L.A. Murillo papers
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Scope and Content
Collection contains the papers of Louis Andrew Murillo, including family correpsondence and photographs, his correspondence with his publisher and academic colleagues, three autograph letters from Jorge Borges, Murillo's poetry works, and correspondence with the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol about his volunteer work for those agencies. Also included in this collection is Murillo's collection of Spanish, English and bilingual (English/Spanish) brochures and pamphlets collected in Southern California.
Dates
- Creation: 1932 - 2012
Creator
- Murillo, L.A. (Louis Andrew) (Donor, Person)
- Pedraza Ostos, José (1889-1937) (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Boeckmann Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Biographical Note
Louis Andrew (L.A.) Murillo was born in 1922 in Southern California to Filomeno and Refugio (Ruth) Murillo. His parents moved to the United States in 1916 from Michoacan, Mexico, escaping from the Mexican Revolution. Murillo grew up in Pasadena, California, where he attended public schools. He enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1942, and served through the end of the war as part of a bomber crew in the 15th Air Force, Italy. Upon his discharge in 1945, he enrolled at the University of Southern California. He graduated with his BA in 1947 and completed a MA in Spanish Literature, also at USC, in 1949. As a student at USC he traveled and studied in Spain with assistance from a Del Amo Foundation grant.
After graduating from USC, Murillo earned a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literature from Harvard University in 1953 and taught there until 1957. In 1958, Murillo moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught Spanish literature and became a Cervantes scholar. He retired as a Professor Emeritus in 1986. After retiring, Murillo moved back to Southern California. In 1985 he donated his important scholarly book collection on the works of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra to the USC Libraries new Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American studies. He also employed his knowledge of Spanish in his volunteer work for the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. He assisted the agencies as a bilingual consultant, producing Spanish language field guides and taking phone reports in either English or Spanish. While volunteering, he also collected pamphlets, notices and flyers in English and Spanish to help with the compilation of his guides and dictionaries and to document Spanish language usage in Southern California after 1975.
Extent
28.58 Linear Feet (37 boxes and 1 oversize folder)
Language of Materials
English
Spanish; Castilian
Abstract
The L.A. Murillo papers document the life of Louis Andrew Murillo (1922- ), including his service in the Air Force during World War II, his tenure as a professor of Spanish literature and Cervantes scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and his service as a bilingual volunteer for the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles Police Department. Also included in this collection are the Spanish, English and bilingual pamphlets and flyers which document Spanish language usage in Southern California, collected by Murillo between 1989 and 2003.
Acquisition
The two major parts of the collection were donated to the USC Libraries Boeckmann Center by L.A. Murillo in 2003 and in 2010.
Subject
- Borges, Jorge Luis -- Correspondence (Person)
- Los Angeles (Calif.). Police Department -- Archives (Organization)
- Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office -- Archives (Organization)
- Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de -- Archives (Person)
- Borges, Jorge Luis -- Photographs (Person)
- University of California, Berkeley. Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese -- Archives (Organization)
- Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de -- Congresses (Person)
- California. Dept. of the California Highway Patrol -- Archives (Organization)
- Murillo, L.A. (Louis Andrew) -- Archives (Person)
- Pedraza Ostos, José (1889-1937) -- Pictorial works (Person)
Genre / Form
Topical
- American poetry -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Hispanic Americans -- California -- Archival resources
- Mexican Americans -- California -- Archival resources
- Public service interpreting -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
- Spanish language -- California -- Archival resources
- Translating and interpreting -- Dictionaries -- Archival resources
- Universities and colleges -- Faculty -- Archival resources
- Volunteers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
- World War, 1939-1945 -- United States -- Archival resources
- Title
- Finding aid of the L.A. Murillo papers
- Status
- Publish Basic
- Author
- Rebecca Hirsch and Vivian Yan
- Date
- 2011 September
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- The processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid was funded by the generous support of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.
Revision Statements
- 2012 October: Additions, revisions and corrections by Barbara Robinson.
- 2021 June: Finding aid updated by Bo Doub: added minimal description for Box nos. 10-35 and updated collection extent.
- 2021 November: Finding aid updated by Bo Doub to include a framed etching by José Pedraza Ostos, a box of ephemera relating to Don Quixote, and an advertisement relating to Don Quixote (accrual nos. 2004-003 and 2021-072).
Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States
specol@usc.edu