Finding aid for the L.A. Watts Times newspapers and ephemera collection LSC.2122
Finding aid prepared by Karie Jenkins with assistance from Julie Graham, March 2014; machine-readable finding aid created
by Caroline Cubé after initial encoding by Julie Graham.
UCLA Library Special Collections
©2014 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: L.A. Watts Times newspapers and ephemera
Creator:
L.A.Watts Times
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2122
Physical Description:
13.8 Linear Feet
(33 flat boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1987-2010
Abstract: The Watts Times was founded in 1965 following the Watts Riots. In 1976, Charles Cook purchased the publication and changed
the name to L.A. Watts Times. The collection consists of original L.A. Watts Times newspapers, a small amount of awards, and
a very small amount of ephemera.
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: Materials are in English.
Restrictions on Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
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.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Danny Bakewell, Chairman of Bakewell Media, 2012.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], L.A. Watts Times Newspapers and Ephemera (Collection 2122). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Processing Information
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.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language
that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they
could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special
Collections.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography/History
The Watts Times was founded in 1965 following the Watts Riots and eventually became the premiere African American publication
in Los Angeles. In 1976, the newspaper was purchased by Charles Cook, an African American activist and former leader of the
Congress of Racial Equality. As an effort to include news about Los Angeles' entire African American community, Cook changed
the publication's name to L.A. Watts Times. Cook was credited for transforming the L.A. Watts Times from being a tabloid circulated
in Watts to becoming a financially stable weekly publication distributed in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Carson, Compton, Inglewood,
Gardena, Santa Monica and West Hollywood.
After Charles Cook's death in 1998, his daughter Melanie Polk became publisher of L.A. Watts Times. In June 2010, Polk sold
the publication to Danny Bakewell, publisher of Los Angeles Sentinel and owner of Bakewell Media
Scope and Content
The collection consists of issues of original
L.A. Watts Times newspapers along with a small amount of awards and ephemera. The bulk of the newspapers are loose publications; a small
portion are hard bound together by year. Many of the awards, honors, and commendations are from the California State Government
and City of Los Angeles and they acknowledge the
L.A. Watts Times as well as publishers Charles and Beverly Cook and Melanie Polk.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection is not arranged.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Newspapers.
African Americans -- California -- Los Angeles -- Newspapers
box 1
L.A. Watts Times
1987 Mar-May, July-Dec; 1988 Jan-July, Sept-Oct
box 2
L.A. Watts Times
1988 Nov-1989 Sept
box 3
L.A. Watts Times
1990 Jan-1991 Dec
box 4
L.A. Watts Times
1992 Jan-1993 Mar
box 5
L.A. Watts Times
1993 Apr-Dec
box 6
L.A. Watts Times
1994 Jan-1994 Sept
box 7
L.A. Watts Times
1994 Oct-1995 July
box 8
L.A. Watts Times
1995 Aug-1996 Apr
box 9
L.A. Watts Times
1996 May, June, Aug-Dec; 1997 Jan-May
Scope and Content
All of July 1996, November 14 of 1996, January 30 of 1997, February 6 and 13 of 1997, and March 6 and 13 of 1997 are not included.
box 10
L.A. Watts Times
1997 June-1998 Apr
Scope and Content
June 12 and November 6 of 1997 are not included.
box 11
L.A. Watts Times
1998 May-1999 Jan
box 12
L.A. Watts Times
1999 Feb-1999 Nov
box 13
L.A. Watts Times
1999 Dec-2000 Aug
Scope and Content
December 16, 1999 and August 17, 2000 not included.
box 14
L.A. Watts Times
2000 Sept-2001 May
box 15
L.A. Watts Times
2001 June-2002 Apr
Scope and Content
May 23, 2002 is not included.
box 16
L.A. Watts Times
2002 May-2003 Mar
Scope and Content
December 12, 2002 is not included.
box 17
L.A. Watts Times
2003 Apr-2004 Apr
box 18
L.A. Watts Times
2004 May-2005 Apr
box 19
L.A. Watts Times
2005 May-2006 Apr
box 20
L.A. Watts Times
2006 May-2007 Apr
box 21
L.A. Watts Times
2007 May-2008 May
box 22
L.A. Watts Times
2008 June-2009 Apr
Scope and Content
March 19, 2009 is not included.
box 23
L.A. Watts Times
2009 May-2010 Mar
Scope and Content
June 11 and 18, and October 22 of 2009 are not included.
box 24
L.A. Watts Times
2010 Apr-Jul
box 25
L.A. Watts Times (Bound)
1996
box 26
L.A. Watts Times (Bound)
1998
box 27
L.A. Watts Times (Bound)
1999
box 28
L.A. Watts Times (Bound)
2000
box 29
L.A. Watts Times (Bound)
2001
box 30
L.A. Watts Times (Bound)
2002
box 31, box 32
Awards and Honors
1991-1995, 2006, 2007
box 33
Awards, Honors, Commendations, Resolutions (2 folders)
1991, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006
General
Many from California State Government and City of Los Angeles. Some local awards for Beverly Cook and Melanie Polk.
box 33, folder unknown container
Los Angeles Watts Times 25th Anniversary - ephemera, commendations, letters of congratulations
2001
box 33, folder unknown container
City of Los Angeles in Tribute for Charles Cook (7 copies)
1998
box 33, folder unknown container
Beverly Cook - awards
1993
box 33, folder unknown container
Melanie Polk - awards
2000, 2001, 2006
box 33, folder unknown container
L.A. Watts Times sign (for newspaper dispenser vending machine)
Undated
box 33, folder unknown container
L.A. Watts Times Newspaper press kit
1999
box 33, folder unknown container
Photograph of Yvonne Burke, Black History Grand Marshal accepting flowers from L.A. Watts Times' Robert Reed Burns
Undated
