Collection Guide
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Collection of materials on mental health advocacy in California, 1963-2010
510
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Title: Collection of materials on mental health advocacy in California
Collection number: 510
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections for Medicine and the Sciences
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
42.0 linear ft.
(41 record cartons, 1 document box, 1 half document box, 1 flat box)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1980-2006
Date (inclusive): 1963-2010
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.
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.
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.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
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.
Physical Characteristics and 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.
[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.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
7058133
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Materials were collected and donated by Marcia L. Meldrum, Ph.D.
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
Arcadia
funds.
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.
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.
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.
UCLA/Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Online Archival Repository:
http://histpubmh.semel.ucla.edu/
Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health records 0423, University of Southern California, California Social Welfare
Archives
Los Angeles County Mental Health Advisory Board records 0439, University of Southern California, California Social Welfare
Archives
California Coalition for Mental Health records 0468, University of Southern California, California Social Welfare Archives