Long Beach City Manager Files
Finding aid created by Historical Society of Long Beach staff using RecordEXPRESS
Historical Society of Long Beach
2021
4260 Atlantic Avenue
Long Beach, California 90807
(562) 424-2220
archives@hslb.org; programs@hslb.org (photo requests)
http://www.hslb.org/
Title: Long Beach City Manager Files
Dates: 1922- c. 1953
Collection Number: Various, see inventory
Creator/Collector:
Charles H. Windham
Charles S. Henderson
Henry S. Callahan
G. L. Buck
C. C. Lewis
E. S. Dobbin
R. M. Dorton
J. W. Charleville
Carl R. Erickson
Herbert C. Legg
Samuel E. Vickers
Carl B. Wirsching
City of Long Beach
Extent: Approximately 148 Linear Feet (142 Boxes).
Online items available
Repository:
Historical Society of Long Beach
Long Beach, California 90807
Abstract: This collection consists of over 5,000 files containing over 100,000 materials documenting the challenges and concerns of
the city managers of Long Beach, California from 1922 to 1953. These materials are a unique repository of local history, exposing
the workings of municipal government regarding local to national concerns.
Language of Material: English
There are no access restrictions; this collection is open to researchers with an appointment. Please allow HSLB staff 24 to
36 hours before your visit to retrieve the materials. Research and use fees apply.
Collection is open for research. Permission to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise publish the materials in this collection
needs to be be obtained from the Historical Society of Long Beach as the rights holder of the physical materials. The researcher
is responsible for securing any other relevant rights. Contact a HSLB staff member for details.
Long Beach City Manager Files. Historical Society of Long Beach
The Historical Society of Long Beach (HSLB) acquired this collection from the City of Long Beach, California in 1998. In 2010,
this collection was processed and cataloged into HSLB’s database by HSLB staff and volunteers overseen by Timothy Friden (MA
in History), thanks to a generous grant from the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association. A finding aid for this collection
was created and uploaded on the Online Archive of California (OAC) in 2020-2021.
Biography/Administrative History
Starting in April 1921 the city managers of Long Beach collected records and correspondence that documented the challenges
that each faced in administrating the city. When each manager departed, they left behind the papers that they and other city
administrators had accumulated. Initially, these files were located in the 1930s City Hall. Later they moved into the Loynes
Garage (also known as the City Garage), a building that the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (LBRDA) acquired while it was
revitalizing downtown. When the City of Long Beach constructed a new administration building in 1976, the files in this collection
remained in the City’s working automobile Garage until it was demolished in 1998. The files were then transferred on the advice
of the City’s Neighborhood and Historic Preservation Officer, Ruthann Lehrer, to the Historical Society of Long Beach (HSLB),
led by Executive Director, Julie Bartolotto. HSLB has attempted to preserve the files in the organization of each city manager.
Scope and Content of Collection
The over 5,000 files in this collection comprise over 100,000 pages of records from the city manager’s office of Long Beach.
Long Beach was an early adopter of the city manager form of municipal government, where a professional official manages the
day-to-day operations of the municipality with oversight, policy, and budget decisions made by an elected city council. This
collection is not only locally but also nationally significant. The files begin in 1921 with the first city manager Charles
E. Hewes, and continue into the early 1950s. These files document how a series of managers dealt with challenges such as building
and maintaining the City’s infrastructure, the discovery of two oil fields in the city, annexations that doubled the city’s
size, a major earthquake in 1933, the development of a world-class harbor, the Great Depression, the Second World War, and
citizen concerns including racial issues. These files not only shed light on the city’s development; they also illustrate
the United States Navy’s important role in that process. The types of files include correspondence, handwritten letters, departmental
reports, legal documents, city resolutions, copies of defunct newspapers, state and federal legislation, maps, blueprints,
photographs, and more. These materials detail the workings, concerns, and challenges of municipal government in Long Beach,
California.
1933 Earthquake
Accidents
Adams Engine
Advertising
Aeroplanes
Agriculture
Airplanes
Airport
Alamitos Bay
Alcohol
Alleys
Amusements
Animals
Annexations
Applications
Appointments
Aquarium
Architecture
Art
Assembly
Audits
Automobiles
Aviation
Beach
Belmont Pier
Belmont Shore
Bids
Bills
Bixby
Boats and Ships
Bonds
Bolder Dam
Breakwater
Bridges
Budget
Buildings
Businesses
California
Camping
Cemeteries
Census and other Population Documents
Chamber of Commerce
Charity
Churches
Citizen Concerns
City Charter
City Council
City Employees
City Government
City Hall
City Manager(s)
City Officials
City Services
Clippings
Complaints
Construction
Contracts
Correspondence
Courts
Crime
Daugherty Field
Defense
Defense Industry
Development
Disasters
Education
Elections
Electricity
Emergency Services
Employment
Engineering Department
Equipment and Supplies
Events
Extermination
Finance
Fire Department
Floods
Gas
Gas Department
Golf Courses
Great Depression
Harbor
Health
Highways
Holidays
Hospitals
Housing
Industry
Infrastructure
Insurance
Inventories
Judicial Department
Labor
Land Acquisitions
Laws
Lawsuits
Leases
Legal Cases
Libraries
Licenses
Light
Loans
Long Beach
Maps
Medical Services
Municipal Auditorium
Municipal Employees
Municipal Garage
Municipal Government
Naples
Neighborhoods
Newspapers
North Long Beach
Oil
Oil Exploration
Olympics
Ordinances
Organizations and Clubs
Parades
Parking
Parks and Playgrounds
Payments
Payroll
Permits
Personnel Files
Pests
Petitions
Piers
Pike
Plumbing
Police Department
Political Turmoil
Port
Power
Prisoners
Property
Public Comment
Public Services
Public Transportation
Public Works
Purchases
Racial Issues and Tensions
Radio
Railroad
Receipts
Recreation Department
Recreation Park
Relief
Religion
Rents
Reports
Requisitions
Sanitation Department
Schools
Sewage
Sewer
Sidewalks
Signal Hill
Signs
Social Services
Social Welfare
Southern California
Sports
Streets
Taxes
Traffic
Transportation
Trash
Unemployment
United States Air Force
United States Army
United States Military
United States Navy
Utilities
Vegetation
Vehicles
Veterans Affairs
Waste
Water
Water Department
Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.)
World War II
Zoning