The John Spoor Broome Library at California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI) holds a few honorable archives that are available to its students as well as anyone in the general public who is interested in the particular information each archive holds. Two archives of utmost importance include the Robert J. Lagomarsino Federal Collection [1] and the Camarillo State Hospital Collection [2]. Under the careful supervision of archivist Evelyn Taylor[1], these collections remain intact and currently available for public and private viewing.
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As noted by archivist Evelyn Taylor at CSUCI, Robert J. Lagomarsino, a Ventura County native, represented the counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara by serving as a California state senator from 1961-1974 and as a United States representative from 1974-1992. These years coincided with the time period in which both Governors Brown and Reagan were active. [2] During his service as a United States Congressman, Robert Lagomarsino was a member of two major House Committees: the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. He was also asked by the House Leader to chair a task force to analyze and develop recommendations to the system of selection of standing committee assignments, the Committee on Committees. [3]
In this collection, all of Lagomarsino's services to California are documented. The collection not only contains documents on Lagomarsino and early Ventura, but also original furniture, artifacts, signed photographs, and other memorabilia from government officials and celebrities. Additional original archival material includes documents reporting information on the Watergate scandal, the Challenger space shuttle incident, and original signed letters from the Nixon and Bush administrations. [4] As a whole, the collection reflects all of the conflicts and changes of the time and also displays all of Lagomarsino's contributions to Ventura County-the most recent of which taking place nearly thirty years ago. This contribution in particular was the introduction of Senate Bill Number 70 which requested a State University for Ventura County (now CSUCI).
According to archivist Evelyn Taylor from CSUCI, the State of California purchased the former Lewis Ranch from agriculturists Adolpho Camarillo and Joseph P. Lewis, to build the Camarillo State Hospital in 1929. George McDougall was immediately put in charge of the State's architectural plans and in 1933, the hospital began accepting male patients, who in the beginning, were held in the former Lewis Ranch farmhouse. The hospital was eventually reconstructed under the WPA to accommodate both male and female patients and in 1936, it emerged as the largest mental hospital in the world. Between 1947 and 1957, the hospital rapidly grew, incorporating men, women, and children of all ages, eventually reaching over 7,000 patients at its peak. By 1967, the hospital was treating illnesses such as schizophrenia, manic depression, organic brain disease, autism, birth defects and would later successfully address drug and alcohol abuse. [5] Its early years were rather isolated from the outside world, sustaining the hospital community using its own farms; butcher; shoe maker, dairy; ice house; schools; and hospital, police, and fire departments. In time, various services that promoted social interaction were established, such as a bowling alley, swimming pool, clothing store, petting zoo, beauty parlor, and hamburger shop. A new law regarding involuntary treatment of mental patients was put into action in 1969. The law required judicial review of every patient who was held against their will for an extended period of time, which in turn, lead to the decrease of mental patients at the hospital. However, in 1983, a new approach in treating the mentally disabled was put into action. Discoveries of new drugs that would help the mentally disabled lead normal lives were uncovered and the hospital began to utilize these innovations. A new mission statement emerged as the hospital, now under the Department of Developmental Services of the State of California, addressed both mental and developmentally disabling illnesses: “Enhancing independence through innovation”. The hospital now focused on treating patients with the intention of releasing them successfully back into society. After a long and successful treatment record, the hospital forever closed its doors to the public, on June 30, 1996 due to lack of patients and cost per capita. [6]
The Camarillo Sate Hospital collection consists primarily of documents, photographs, and unique artifacts.
Many collection items are direct work-product items created during the hospital's tenure, until its ultimate closing in 1996. The material is classified by date (1836-2007) and general topics (e.g. treatment). [7] Each of the eleven boxes in the collection includes primary sources such as; newspaper articles, correspondence, manuals, memos, proposals, speeches, trailers, and information on movies filmed on the land and books written about the hospital. Old Camarillo State Hospital newspaper articles can be found on the Los Angeles Times Historical Database [3].
Although the archives in this collection provide first-hand knowledge and useful information about the Camarillo State Hospital, due to California state law no personal records or confidential information is allowed to be released to anyone other than the subject, without authorization.[8] For more information contact the California Department of Developmental Services [4].
A library houses books, also known as secondary sources, which by their very nature, are mass produced, edited, and usually composites of numerous works. An archive maintains documentation which is predominantly unique, unpublished, and irreplaceable, in both form and substance. The majority of materials found in an archive are considered to be primary sources - those that provide individual first-hand knowledge, research, and/or documentation of events, personalities, or social topics and issues of concern at the time.[9]
The Lagomarsino Collection not only benefits students and scholars interested in politics or history; it also provides valuable primary resource material for such areas of study as agriculture, economics, education, environment, civil rights, crime, family concerns, foreign affairs, health interests, labor law, trade, transportation, and veterans' affairs.[10]
See Also: The various institutions, additional archives, useful links, finding guides, more extensive materials, and specific information by visiting the California State University Channel Islands website and navigating to the "Related Research Institutions and Materials" page.[11].