Access Restrictions
Use Restrictions
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Related Material at UCSB
Related Material at UCLA
Related Material at the USC
Other Descriptive Information
Title: Lou Cannon Rodney King papers
Identifier/Call Number: Mss 258
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
33 linear feet
(24 cartons, 3 document boxes, 1 oversize box, 116 audiocassettes, and 1 DVD)
Creator:
Cannon, Lou
Date (inclusive): 1965-1997
Date (bulk): 1991-1995
Abstract: The collection mainly contains materials relating to Lou Cannon's book Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots
Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD (1997). Some files are closed, pending review for confidential materials.
Physical Location: A portion of the collection is located at the Southern Regional Library Facility (SRLF).
Access Restrictions
A portion of the collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval. Some portions of the collection are
closed, pending release by donor, as noted in the container list.
Use Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Lou Cannon Rodney King papers, Mss 258. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara
Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Lou Cannon, Oct. 8, 2008; additions, 2009.
Biographical Note
Lou (Louis S.) Cannon was born in New York City on June 3, 1933. He is an American journalist and, non-fiction author, best
known for his several works on Ronald Reagan. He was raised in Reno, Nevada and attended the University of Nevada, Reno, and
San Francisco State College. He was state bureau chief for the
San Jose Mercury News in the later 1960s, while Reagan was Governor of California. In 1972 he began working for the
Washington Post as a political reporter. He became senior White House correspondent for the
Washington Post during the Reagan administration and also wrote a weekly syndicated column. In addition, he is the author of
Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD (1997).
Scope and Content
The collection mainly contains materials relating to Lou Cannon's book
Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD (1997). Some files are closed, pending review for confidential materials.
Arrangement
Book [Research] Files. Arranged alphabetically. Boxes 1-8.
Internal Affairs and Related Documents. Some files closed, pending review by LC. See container list for details. Box 9.
Interviews. Some interviews closed, pending release by LC. See container list for details. Boxes 10-11.
Reports. Most re King Case, but some earlier, re LAPD. Arranged alphabetically, by title. Boxes 12-13.
Research / Background Files. Includes Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department [Christopher Commission] files. Boxes 14-16.
Riot Newspapers.
Los Angeles Times and
Washington Post, Apr. 30-May 9, 1992, Apr. 18, 1993, Aug. 15, 1993. Box 17.
Trial Transcripts - Federal Trial (Boxes 18-19),
Simi Trial (Boxes 20-23),
Williams, Damien (Boxes 24-25),
Miscellaneous Cases (Box 26),
Other Documents, (Boxes 26-27).
Oversize. Comb-bound copies of the
Los Angeles Daily News, Mar. 6 – July 28, 1991. Box 28.
Audiovisual Materials - Audiocassettes. Interviews, Alphabetical and Chronological Series. 116 tapes, separately numbered. Some interviews closed, pending release by LC. See container list for details.
DVD. "The Final Report: LA Riots"
Related Material at UCSB
Cannon [Lou] Oral History (OH 27). Life history, including recollections re researching and writing of Official Negligence.
This collection is closed, pending release by LC.
Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD (1997). Cataloged copies of the book are in the UCSB Library Black Studies Collection and also in Special Research Collections.
An additional copy is included in Box 8 of this collection.
Sheinbaum [Stanley K.] Papers (Mss 217). Includes LAPD Files, mainly from the time when SKS was Chair of the LAPD Police Commission.
Related Material at UCLA
Gibbs (Jewelle T.) Research Material on the Police Beating of Rodney King, 1993-2005 (bulk 1993-2005). Young Library, Department
of Special Collections, Collection No. 1807. Collection stored off-site at SRLF.
Related Material at the USC
Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department Records [also known as the Christopher Commission]. USC Library,
Regional History Collections, Collection No. 0229. 48.5 linear feet. Collection stored off-site: Advance notice required
for access. See the following website for further information: http://www.usc.edu/libraries/finding_aids/records/finding_aid.php?fa=0229
Richard M. Mosk Christopher Commission Records. USC Library, Regional History Collections, Collection No. 0395. 1 linear foot.
See the following website for further information: http://www.usc.edu/libraries/finding_aids/records/finding_aid.php?fa=0395
Los Angeles Webster Commission Records, USC Library, Regional History Collections, Collection No. 0244. 50 linear feet. Collection
stored off-site: Advance notice required for access. See the following website for further information:
http://www.usc.edu/libraries/finding_aids/records/finding_aid.php?fa=0244
Other Descriptive Information
List of acronyms:
LC = Lou Cannon JVD= Jaxon Van Derbeken, reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Rodney King Riots, Los Angeles, Calif., 1992
Racism -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century
African Americans -- Civil rights -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Politics and government
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Race relations
Audiocassettes
DVDs
Interviews
Newspapers
Reports
Research notes
Transcripts
Cannon, Lou -- Archives
King, Rodney, 1965-2012
Los Angeles (Calif.). Police Department