Record Series 1 contains the records of the State Normal School at Los Angeles, from the time of its founding until its incorporation into the University of California. Included are correspondence, student and faculty registers, photographs, minutes of the board of trustees and of faculty and administrative committees, financial records, and the administrative files of the office of the president. The materials document all aspects of the functioning of the State Normal School.

Due to a growing demand for trained teachers and limited space at the California State Normal School, which was first opened in San Francisco in 1862 and moved to San Jose in 1870, a second State Normal School was established in Los Angeles in 1881. On March 14, 1881, California Senate Bill 187: An Act to establish a Branch State Normal School in Los Angeles was signed into law by Governor George C. Perkins. The first section of the legislation stipulated that, "There shall be established in the County of Los Angeles a school, to be called the Branch State Normal School of California, for the training and educating of teachers in the art of instructing and governing in the public schools of this state." In 1887, the California legislature changed the name of the two normal schools, dropping the word "California" and designating them simply as "State Normal Schools." By 1913, there were six locations of the California State Normal School system, including San Jose, Los Angeles, and Chico.

8.4 Linear Feet (13 boxes, 3 oversize flat boxes, 1 shoe box)

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