Lozano family and La Opini贸n collection, 1875-2006, bulk 1930-1980

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Summary

Abstract:
Materials related to La Prensa and La Opini贸n, Spanish language newspapers run by the Lozano family, including financial and legal documents, ephemera, bound newspaper volumes, and photographs. Also includes personal and business correspondence of founder Ignacio E. Lozano, Sr., Ignacio E. Lozano Jr., M贸nica C. Lozano, and other family members.
Extent:
86.84 Linear Feet (73 boxes, 55 volumes, 4 oversize folders)
Language:
Materials are in Spanish and English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Lozano family and La Opini贸n collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The personal correspondence consists of outgoing and incoming letters from Ignacio Eugenio Lozano, Sr.; his wife, Alicia Elizondo de Lozano; his son, Ignacio Eugenio Lozano, Jr.; and his daughter, Maria Alicia Lozano. The letters are written in Spanish, and occasionally, in English. For the majority of Maria Alicia Lozano's letters, she simply signs "Neta" and Jr. is referred to as "Nacho". The bulk of the family correspondence is written in the 1940s when Jr. is attending the University of Notre Dame to study journalism.

The bulk of the outgoing and incoming correspondence of Ignacio Eugenio Lozano, Sr. is to a Mexican reporter and researcher, Jose C. Valad茅s (1901-1976). The correspondence is in Spanish. Other correspondence includes letters to and from employees of La Prensa and La Opini贸n including Horacio Martinez, La Opini贸n's manager. In addition to the typical work-related correspondence, letters to literary authors, politicians, and military leaders are also present. The majority of these letters are in Spanish.

Note: There are two oversize letters in Oversize Ephemera Box 42 (4 and 5).

The manuscripts and documents are loosely organized by genre; the bulk of the documents relate to particular persons, such as Ignacio E. Lozano, Sr. and employees of La Prensa and La Opini贸n. Many of these documents are photostats and include duplicates. There are also a number of unidentified typewritten manuscripts.

Box 24 consists of bound volumes related to La Prensa and La Opini贸n from 1928 to 1986. They include bylaws, account books, and minute books.

Boxes 25-29 consist of financial and legal documents. They are loosely organized by genre, including agreements, contracts, copyright certificates, deeds, financial records, leases, and insurance policies related to the Lozano family and their company. Many of these items include correspondence pertaining to that particular document. The financial and legal documents are in Spanish and English.

Boxes 30-34 consist of ephemera, which are loosely organized by genre. Some of the ephemeral items include clippings, empty envelopes, greeting cards, invitations, illustrations, journals, magazines, printed matter, report cards, and telegrams. Box 35 consists of audio and visual materials, including compact discs relating to La Opini贸n's 75th anniversary. Box 36 includes 3-D objects, such as small commemorative items, plaques, and medals. In addition to the newspaper clippings found in Box 30, there are also newspapers in Boxes 43-45. These issues may or may not be complete.

The bound newspaper volumes are restricted, due to their physical condition. There are two La Prensa volumes, which span from 1927 to 1938. There are 47 La Opini贸n volumes, which span from 1926 to 1983. There is also a volume from El Manana 1911-1913 and a volume of advertisers for the Metro Newspaper Service with the accompanying index. Please visit for digitized issues of La Opini贸n. There are currently 23,971 issues available from 1920s-2008.

In Boxes 37-41 are twenty-three books, which are roughly organized by title. A few of these books are in fragile condition. They are mostly in Spanish.

Box 42 consists of oversize ephemera, including awards, certificates, an autograph book, correspondence, empty envelopes, magazines, and printed matter.

Photographs are found in Boxes 47-58. Box 47 consists of company photographs, including celebratory events, headshots, and proof sheets related to La Prensa and Opini贸n. The corresponding negatives to the proofs are housed separately. There are also some reproductions of photographs from the 1930s, which are from the Bill Mason Collection.

Box 47 includes photographs of Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr., which are roughly organized chronologically. The majority of these images were shot in 1976 when Jr. was the United States Ambassador to El Salvador. Also in this box is a folder with personal family photographs.

Boxes 48-54 consist of unsorted news photographs. These were taken by La Opini贸n photographer, Octavio Gomez in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly but not all unidentified. Subjects found in the news photographs include sports (professional and local), politicians, public demonstrations, buildings, people, car accidents, celebrities, crime scenes, natural disasters, law officials, and press conferences. These photographs may have been used for publication.

Box 55 includes more miscellaneous photographs. Some of these photographs include captions and studio/credit information. They also appear to have been used for publication because of the mock-up details. The last three folders include miscellaneous headshots/portraits of celebrities, politicians, and writers.

Box 56 includes printed matter and postcards that were possibly used for publication because of the mock-up details. The bulk of this box is images and printed matter from United Press International (UPI), including images of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and other significant historical events and people.

Box 57 consists of two photo albums of La Opini贸n's 60th anniversary.

