971-1999. Series size: 22 archival document boxes; 1 oversize box.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following titles: Subseries A: 1971 | Subseries B: 1975 | Subseries C: 1979 | Subseries D: 1983 | Subseries E: 1987 | Subseries F: 1991 | Subseries G: 1995 | Subseries H: 1999
This series consists of the campaign materials from each of the eight city council election campaigns in which Joel Wachs participated. Materials include newspaper articles, election schedules, campaign disclosure reports (both of Wachs and his opponents), polls, internal memoranda, filing statements, campaign flyers and letters, lists of supporters, and instructions to campaign workers.
SERIES 3: MAYORAL RACES. Inclusive dates: 1969-2001. Series size: 23 archival document boxes; 1 oversize box.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following titles: Subseries A: 1973 | Subseries B: 1983 | Subseries C: 1993 | Subseries C: 1993, Sub-Subseries 1: Issues | Subseries D: 2001 | Subseries D: 2001, Sub-Subseries 1: Issues
This series consists of, among other materials, press releases, correspondence, schedule of contributions, city campaign forms, financial campaign information, consultant agreements and bids, polls, newspaper articles, briefing papers, and volunteer lists from Joel Wachs’s three—unsuccessful—runs for the office of mayor. Subseries B involves the 1983 mayoral election in which Joel Wachs contemplated running but chose not to do so. Thus it consists of materials that Wachs compiled before 1983 in considering the decision to enter the campaign.
Subseries D (the 2001 mayoral campaign) contains excellent materials on the formation of a campaign, including the selection of campaign consultants and the use of the internet to campaign. For the campaigns in 2001 (Subseries D) and 1993 (Subseries C) Wachs’s staff developed subject files (called "Issues") as a resource for information to aid in campaigning. These "Issues" files for 1993 and 2001 have received respectively sub-subseries. To view their box and folder lists, select the following titles: Subseries C: 1993, Sub-Subseries 1: Issues; Subseries D: 2001, Sub-Subseries 1: Issues.
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SERIES 4: CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY. Inclusive dates: 1981. Series size: 1 archival document box; 1 oversize folder.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 4.
After political maneuverings on the part of outgoing City Council President John Ferraro, Joel Wachs was voted president of the Los Angeles City Council. In this series are newspaper articles and letters of congratulation to Joel Wachs regarding this political milestone.
SERIES 5: SPEECHES. Inclusive dates: 1981. Series size: 1 archival document box.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 5.
Joel Wachs made theses speeches at the City Council and other governmental functions, on the campaign trial, and at art venues. Topics include eulogies for friends, the social role of art, politics, and civil rights. Some speeches are typed, others handwritten, but all contain emendations made by Wachs's own hand, providing direct access to Wachs’s thoughts on important issues.
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SERIES 6: CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS LISTS AND CITY COUNCIL MATERIALS. Inclusive dates: 1971-1992. Series size: 3 archival document boxes.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 6.
This series contains photocopies of lists of campaign supporters from the 1970s; in Box 3 there is a folder with miscellaneous flyers and mailers to Council District 2 from Joel Wachs.
SERIES 7: PERSONAL PAPERS. Inclusive dates: 1957-2002. Series size: 4 archival document boxes; 1 oversize box.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 7.
Materials in this series include student newspapers and articles, scrapbooks, correspondence, commencement programs, and photographs from Joel Wachs’s student days at UCLA; and academic medals, school letters, and photographs from his high school days. Other items include Wachs’s Bar Mizvah invitation and letters responding to the public declaration of his homosexuality.
SERIES 8: AUDIOCASSETTES AND VIDEOCASSETTES. Inclusive dates: 1993-2001. Series size: 1 box.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 8.
This series consists of campaign spots on audiocassette and videocassette produced for the mayoral campaigns of Joel Wachs in 1993 and 2001. One videocassette is of a subject group of voters in the 2001 mayoral campaign.
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SERIES 9: EPHEMERA AND PHOTOGRAPHS. Inclusive dates: 1957-2001. Series size: 2 archival document boxes, 1 oversize document box, 3 flat files.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 9.
Diplomas and law licenses, loose photographs, plaques, and sculptures are among the materials found in this series. Many of the plaques and sculptures are honorary, celebrating Joel Wachs’s many achievements.
SERIES 10: APPOINTMENT BOOKS. Inclusive dates: 1971-2000. Series size: 4 archival document boxes.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 10.
The appointment books in this series are Joel Wachs’s personal calendars for his public and personal activities during his terms as Los Angeles City councilman.
SERIES 11: SCRAPBOOKS. Inclusive dates: 1971-2001. Series size: 7 archival document boxes.
To consult the box and folder list for the holdings of this series, select the following title: Series 11.
This series consists of scrapbooks of newspaper clippings of Joel Wachs’s political career compiled by his mother and indefatigable supporter, Hannah Wachs. The clippings come from different newspapers throughout the Los Angeles basin, and provide information on his activities as city councilman, and campaigns for mayor and the city council.
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