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INVENTORY OF THE DEL AMO FOUNDATION COLLECTION,
1927-1984
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Table of contents
Title: Del Amo Foundation Collection
Dates: 1927-1984
Collection Number: Consult repository.
Creator:
Del Amo Foundation
Extent:
105 boxes
(32 linear feet)
Repository: California State University, Dominguez Hills
Archives and Special Collections
Archives & Special Collection
University Library, Room G-145
1000 E. Victoria Street
Carson, California 90747
Phone: (310) 243-3013
URL: http://archives.csudh.edu/
Abstract:
This collection includes ledgers, correspondence, tax documents, newspapers, scrapbooks, photographs, theses and reports from
members of the Board of Trustees, grantees, and staff of the Del Amo Foundation. Subjects include the Spanish Civil War and
research and graduate study in Spain and the United States.
Language: Collection material is in English and Spanish.
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives
and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
[Title of item], Del Amo Foundation Collection, Courtesy of the Department of Archives and Special Collections. University
Library. California State University, Dominguez Hills
This collection was donated to the CSU Dominguez Hills in 1979 by Secretary Eugenio Cabrero.
The initial steps in processing this collection were taken by Susan Hikida in 1987, as part of her Masters thesis. She fully
processing the Administrative Papers series and organized the rest of the collection into the current series. She also wrote
a preliminary finding aid, from which much of the History and Scope and Content sections were taken.
This finding aid was created as part of Early Los Angeles/Rancho San Pedro Manuscript Cataloging Project, a CSU Dominguez
Hills Library project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project started in 2005.
Project Director was Greg Williams. Project Archivists were Thomas Philo and Jennifer Allan Goldman.
The Del Amo Foundation was established on May 14, 1929, in Los Angeles, California, to oversee the distribution of the Del
Amo Foundation Educational Grant. The Foundation was founded by Dr. Gregorio del Amo (husband of Maria Susan Delfina Dominguez
of the Rancho San Pedro) as part of his interest in supporting the exchange of information between Spain and Southern California.
Earlier, in 1926, Dr. del Amo authorized sufficient funds for the construction of an international residence hall at the University
of Madrid in Spain. The Del Amo Foundation was established separately, though in conjunction with the completion of the residence
hall, the Fundación del Amo.
The Educational Trust was used in the form of grants and fellowships to graduate students, researchers, and institutions.
Trust accounts for the Trust were deposited in the Union Bank and Trust Company (trust number 657) and Title Insurance and
Trust Company (trust number 8443).
The Foundation's offices were located in the Union Bank Building at 324 West Eighth Street in Los Angeles during the years
1929 to 1972. When the building was sold in 1972, the Foundation moved a block west to the Garfield Building at 403 West Eighth
Street where the offices were located until 1979.
The Foundation's operations were directed by the Board of Advisors and the Board of Trustees. The Board of Advisors consisted
of a minimum of five men who selected grantees, the amounts of their awards, and appointed replacements for vacancies on both
boards. Original members consisted of Dr. Gregorio del Amo, Stuart O'Melveny, John O'Melveny, Francisco G. de la Riva (Marques
de Villa-Alcázar), Eugenio Cabrero, Alejandro Arizcun y Moreno, and Reverend Juan Martinez de Salinas.
The Board of Trustees consisted of five members responsible for the overseeing of the Foundation's finances and trust properties,
as well as the distribution of grant moneys. The Trustees were authorized to dissolve the Board of Advisors in the event that
the Advisors did not satisfactorily perform their duties, although this function was never used. The original members of the
Board of Trustees consisted of Francisco G. de la Riva, Eugenio Cabrero, Reverend Juan Martinez de Salinas, John O'Melveny,
Stuart O'Melveny, and Alejandro Arizcun y Moreno.
The Del Amo Foundation Educational Trust was distributed to over 40 institutions and 500 fellows representing many fields.
These fields included science, medicine, agriculture, mathematics, history, literature and language, art and music, and journalism.
The Foundation was officially dissolved on May 14, 1979, fifty years after its creation in accordance with the terms of the
Declaration of Trust. The assets were liquidated and divided among the University of Madrid (50 percent), the University of
Southern California (25 percent), and the University of California, Los Angeles (25 percent). Other smaller amounts were granted
to a number of other campuses for the establishment of grants under the Foundation's name.
The Del Amo Foundation Collection, Los Angeles, California, reflect the operations of the Foundation over its fifty years
of management and distribution of the Del Amo Foundation Educational Trust over the years 1929 through 1980. The collection
was donated by the Foundation to the California State University, Dominguez Hills, in 1979. The collection arrived in 1979
and 1980 in four filing cabinets, its contents arranged alphabetically except for a number of loose items including theses,
reports, books, periodicals, and ephemera. A few theses and reports have been added to the collection since 1980. Approximately
20 percent of this collection is written or published in the Spanish language.
During the 1987 organization and processing of the Administrative Files, folders were separated according to types of subject
matter, including administrative files, board member files, grantee files, theses and reports, institutional grants files,
and miscellaneous files. Some books and periodicals were absorbed into the Cain Educational Resource Center's general and
special collections. A complete list of de-accessioned material is listed below.
At the time of this typing, only the administrative files (Series 1) have been processed. Original folder titles have been
preserved wherever possible and arranged in roughly the same order used in the original Foundation files. Folders titled "Del
Amo ...," which contains the core of information of the Foundation's operations, have been placed in box 1.
The Foundation Collection consist mainly of correspondence of board members, grantees, and institutions; board agendas and
minutes; Foundation tax records; and theses and reports of grantees and institutions. Items of special interest in Series
1 include the Declaration of Trusts (box 1, folder 1); a brochure for the Fundación del Amo (box 1, folder 17); Dominguez
Air Meet Anniversary memorabilia (box 3, folder 11); and a copy of the magazine Highway Patrolman for December, 1977, containing
an article on Dr. Gregorio del Amo (box 6, folder 10). Also of interest are folders on the Fundación del Amo building (box
5, folder 8) and on the restoration of the Dominguez Homestead (box 3, folders 9 and 10).
Arrangement
Arranged in nine series:
- Series I. Administrative Files, 1928-1984
- Series II. Board Member Files, 1928-1979
- Series III. Grantee Files, Theses and Reports, 1927-1979
- Series IV. Institutional Grant Files, 1927-1979
- Series V. Miscellaneous Correspondence Files, 1928-1979
- Series VI. Financial Documents, 1928-1980
- Series VII. Newspapers and Publications, 1946, 1955, 1965, 1972, 1975
- Series VIII. Albums and Scrapbooks, 1929-1978
- Series IX. Photographs and Objects, 1927, circa 1958, circa 1968, 1976-1979
American students – Spain
Foreign study
Spanish students
Del Amo, Jaime
Del Amo, Gregorio
Cabrero, Eugenio
Del Amo Foundation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
University of Southern California
University of California, Los Angeles
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Suances (Spain)
Madrid (Spain)
- Del Amo Estate Company Collection
- Del Amo Nursery Collection
- Rancho San Pedro Collection