Description
James Harlan Pope (1885- ) was a reporter in Detroit and Los Angeles before he was admitted to the California bar in 1915.
He became the Los Angeles city public defender (1916-23), judge in the police court (1923-26), Municipal Court judge (1926),
and presiding judge (1931). He was also a member of the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Law Library, and a member
of the Conference of California Judges. The collection consists of correspondence, a tape recording, papers, scrapbooks, and
related ephemera accumulated by Judge Pope on the history of the bench and bar of Los Angeles County. Subjects in correspondence
include the dynamiting of the
Los Angeles Times building, the trial of the McNamara brothers, Pope's work as the first public defender in Los Angeles, his career as a newspaper
reporter, descriptions of important people, and a description of the first work camp for men serving jail sentences in Los
Angeles.
Background
Pope was born on August 31, 1885 in Clayton, Michigan; attended Albion College (1903-06) and University of Southern California
Law School (1911-17); reporter, then city editor of the Detroit Morning News, 1909; reporter, Los Angeles Times (1910-12) and Los Angeles Evening Herald (1912-16); admitted to California bar, 1915; became the Los Angeles city public defender (1916-23), and judge, police court
(1923-26); became Municipal Court judge in 1926, and presiding judge in 1931; member, board of trustees of the Los Angeles
County Law Library, and of the Conference of California Judges.
Extent
4 boxes (2.0 linear ft.)
1 oversize box
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary 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.
Availability
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.