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Collection is open to research under the terms of use of the Department of Archives and Special Collections, Loyola Marymount University. The Dockweiler Family Papers are part of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles Research Collection, a program of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University. The Research Collection is administered by the Department of Archives and Special Collections, Loyola Marymount University.
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[Identification of item], Series number, Box and Folder number, Dockweiler Family Papers, CSLA-12, Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University.
Gift of Frederick Dockweiler, with the assistance of Quinn Brady, Jr., and Marcus Crahan, Jr. (1999).
The Dockweiler family story has been closely intertwined with the course of Los Angeles and consequently California history. The great Gold Rush was instrumental in bringing the first Dockweiler to Los Angeles,
Henry established the Dockweiler reputation in Los Angeles religious, political, and civic life, areas in which his offspring would also distinguish themselves and perpetuate the family name. Henry was one of the owners of the La Fayette (sic) Hotel, a major social center in Los Angeles, and he also ran other businesses, such as a saloon. More importantly for Dockweiler family history, Henry took up politics, which his youngest son Isidore would also successfully pursue. An active Republican because of his opposition to the secession of the South, Henry held public office, serving the Third Ward as its representative on the Los Angeles City (or Common) Council from 1870 to 1874. Henry also became involved in such reform groups as the People's Independent Party, holding council office for the Third Ward in 1873 as a member of this party.
Henry was noteworthy not only for his secular pursuits in Los Angeles. Characteristic of the Dockweiler family, Margaretha and Henry were devoutly Roman Catholic: Margaretha's obituary in the Roman Catholic newspaper
Margaretha and Henry had four sons, one of whom, John Joseph, died in infancy. The three surviving brothers were John Henry (1864-1941), Joseph Aloysius (d. 1918), and Isidore Bernard (1867-1947). The middle son would not distinguish himself, at least not in the way that his brothers John Henry and Isidore did: the two would achieve prominence in Los Angeles and California, and in Isidore's case, the nation.
Henry was also important in the development of other parts of water systems in California. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, Henry would live in the Bay Area, where he ran an engineering firm that consulted on water works and irrigation systems for, among other local governments, the Cities of San Francisco and Oakland. Henry also had a military career, serving as a major and engineer officer in the California National Guard. Married to the widow Margaret ("Mattie") Ameila Dockweiler, the couple had no children; Margaret followed Henry in death in 1952.
Intertwined with the growth of Isidore B. Dockweiler's legal practice was participation in Democratic Party politics. As a teenager, Isidore had rallied to the candidacy of Grover Cleveland, leading to further involvement in local Democratic politics. By 1896 he was prominent enough in the Democratic Party that he oversaw William Jennings Bryan's presidential campaign swing through southern California. Isidore's status as a delegate to the county and state Democratic conventions had probably paved the way for this leadership. In 1902, his stature in the party meant his placement as lieutenant-governor on the gubernatorial ticket of
Isidore B. Dockweiler would also participate in national Democratic Party activities, serving on the Democratic National Committee from 1916 to 1932. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1908, 1936, and 1940, and in 1932 read Jefferson's Inaugural Address to the Democratic National Convention. Isidore's influence proved critical in the Democratic Party's decision to hold its national convention in 1920 in San Francisco.
Both as a lawyer and as a Democrat Isidore B. Dockweiler was influential, resulting in his membership on numerous corporate boards, such as the Lincoln Building and Loan Association, the Security-First National Bank, and the Los Angeles Union Terminal Company. In education, he served as trustee of the State Normal School in San Diego and of St. Vincent's College. Isidore Dockweiler was instrumental in the growth of the Los Angeles Public Library, holding office as its president (1901-1911). He served on the state board of parks and beaches; after his death Venice-Hyperion Beach was renamed Dockweiler State Beach in his honor. To stimulate Roman Catholic culture in Los Angeles, he helped found the Newman Club; his overall
Isidore B. Dockweiler married Gertrude Reeve Dockweiler (1871-1937) in 1891. Gertrude was English by birth, her father the well-known architect Burgess Reeve (d. 1936), designer of the old Episcopal Pro-cathedral and old St. Vincent's Church in Los Angeles. Thirteen children were born to this marriage, eleven of whom survived infancy. Of these,
The Dockweiler Family Papers, CSLA-12, includes both textual and non-textual materials. The latter consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, legal briefs, telegrams, pamphlets and booklets, legal documents, receipts, and account and appointment ledgers. The non-textual material includes photographs, scrolls, certificates, and such political ephemera as campaign posters, buttons, and ribbons. Chronologically, the collection runs from 1827 to 1996, with its bulk dates between 1890 and 1950. The holdings on Isidore B. Dockweiler anchor this collection; most material after 1950 concerns
Some of the materials Isidore collected on his family's history and on his children were part of an office filing system, most likely that of his firm, where these materials were also undoubtedly stored. The arrangement of this file order has been preserved: the entries in the box and folder list note the original filing system where appropriate, and the arrangement of the materials in the Dockweiler filing system has been maintained, as it has come to the Research Collection. Because a large quantity of the holdings come from the record keeping system of the Dockweiler legal firm, the majority of material is copies made as records for the firm and for the Dockweilers' personal information.
