Description
Ivan J. Houston was born in Los
Angeles, California in 1925. He worked at Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company for
forty years, including at the executive level when he became the company's President and CEO
in 1970 and Chairman in 1980, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. In 1943 he
enlisted in the Army and in 1944 he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 370th Infantry
Regiment Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Fifth Army, also known as the
Buffalo Soldiers. Houston's battalion journal became the basis for the memoir he published
in 2009,
Black Warriors: The Buffalo Soldiers of World War II. The collection
consists of documentation of Houston's World War II service; records of his tenure with
Golden State Mutual Life Insurance; materials related to the creation of
Black
Warriors
; various periodicals, programs and annual reports which feature Houston
as well as Houston's personal papers, photos and slides including materials related to his
father, Norman O. Houston and his mother, Doris Talbot Young.
Background
Ivan J. Houston was born in Los Angeles, California in 1925. That same year, Houston's
father, businessman Norman O. Houston helped organize Golden State Mutual Life Insurance,
one of the largest historically black-owned companies in the country - a company Houston
would head over four decades later.
Extent
12.25 Linear Feet
(27 boxes, 4 oversized boxes)
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All
other 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.
Availability
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in
advance using the request button located on this page.