Mental health advocacy in California materials, 1963-2010, bulk Bulk, 1980-2006

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Summary

Title:
Collection of materials on mental health advocacy in California
Dates:
1963-2010, bulk Bulk, 1980-2006
Abstract:
This collection documents the history of mental health patient advocacy and services in California, with an emphasis on Los Angeles County, from the 1960s to the present. Containing materials from longstanding grassroots advocacy organizations including Mental Health Advocacy Services (MHAS), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Mental Health America (MHA), and Project Return Players, as well as from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, the collection provides a diverse account of the development and growth of mental health treatment in California. Records exist in various formats including court documents, correspondence, printed publications, newspaper clippings, photographs, audiovisual materials, and ephemera.
Extent:
42.0 linear ft. (41 record cartons, 1 document box, 1 half document box, 1 flat box)
Language:
and Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Collection of Materials on Mental Health Advocacy in California (Collection 510). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Materials in the collection range from 1963-2010, with the bulk of material dating from ca. 1980-2006. The collection consists of court documents, correspondence and memorandums, newsletters, reports, journal articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, audiovisual materials, and ephemera related to mental health patient advocacy and mental health treatment in California and Los Angeles County. There is a particularly strong subject focus on community-based treatment approaches and recovery, and Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act of 2004, which increased funding to county mental health programs and transformed service delivery models. A significant portion of the collection pertains to the 1979-1987 court case MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION IN CALIFORNIA et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. GEORGE DEUKMEJIAN, as Governor, etc., et al., Defendants and Respondents, which sought state funding for least restrictive treatment settings and community-based mental health services. In addition to professional, administrative, and scholarly materials, there are notable personal items such as correspondence to advocacy organizations from the family members of patients, detailed case histories, and an assortment of published poetry, creative writing, and art by the mentally ill and their family and friends.

Materials were obtained from Mental Health Advocacy Services (MHAS), Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), and patient advocacy organizations related to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), including Parents of Adult Schizophrenics (PAS), with additional advocacy material from Mental Health America (MHA) and Project Return Players.

Biographical / historical:

The collection was acquired by Marcia L. Meldrum, Ph.D., a researcher in the UCLA Department of History and part of UCLA’s Center for Health Services and Society. Meldrum began collecting materials in 2008, with the aim of documenting the recent history of Mental Health Services in California and Los Angeles County. Materials were obtained from three main sources: Mental Health Advocacy Services (MHAS), a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization which provides legal advocacy to mental health clients; the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH); and patient advocacy organizations related to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), of which California has significant chapters. The physical collection is a supplement to an interpretive website ( http://histpubmh.semel.ucla.edu/) created by UCLA’s Center for the Study of Public Mental Health in a collaboration between UCLA and LACDMH.

Acquisition information:
Materials were collected and donated by Marcia L. Meldrum, Ph.D.
Processing information:

Preliminary processing by Amanda Stemen; fully processed by Courtney Dean in 2012 in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT) with assistance from Jillian Cuellar.

The processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadiafunds.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged in the following series:

  • Series 1: Legal Files of Mental Health Association v. Deukmejian, 1978-1989
    • Subseries 1.1: Legal Documents, 1979-1987
    • Subseries 1.2: Research Materials, 1978-1989
  • Series 2: Documents of Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), 1963-2009
  • Series 3: Mental Health Patient Advocacy, 1965-2010
    • Subseries 3.1: National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 1969-2010
    • Subseries 3.2: Mental Health America (MHA), 1983-2008
    • Subseries 3.3: Project Return Players, 1980-1999
    • Subseries 3.4: Other Mental Health Patient Advocacy, 1965-2010

The records are arranged in three series, two of which have been further arranged in subseries. The contents of each series and subseries are arranged alphabetically.

Physical / technical requirements:

COLLECTION CONTAINS DIGITAL MATERIALS: Special equipment or further processing may be required for viewing. To access digital materials you must notify the reference desk in advance of your visit.

Boxes 7 and 8 contain CD and DVD transfers made in 2010 of analog sound and moving image recordings from this collection. Please reference the accompanying documentation (which includes an item level inventory) for details. To access the digital media in this collection, please contact the Reference Desk well in advance to arrange for access copies to be made available.

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles for paging information.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Courtney Dean, Amanda Stemen; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia funds.
Date Prepared:
Finding aid last updated 13 September 2016.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2016-09-13T14:47-0700 . Supplementary encoding and revision by Caroline Cubé using Notetab Pro.

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles for paging information.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles. Literary 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.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Collection of Materials on Mental Health Advocacy in California (Collection 510). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library
12-077 Center for Health Sciences, Box 951798
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1798, US
Contact:
(310) 825-6940
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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