Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Congresswoman Lynn Schenk papers
- Dates:
- 1959-2005, bulk 1992-2004
- Creators:
- Schenk, Lynn
- Abstract:
- Lynn Schenk is a lawyer and politician who served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives as a congresswoman from San Diego. She also served as Chief of Staff to Gray Davis during his entire tenure as Governor of California. The collection consists mostly of material from these offices, including subject files, correspondence, and administrative records. There is also material relating to several political campaigns, including Schenk's own, the 2003 gubernatorial recall, and the 2004 presidential race.
- Extent:
- 21 linear feet (21 record cartons)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Congresswoman Lynn Schenk Papers (Collection 2209). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of material relating to the political career of Lynn Schenk, especially her term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and her position as Chief of Staff to California governor Gray Davis. There are subject files with information about issues important to voters, as well as administrative files regarding the operations of various offices. There is correspondence from constituents, lobbyists, and other political figures. The collection also contains a great deal of material on campaigns, including the successful effort to recall Davis from office, and the 2004 presidential race, during which Schenk was an important fundraiser for John Kerry. Also represented are Schenk's unsuccessful bids for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and California attorney general. There is also a small amount of personal material.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Lynn Schenk was born on January 5, 1945 in the Bronx, New York. The daughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe, she and her family moved westward, finally settling in Los Angeles. Schenk received a BA from UCLA, and then earned her law degree at the University of San Diego. Politically and socially active, in 1972 she co-founded the Lawyers Club of San Diego as an organization to support female lawyers and to advocate for women's rights in general. In 1975, she was appointed a White House Fellow and worked for three years in the Office of the Vice President. In 1992, she ran for the U.S. Congress in a newly created district that encompassed most of San Diego. When she won, she became the first woman ever elected to the House of Representatives from the city, and the first Democrat in forty years. Though she lost her reelection bid in 1994, she remained active in Democratic and California politics. In 1998, governor-elect Gray Davis asked her to serve as his Chief of Staff, and she remained in that role until Davis was recalled in 2003.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Doug Johnson, 2016.
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.
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- Arrangement:
-
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Chief of Staff files
- Series 2. U.S. Congress files
- Series 3. White House Fellows files
- Series 4. California Attorney General files
- Series 5. San Diego County Board of Supervisors files
- Series 6. Kerry/Edwards campaign files
- Series 7. Personal files
- 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.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-01-28 13:38:31 -0800 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the 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.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Congresswoman Lynn Schenk Papers (Collection 2209). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988