Murillo (L.A.) papers, 1932-2012

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Summary

Title:
L.A. Murillo papers
Dates:
1932-2012
Creators:
Murillo, L.A. (Louis Andrew) and Pedraza Ostos, José (1889-1937)
Abstract:
The L.A. Murillo papers document the life of Louis Andrew Murillo (1922- ), including his service in the Air Force during World War II, his tenure as a professor of Spanish literature and Cervantes scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and his service as a bilingual volunteer for the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles Police Department. Also included in this collection are the Spanish, English and bilingual pamphlets and flyers which document Spanish language usage in Southern California, collected by Murillo between 1989 and 2003.
Extent:
28.58 Linear Feet 37 boxes and 1 oversize folder
Language:
English , Spanish; Castilian .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], L.A. Murillo papers, Collection no. 0501, Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains the papers of Louis Andrew Murillo, including family correpsondence and photographs, his correspondence with his publisher and academic colleagues, three autograph letters from Jorge Borges, Murillo's poetry works, and correspondence with the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol about his volunteer work for those agencies. Also included in this collection is Murillo's collection of Spanish, English and bilingual (English/Spanish) brochures and pamphlets collected in Southern California.

Biographical / historical:

Louis Andrew (L.A.) Murillo was born in 1922 in Southern California to Filomeno and Refugio (Ruth) Murillo. His parents moved to the United States in 1916 from Michoacan, Mexico, escaping from the Mexican Revolution. Murillo grew up in Pasadena, California, where he attended public schools. He enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1942, and served through the end of the war as part of a bomber crew in the 15th Air Force, Italy. Upon his discharge in 1945, he enrolled at the University of Southern California. He graduated with his BA in 1947 and completed a MA in Spanish Literature, also at USC, in 1949. As a student at USC he traveled and studied in Spain with assistance from a Del Amo Foundation grant.

After graduating from USC, Murillo earned a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literature from Harvard University in 1953 and taught there until 1957. In 1958, Murillo moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught Spanish literature and became a Cervantes scholar. He retired as a Professor Emeritus in 1986. After retiring, Murillo moved back to Southern California. In 1985 he donated his important scholarly book collection on the works of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra to the USC Libraries new Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American studies. He also employed his knowledge of Spanish in his volunteer work for the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. He assisted the agencies as a bilingual consultant, producing Spanish language field guides and taking phone reports in either English or Spanish. While volunteering, he also collected pamphlets, notices and flyers in English and Spanish to help with the compilation of his guides and dictionaries and to document Spanish language usage in Southern California after 1975.

Acquisition information:
The two major parts of the collection were donated to the USC Libraries Boeckmann Center by L.A. Murillo in 2003 and in 2010.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Rebecca Hirsch and Vivian Yan
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid was funded by the generous support of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-04-21 16:05:02 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Boeckmann Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], L.A. Murillo papers, Collection no. 0501, Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Location of this collection:
Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US
Contact:
(213) 740-5900
specol@usc.edu
Website