Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Hahn, Kenneth
- Abstract:
- Administrative, political, and personal papers of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.
- Extent:
- 767 Linear Feet (1,252 boxes, 28 volumes, 15 packed groups of material, 3 oversize folders, 2 objects, 8 reels)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Kenneth Hahn collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection is the administrative, political, and personal papers of LA County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. It includes papers from his term on the LA City Council and his various campaigns for office covering the period of about 1945 to 1993, with major emphasis on his tenure as Supervisor, from 1953 to 1993. It contains correspondence, reports, drafts of legislation, internal memoranda, photographs, audiotapes, maps, motion pictures, videotape and campaign ephemera. The following list of subjects is incomplete (please see the collection finding aid for a complete list of subjects covered in the papers): Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Robert F. Kennedy's assassination and the case against Sirhan Sirhan, LA County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner, the investigation into Marilyn Monroe's death, California law and legislation, courts, crime, city planning, health services and mental health, the Human Relations Commission, race relations, social services, military and veterans affairs, museums, public works, the Sheriff's Department, education, schools and universities, earthquake issues, parks, urban affairs, the Los Angeles International Airport, professional sports in LA (including the Dodgers baseball team, their move to LA and the construction of their stadium), the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the LA Memorial Sports Arena, drugs and narcotics, freeways, California government, United States government, water supply, air pollution, public transportation and the County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Watts riots, the riots in 1992 after the Rodney King decision, labor issues, the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital, as well as Culver City, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lynwood, and Torrance, California. The following list of participants is incomplete: Fletcher Bowron, Tom Bradley, Edmund G. Brown, Jerry Brown, George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Alan Cranston, George Deukmejian, Bob Dole, Ed Edelman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Clair Engle, Gerald Ford, Daryl Gates, J. Paul Getty, James K. Hahn, Augustus F. Hawkins, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson, Edward Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Stanley Mosk, Ralph Nader, Walter F. O'Malley, Ronald Reagan, Norman Schwarzkopf, John Van de Kamp, Earl Warren, Sam Yorty, California's District Attorney, Grand Jury, Legislature and Superior Court, the County Public Library, and the following Los Angeles County offices: Air Pollution Control District, Board of Supervisors, Commission on Human Relations, County Counsel, Dept. of Health Services, Dept. of Public Social Services, Dept. of Public Works, Dept. of Urban Affairs, Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Commission, Office of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner and the Los Angeles County Earthquake Commission.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn was born in Los Angeles in 1920. He attended Pepperdine University, from which he received a B.A. in Political Science, and the University of Southern California, where he earned a Master's Degree in Education. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. In 1946, Hahn ran for State Assembly and in 1947, became, at the age of 26, the youngest person to have ever served on the Los Angeles City Council. He was re-elected to the Council in 1949 and 1951. Hahn became the youngest man to serve on the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County when he was elected in November 1952. He was re-elected to the Board for eight consecutive terms. He served as a Supervisor longer than any other person in the history of the County. During Hahn's 40 years in public office, he has amassed a unique record of accomplishment. Among them are creation of the paramedic program, the freeway emergency call boxes, authorship of the Proposition A transit measure, construction of the Sports Arena, the bringing of the Dodgers baseball team to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, the building of the Martin Luther King, Jr. General Hospital, and the enactment of the state-wide "Rob A Home, Go to Jail" law. Kenneth Hahn was married to Ramona Fox, whom he met at Pepperdine. They had two children: James Kenneth Hahn, who has served as Los Angeles City Attorney from 1985 to 2001, Mayor of Los Angeles, from 2001-2005, and is now a sitting judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court; and Janice Hahn Baucum who served on the Los Angeles City Council, from 2001 to 2011, the U.S. Representative from California's 36th congressional district, from 2011 to 2013, and is currently a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Kenneth Hahn received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Pepperdine University and West Los Angeles College of Law. He died on October 12, 1997 in Los Angeles.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Kenneth Hahn, November 1998.
