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Miller (Reverend Wendell L.) Collection
URB.WLM
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Reverend Wendell L. Miller Collection
Creator:
Miller, Wendell L., 1902-1999
Identifier/Call Number: URB.WLM
Extent:
1.06 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1928-1988
Abstract: Reverend Wendell L. Miller was pastor
of the University Methodist Church, Los Angeles. He became involved in local politics when
gambling and prostitution began edging toward the area surrounding the University of
Southern California (USC) campus. Miller founded the Citizens Independent Vice Investigating
Committee (C.I.V.I.C.), which also campaigned against crime and corruption in City Hall,
ultimately resulting in the recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw. The collection documents Miller's
involvement with C.I.V.I.C., and includes announcements, bulletins, correspondence,
newspaper clippings, news releases, pamphlets, radio addresses, speeches, statements, and
related items. There is also a small amount of material documenting Rev. Miller's anti-war
activities including letters from Japanese Americans sent to internment camps during World
War II.
Language of Material: English
Reverend Wendell L. Miller, pastor of the University Methodist Church, Los Angeles, was
born in Albian, Nebraska on April 16, 1902. After graduating from Albian High School, Miller
attended Nebraska Wesleyan University, graduating in 1927, with an A.B. degree in
Psychology. Miller and his wife, Thelma, moved to Los Angeles when Miller enrolled in an
M.A. program at the University of Southern California. He graduated in 1932, and his first
ministry was in Los Angeles Harbor where he worked to serve the needs of unemployed dock
workers.
In 1937, Miller became involved in Los Angeles politics as gambling and prostitution began
edging toward the USC campus community. At the behest of several parishioners, Miller began
holding community-wide meetings, and founded the Citizens Independent Vice Investigating
Committee (C.I.V.I.C.). Clifford Clinton, owner of Clifton's Cafeteria, became the financial
backer and first chairman of the Committee.
Gaining major attention from the mayor's office, the police department, and organized
crime, the organization stepped up its publicity campaign against crime and corruption in
City Hall. When Mayor Frank L. Shaw denied publicly that houses of prostitution and gambling
were a major problem in the city, the organization quickly began a recall campaign to oust
the mayor and his friends. The recall was successful and several members of C.I.V.I.C.,
including Miller, convinced Judge Fletcher Bowron to run for mayor. Shortly after Bowron's
successful mayoral campaign, C.I.V.I.C. ended its activities.
In 1954, Miller left University Church to begin a lecturing career in adult education, and
a new ministry at Manhattan Beach Community Church which lasted twelve years. During his
ministry at Community Church, Miller caught the attention of local members of the John Birch
Society. In the early 1960s, the Birch Society published a pamphlet listing Miller as a
communist along with such notable figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and
Margaret Mead.
Miller left Manhattan Beach in 1967, and settled in Palos Verdes. He became the Minister
of Visitation of his local church until his retirement. Reverend Wendell L. Miller died at
the age of 97 on November 9, 1999.
The
Reverend Wendell L. Miller Collection documents Miller's
career, including his early days as a minister in Harbor City, his time as minister of the
University Methodist Church at the University of Southern California, and his work at the
Manhattan Beach Community Church. The collection also documents Miller's involvement with
the Citizens Independent Vice Investigating Committee (C.I.V.I.C.), founded in the late
1930s to prevent the spread of gambling and prostitution in Los Angeles. Miller's anti-war
activities are also documented. The collection includes announcements, bulletins,
correspondence, newspaper clippings, news releases, pamphlets, radio addresses, speeches,
statements, and related items. It consists of four series:
Citizens
Independent Vice Investigating Committee Files
(1936-1967),
Japanese Internment Files (1942-1943),
Political and Religious
Activity Files
(1937-1961), and
Non-Manuscript Material
(1928-1988).
Series I,
Citizens Independent Vice Investigating Committee
(C.I.V.I.C.) Files,
documents C.I.V.I.C.'s campaign to end political corruption,
gambling, and prostitution in Los Angeles in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and includes
documentation of charges of communism leveled against Clifford Clinton, C.I.V.I.C. Chairman
and an outspoken reformist with whom Miller worked closely. The series also documents the
1938 recall campaign against Mayor Frank L. Shaw, and the campaign of Mayor Fletcher Bowron.
It consists of advertisements, correspondence, editorials, flyers, lists of prostitution
houses, newspaper clippings, news releases, pamphlets, radio addresses, and statements, and
is arranged alphabetically.
Series II,
Japanese Internment Files, contains correspondence
and newspaper clippings documenting Miller's involvement with relocated Japanese Americans
during World War II. It includes letters condemning Miller and other members of his church
for assisting Japanese Americans en route to various internment camps, as well as letters
from Japanese Americans thanking Miller for his support and camp visits . The series is
arranged chronologically.
Series III,
Political and Religious Activity Files, documents
Miller's political work, labor reform efforts, anti-war interests, and church activities. It
includes a pamphlet from 1950 in which Miller and five other religious leaders wrote about
the hydrogen bomb's implications, and a 1961 document titled "A Report on the Manhattan
Beach Community Church" that accuses Miller and others of being radical communists. The
series includes bulletins, correspondence, pamphlets, reports, and propositions, and is
arranged alphabetically.
Series IV,
Non-Manuscript Material, includes Miller's scrapbook
of news articles, correspondence, pamphlets, portraits, advertisements, and religious work
from throughout his life and career. The series also contains several photos from anti-war
campaigns during World War II, and some oversized posters and news articles.
Series I: Citizens Independent Vice Investigating Committee (C.I.V.I.C) Files,
1936-1967
Series II: Japanese Internment Files, 1942-1943
Series III: Political and Religious Activity Files, 1937-1961
Series IV: Non-Manuscript Material, 1928-1988
Digital reproductions of selected items in this collection are available electronically as
a part of the
CSU Japanese
American Digitization Project
.
Related Material
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright
status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected
by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the
written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Robert. G. Marshall and Thomas L. Davis, 1996
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Audiovisual materials