Names of note in this collection include
Based on subject or form of material, CSLA-12 has been arranged in seven series:
1. Family Members:
2. Political Activities
3. Photographs
4. Scrapbooks
5. Clippings
6. Ephemera
7. Legal Briefs.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Besides the material on the Dockweiler family in CSLA-12, the CSLA Research Collection also houses an additional collection related to the family, CSLA-13. The latter was not processed with CSLA-12 because of matters related to provenance. An on-line guide to CSLA-13 can be consulted by clicking on this link:
The Isidore Bernard and Gertrude Dockweiler susbseries has particular research strengths in the area of California politics and Los Angeles history.
The
The first child of Isidore B. and Gertrude Reeve Dockweiler,
Henry (
Another of Isidore B. Dockweiler's successful sons, Henry I. Dockweiler (
Robert Dockweiler, son of Isidore Dockweiler, was a doctor. This small subseries contains materials mostly related to his death.
Frederick Dockweiler (
Mary Dockweiler Young Sooy, (
Political Activities" consists of correspondence, election broadsides, mailers, radio speeches, brochures and pamphlets, and photographs. It provides insights into local and state politics; especially revealing are the materials on the strategy, issues, and political alliances of John Dockweiler's campaigns for governor in 1938 and for Los Angeles District Attorney in 1940 (Box 4, Folder 4). A good example of this is the appeal--raising the specter of Upton Sinclair--to John Paul Getty to support the Dockweiler run for governor, lest a radical successfully obtain office. The materials on John Dockweiler's use of the radio and newspaper in his political campaigns demonstrate the influence of the media in California politics. This series also has valuable information on the inveterate problem of corruption in Los Angeles city government and police. The materials on George Dockweiler's campaign for a Superior Court judgeship shed light on political alliances in Los Angeles (Box 8, Folder 4). Much of this series concerns Frederick Dockweiler's leadership in the campaign against public housing in Los Angeles; these materials, as those of John Dockweiler, evidence the influence of the media on Los Angeles and California politics. Names of note in this series include John Anson Ford, Fletcher Bowron, John Paul Getty, and Buron Fitts.
This series consists of four subseries: (A) Individual Portraits, (B) Dockweiler Group Pictures, (C) Locations and Miscellaneous Photographs, and (D) Photograph Albums. Individual Portraits consists of individual shots, or shots in which a Dockweiler is the main subject of the photograph. It has been subdivided into sub-subseries based on family members. It also includes such stalwarts of the Dockweiler law firm as chief secretary Jane C. Humphreys. A number of family portraits of the family of Isidore Dockweiler, at all stages of his family's life, are part of Dockweiler Group Pictures. There are photographs of locations such as the Dockweiler's home on West Adams Street, as well as miscellaneous or unidentified persons in photographs in Locations and Miscellaneous Photographs.
Two photograph albums complete this part of the collection. In Box 15ov is a valuable album of photographs of the Dockweiler family in and around Los Angeles before 1920, containing historically valuable photographs of such places as Ocean Park, San Diego, and Venice. Dating from the 1930s and the 1940s, the second album (Box 16ov)is of the social activities and vacations of William K. and Mary Dockweiler Young.
Specific activities in photographs are recorded in the entry in the box and folder list. Photographs are black and white, unless otherwise indicated. If a photograph has a date, then the entry in the box and folder list records this. Most photographs are only of interest to the family, but those from the late nineteenth century or from the turn of the century provide historical value, recording a Los Angeles long past.