Biographical files, correspondence, documents, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and sound recordings of a leading California State Assembly member from Santa Barbara, responsible for introducing and leading support of a bill to authorize transfer of Santa Barbara State College to the University of California system. Robertson Gym is named after him. He also authored a bill limiting development of coastal oil drilling, and led a movement to reform the California state constitution.

Alfred Worcester Robertson was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire on June 29, 1889. His father, Samuel W. Robertson (1850-1938), was an elementary school teacher who became a much-loved figure at the Santa Barbara High School after moving his family to California in 1908. At that time, Alfred, who was throughout his life known as either "Bobby" or "Robbie," had completed his freshman year at Dartmouth and transferred to Occidental College in Los Angeles so he could join his family on their move west. He was very active in collegiate sports, participating in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He also appeared in several school plays, and entered a number of oratorical contests. He went on to attend Stanford University, received his Juris Doctor degree, and was admitted to the California bar in 1913. He established a law practice in Santa Barbara, where he would live for the rest of his life. He also married his "college sweetheart," Edith Ireland, and their son Richard was born in 1918.

1.3 linear feet (1 document box, 3 oversize boxes, and 3 sound recordings)

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