Box 58 consists of oversize photographs. There are images of Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr., the La Opini贸n building, and other miscellaneous photographs. Oversize framed photographs are in box 67, and negatives are in boxes 68 and 69. Boxes 59-61 and 70-72 consist primarily of books, awards, and commemorative objects.

The 2021 addendum is housed in boxes 62-66, whhich are primarily photographs, as well as ephemera, books, and some historical materials. Photographs include many images of staff and the original print room and offices of La Prensa.

Biographical / historical:

La Opini贸n is a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, USA and distributed throughout the six counties of Southern California. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles (after The Los Angeles Times).

The paper was first founded and published on September 16, 1926 by Ignacio E. Lozano, Sr. He emigrated from Mexico to San Antonio, Texas in 1908 where Lozano first founded a Spanish language daily newspaper known as La Prensa in 1913.

With the increase in the Mexican population Los Angeles experienced during the 1920s, Lozano believed he had a strong base for a Spanish newspaper in the growing city and founded La Opini贸n on September 16 to coincide with Mexico's Independence Day. The Lozano family retained control over both La Prensa and La Opinion until 1959 when La Prensa was sold.

In its early existence La Opini贸n consisted primarily of news from Mexico to accommodate the reading preferences of its audience, made up in large part by recently emigrated Mexicans. La Opinion was one of the few newspapers to provide comprehensive coverage of the deportations and repatriations of Mexicans during the 1930s as well as the Zoot Suit Riots of the 1940s.

In 1990, 50% ownership of the paper was sold to the Times Mirror Company, which merged with the Tribune Company in 2000. In 2004, Impremedia bought Tribune Company out and regained full control over La Opinion.

Ignacio Eugenio Lozano, Sr. was born in Marin, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on November 15, 1886. At the age of four, he settled in Laredo, Texas with his parents, Ignacio Lozano Gonzalez and Leonides Martinez de Lozano.

The death of his father left Ignacio E. Lozano, Sr. as head of the household at the age of twenty-two. He then relocated to San Antonio, Texas with his mother and sisters, where he worked selling books and newspapers. His interest in the printed word led to his employment at El Noticiero, and El Imparcial, which were two Spanish-language newspapers in Texas.

On February 13, 1913, with a savings of $1200 garnered from his four years in the newspaper industry, Lozano Sr. published the first issue of his own daily newspaper, La Prensa. Although other Spanish-language newspapers were closing down due to political and economic pressures, under the direction of Lozano Sr., La Prensa flourished.

In 1922 Lozano Sr. married Alicia Guadalupe Elizondo. Alicia was a prominent civic leader in Texas, a woman who merged Mexican nationalism with women's benevolent reform. When Alicia's husband died in 1953, she managed La Prensa with the assistance of Leonides Gonzalez, the father of Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez. She died of cancer in 1984 at the age of eighty-five.

Lozano Sr.'s mission was two-fold: to make his newspaper the voice of the Mexican community in Texas; and to position it as the link between the Mexican community and its homeland. The paper circulated on both sides of the border.

In April 1926 Lozano attended the Pan-American Congress of Journalists in New York. From there he visited California via the Panama Canal where a new idea took root. That same year the first issue of La Opinion was published in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 1926.

Lozano Sr. established himself as a presence in the history of the Hispanic community in the United States. Upon his death on September 21, 1953, his son Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr. took over as publisher of La Opinion, which today is run by yet a third generation of Lozanos.

Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr. was born on January 15, 1927 in San Antonio, Texas. He studied journalism at the Notre Dame University. He married Arizona-born Marta, who was studying literature at UCLA and was also Mexican American. They had four children: Leticia Lozano (worked for La Opini贸n from 1976-1984), Jose Ignacio Lozano (became publisher of La Opini贸n in 1986, since 2004 vice chair of its parent company Impremedia LLC), M贸nica C. Lozano (current publisher of La Opini贸n), and Francisco Lozano (corporate director of magazines, Impremedia LLC). Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr. died in December 2023.

In 1964 President Lyndon Johnson appointed Lozano Jr. as a consultant to the United States Department of State. He also served on the California advisory committee to the United States on Civil Rights. In 1976 President Gerald Ford appointed Lozano Jr. as a United States Ambassador to El Salvador. He was a Director of Bank of America, The Walt Disney Company, Pacific Life, and Sempra Energy.

Acquisition information:
Gift of M贸nica C. Lozano, August 2008 and April 2021.
Processing information:

Processed by Gina C Giang in 2014. In 2022, items in boxes 43 and 45 were flattened and/or treated; Maggie Hughes updated the container numbers to reflect that those materials have been moved. In 2023, Kelly Kress processed the 2021 addendum to the collection and updated the finding aid to include those materials, which are housed in boxes 62-66.

Arrangement:

Organized in five series:

  • Series 1. Correspondence, 1920-2001
  • Series 2. Documents, manuscripts and ephemera, 1875-2006
  • Series 3. Photographs, 1900-1991
  • Series 4. Books and other materials, 1927-1983
  • Series 5. Accession CSmH_2021_120, 1910s-2004
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Lozano family and La Opini贸n collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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