- Processing information:
-
Collection was processed by Huntington Library staff in 2000, and a PDF inventory was created. In June 2025, Brooke M. Black updated the collection information.
- Arrangement:
-
Organized in three series: Series 1. Governmental Organization: Major County Administrative Units, Other County Agencies, Intergovernmental Relations; Series 2. Hahn's Office and Career: Campaigns for Public Office, Office of the Supervisors, Policy Concerns, Personal and Scrapbooks/Scrolls/Oversize; Series 3. Photographs.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Air -- Pollution -- California -- Los Angeles County
City Planning -- California -- Los Angeles County
County government -- California -- Los Angeles County -- Officials and employees
Drug abuse -- California -- Los Angeles County
Earthquakes -- California -- Los Angeles County
Education -- California -- Los Angeles County
Express highways -- California -- Los Angeles County
Labor -- California -- Los Angeles County
Law enforcement -- California -- Los Angeles County
Legislators -- California -- Los Angeles County
Minorities -- California -- Los Angeles County
Museums -- California -- Los Angeles County
Olympic Games (23rd : 1984 : Los Angeles, Calif.)
Parks -- California -- Los Angeles
Political campaigns -- California
Politicians -- California -- Los Angeles County
Public health -- California -- Los Angeles County
Public welfare -- California -- Los Angeles County
Riots -- California -- Los Angeles
Sports -- California -- Los Angeles County
Transportation -- California -- Los Angeles
Water-supply -- California -- Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
Watts Riot, Los Angeles, Calif., 1965
California -- Politics and government -- 20th century
Motion pictures
Audiotapes
Letters (correspondence)
Maps (documents)
Memorandums
Photographs
Reports
Videotapes - Names:
- California. District Attorney (Los Angeles
County)
California. Grand Jury (Los Angeles County)
California. Legislature. Assembly
California. Legislature. Senate
County of Los Angeles Public Library
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Air Pollution Control District
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Commission on Human Relations
Los Angeles County (Calif.). County Counsel
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Department of Public Social Services
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Department of Urban Affairs
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Commission
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Office of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner
Los Angeles County (Calif.). Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Earthquake Commission
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Los Angeles Dodgers (Baseball team)
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Martin Luther King, Jr. General Hospital
United States. Congress
Bowron, Fletcher, 1887-1968
Bradley, Tom, 1917-1998
Brown, Edmund G. (Edmund Gerald), 1905-1996
Brown, Jerry, 1938-
Bush, George, 1924-2018
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-2024
Cranston, Alan, 1914-2000
Deukmejian, George
Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021
Edelman, Ed (Edmund D.), 1930-2016
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Engle, Clair, 1911-1964
Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006
Gates, Daryl F., 1926-2010
Getty, J. Paul (Jean Paul), 1892-1976
Hahn, James K., 1950-
Hawkins, Augustus F.
Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
Kennedy, Edward M. (Edward Moore), 1932-2009
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
King, Rodney, 1965-2012
Mondale, Walter F., 1928-2021
Monroe, Marilyn, 1926-1962
Mosk, Stanley, 1912-2001
Nader, Ralph
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
O'Malley, Walter, 1903-1979
Reagan, Ronald
Schwarzkopf, H. Norman, 1934-2012
Sirhan, Sirhan Bishara, 1944-
Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972
Van de Kamp, John K.
Warren, Earl, 1891-1974
Yorty, Sam, 1909-1998
California. Superior Court (Los Angeles County)
Los Angeles County (Calif.), Department of Health Services - Places:
- California -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
California -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
California -- Social conditions -- 20th century
Culver City (Calif.)
Gardena (Calif.)
Hawthorne (Calif.)
Inglewood (Calif.)
Lawndale (Calif.)
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Los Angeles County (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Los Angeles County (Calif.) -- Politics and Government -- 20th century
Lynwood (Calif.)
Torrance (Calif.)
United States -- Politics and Government -- 20th century
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
NOT AVAILABLE. Series 3 is not available for paging until processed. Please contact Reader Services 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]. Kenneth Hahn collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191