Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Acquisition
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: L.A. Murillo papers
Creator:
Murillo, L.A. (Louis Andrew)
Creator:
Pedraza Ostos, José (1889-1937)
Identifier/Call Number: 0501
Identifier/Call Number: 194
Physical Description:
28.58 Linear Feet
37 boxes and 1 oversize folder
Date (inclusive): 1932-2012
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.
Language of Material:
English
, Spanish; Castilian
.
Biographical Note
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.
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.
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
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.
Acquisition
The two major parts of the collection were donated to the USC Libraries Boeckmann Center by L.A. Murillo in 2003 and in 2010.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American poetry -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Volunteers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
World War, 1939-1945 -- United States -- Archival resources
Correspondence
Universities and colleges -- Faculty -- Archival resources
Printed ephemera
Hispanic Americans -- California -- Archival resources
Mexican Americans -- California -- Archival resources
Postcards
Pamphlets
Translating and interpreting -- Dictionaries -- Archival resources
Public service interpreting -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Photographs
Spanish language -- California -- Archival resources
Borges, Jorge Luis -- Correspondence
Los Angeles (Calif.). Police Department -- Archives
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office -- Archives
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de -- Archives
Borges, Jorge Luis -- Photographs
University of California, Berkeley. Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese -- Archives
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de -- Congresses
California. Dept. of the California Highway Patrol -- Archives
Murillo, L.A. (Louis Andrew) -- Archives
Pedraza Ostos, José (1889-1937) -- Pictorial works