J. D. Black Papers. CSLA-15

THE THOMAS AND DOROTHY LEAVEY CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF LOS ANGELES RESEARCH COLLECTION

J. D. BLACK PAPERS, 1876-1999 (CSLA-15)

COLLECTION TITLE AND NUMBER: J. D. Black Papers, 1876-1999. CSLA-15
ACCESSION NUMBER: 1999.24; gift of Jacqueline Holmes and Barbara Black Fitzpatrick
COLLECTION SIZE: 22 archival document boxes, 14 oversize boxes
PROCESSING HISTORY: Processed by Clay Stalls, Department of Archives and Special Collections. Guide written by Clay Stalls.
RELATED COLLECTION: Big Pine Citizen Newspaper Collection. CSLA-30

J. D. (John David) Black, known by his friends as Jack, was born in 1893 to a pioneer family of California's Owens Valley of the eastern Sierra Nevadas. He would reside here, in the towns of Big Pine and Bishop, California, until his death in 1960. J. D.'s father, John, established a store in Bishop in 1888 that J. D. would continue to run at least until the 1950s. In 1902, still retaining the family home and store in Bishop, the Blacks moved to nearby Big Pine, where John opened another store, which eventually came under J. D. Black's management, and remained open until 1947. John participated in other business enterprises, such as a saloon, and father and son also held mining property jointly, as well as individual mines.

Besides materials related to the personal life, and mining and business interests of J. D. Black, this collection offers a particularly rich yield of documents and photographs on one of the major events in Los Angeles and California history of the 20^th century: the City of Los Angeles' takeover of the land and water rights of the Owens Valley. Both as member and leader, J. D. Black was active in the 1920s in different Big Pine citizens' organizations seeking relief and compensation for economic losses owing to the City of Los Angeles' control of the Owens Valley. The surviving records of these organizations' dealings with the City, and vice versa, are now housed in this collection. Thus, the J. D. Black Papers provide invaluable textual and photographic documentation on the infamous history of how Los Angeles developed its water supplies to provide for its sprawling growth.

Furthermore, because of J. D. Black's intimate connection with the valley and corresponding areas, rare photographs of mining and daily life in the California Sierras and neighboring Nevada are part of this collection. Among the more valuable photographs in this collection are those of the Nevada mining towns of Tonopah and Candelaria, and the present-day ghost towns of Bodie and Keeler, California.

To learn more about the holdings of the J. D. Black Papers consult the following pages of this on-line guide:

Collection Description: A general description of the types, topics, and research value of the materials found in CSLA-15.

Series Descriptions: The collection is arranged in subject categories called series, which are described in this section of the on-line guide. The series descriptions provide links to their box and folder lists, which index each series' folders and contents, and the boxes in which they are stored.

The Research Collection is a program of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles. To use this collection on-site, please call Loyola Marymount University's Department of Archives and Special Collections at 310-338-2780 or 310-338-7478.