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Houston (Ivan J.) papers
LSC.1866
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Ivan J. Houston papers
Creator:
Houston, Ivan J.
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1866
Physical Description:
12.25 Linear Feet
(27 boxes, 4 oversized boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1880-2009
Abstract: Ivan J. Houston was born in Los
Angeles, California in 1925. He worked at Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company for
forty years, including at the executive level when he became the company's President and CEO
in 1970 and Chairman in 1980, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. In 1943 he
enlisted in the Army and in 1944 he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 370th Infantry
Regiment Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Fifth Army, also known as the
Buffalo Soldiers. Houston's battalion journal became the basis for the memoir he published
in 2009,
Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War II. The collection
consists of documentation of Houston's World War II service; records of his tenure with
Golden State Mutual Life Insurance; materials related to the creation of
Black
Warriors
; various periodicals, programs and annual reports which feature Houston
as well as Houston's personal papers, photos and slides including materials related to his
father, Norman O. Houston and his mother, Doris Talbot Young.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access
special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on
this page.
Language of Material:
English .
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in
advance using the request button located on this page.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed
audiovisual materials. Audiovisual materials are not currently available for access, unless
otherwise noted in a Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series
and file levels. All requests to access processed materials must be made in advance using
the request button located on this page.
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All
other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not
hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Ivan J. Houston papers (Collection 1866). UCLA Library Special
Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Ivan J. Houston, 2010.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending
on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value,
availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections
provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and
resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and
described according to national and local standards and best practices.
Processed by Kelly
Besser in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Megan
Hahn Fraser, 2011.
The processing of this collection was generously supported by
Arcadia
funds.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
6700199
Ivan J. Houston was born in Los Angeles, California in 1925. That same year, Houston's
father, businessman Norman O. Houston helped organize Golden State Mutual Life Insurance,
one of the largest historically black-owned companies in the country - a company Houston
would head over four decades later.
After graduating from L.A.'s Polytechnic High School in 1942, Houston entered the
University of California at Berkeley - also his father's alma mater. A track star in high
school, Houston lettered in track as a freshman, and also boxed. However, at this time the
country was also engaged in World War II, so in 1943 he left Berkeley and enlisted in the
Army.
Though the U.S. Armed Forces were still segregated, Houston was sent to the Army
Specialized Training Program (ASTP) that was actually integrated and only included those who
were college students or graduates. In March of 1944, the Army announced the shutdown of the
ASTP and Houston was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 370th Infantry Regiment Combat Team,
92nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Fifth Army also known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The 3rd
Battalion became the first African American infantry unit to engage in combat against
Hitler's Nazi Germany in World War II. Houston was discharged in December 1945 as Battalion
Sergeant Major.
After the war, Houston married Philippa E. Jones, and he returned to UC Berkeley in the
spring of 1946. Houston graduated in February 1948, with a B.S. from the School of Business
Administration (now the Walter A. Haas School of Business). Houston then attended the
University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, to study actuarial science.
In 1948, Houston became an accountant at Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company (GSM).
After working in several other capacities, including at the executive level, Houston became
the company's President and CEO in 1970. In 1980, Houston was also elected as Chairman, a
position he held until his retirement in 1990. Under his leadership, Golden State became the
third largest black-owned financial services enterprise in the United States.
Also, throughout his tenure at GSM, Houston had the opportunity to meet many historic
figures including: Mayor Tom Bradley, President Jimmy Carter, and Dr. Martin Luther King.
Houston met King in 1965 during the effort to resolve the Watts Riots aftermath, when
Houston allowed him and other civic and elected leaders to conduct meetings at the Golden
State Mutual Life Insurance Building.
Acclaimed for his business acumen, Houston served as a director for other companies ranging
from Fortune 500 corporations to regional and state businesses. The companies included:
Daniel Freeman Hospitals; First Interstate Bank (now Wells Fargo); Kaiser Aluminum and
Chemical Corporation; Metromedia; North America Produce, Inc.; Pacific Indemnity Company;
and Pacific Telesis Group/Pacific Bell (now AT&T ).
Houston was named one of Harvard Business School's American Business Leaders of the 20th
Century, and was inducted into UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business Hall of Fame as an
alumnus. He was also featured in the Los Angeles Times, and listed on
Ebony
Magazine's
"100 Most Influential Black Americans" for fourteen consecutive years,
from 1976 to 1990. Houston, along with his wife, was featured in
Time
Magazine's
June 17, 1974 cover story, "Middle-Class Blacks: Making it in America."
In 1993, Pope John Paul II honored Houston as a Knight of the Order of Saint Gregory the
Great for his meritorious service to the Church.
Houston was a member and leader in numerous professional organizations, including: the
American Academy of Actuaries, American Council of Life Insurance (board member)
International Association of Black Actuaries, and the National Insurance Association (board
member). He also sat on the Boards for the California Chamber of Commerce and the Los
Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
Houston provided leadership in civic affairs at the local, state and national level. He was
president of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission and chaired the boards of the
Los Angeles Urban League and the United Way of Los Angeles Central Region. h headed the Los
Angeles chapter of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity also known as "The Boule."
Houston is the author of
Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War
II
, an account of his service in the Army.
The collection consists of documentation of Houston's World War II service including copies
of battalion journals, correspondence, photos, awards and memorabilia; records of his tenure
with the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance company including correspondence, publications,
photos, slides, and speeches; materials related to the creation of Black Warriors including
interviews, research, notebooks, correspondence, drafts, photos, maps, speeches, and World
War II Veterans Buffalo Association newsletters. The collection also contains various
periodicals, programs and annual reports that feature Houston, as well as his personal
papers, photos and slides including materials related to his father, Norman O. Houston and
his mother, Doris Talbot Young. Files have been divided into series according to Houston's
original order of the materials and into subseries according to primary genres as
interpreted by the collection processor. Folder titles have been maintained from Houston's
original titles and noted as such in the corresponding descriptions.
Arranged in the following series:
- World War II
- Battalion journals
- Correspondence
- Photos
- Awards and memorabilia
- Golden State Mutual
- Correspondence
- Photos and slides
- Publicity and publications
- National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (NAFCOC)
-
Black Warriors
- Correspondence
- Drafts
- Research and notebooks
- Photos and maps
- Buffalo soldier speeches
- The Buffalo 92nd Infantry World War II Association
- Personal papers, photos and slides
- Ivan J. Houston
- Norman O. Houston
- Talbot family
- Publications
Golden State Mutual
Life Insurance Company Records, 1866-1985, bulk 1925-1985 (Collection 1434)
.
Available at Library Special Collections, UCLA.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
African American authors -- California -- Los Angeles --
Archives.
African American executives -- California -- Los Angeles --
Archives.
Houston, Ivan J.--Archives.