Class Blog

The finding aid that I chose was of the George Meyer Simpsons script files, as this show is one of my all-time favorites. The collection contains 313 notes, drafts, or scripts from the infamous television show The Simpsons, from 1990-2004, which were either written by or altered by (through annotation or some other form of writing) by George Meyer. These also include censor notes and character design sheets in the artifacts. It is important to note that George Meyer is not the sole writer in this series of documents, though these artifacts span his career with the Simpsons show.

A pertinent historical narrative that I would be able to tell through this collection is how George Meyer’s life or career is reflected through the episodes of The Simpsons. Oftentimes, television comedy writers tend to draw from their own experiences to find material that an audience may be able to relate to. Perhaps there are certain narratives from his own family/friend life that are also seen in elements of The Simpsons, such as through funny characters or through certain scenarios. This can be done by comparing his biography in the finding aid with some of the content in the artifacts. This can be done chronologically over time, as both the writer and the scripts develop simultaneously.

Aspects that would be missing in my narrative would include a large range of family/friend situations that are not mentioned in his biography. Perhaps this can be remedied through an interview of his personal history and its influence on his career. Alternately, interviews with his fellow writers, family, or other significant people in his career, such as other credited writers in this collection (Al Jean, Mike Scully, John Swartzwelder, and Jon Vitti) may be able to allow us to fill in the gaps on this particular narrative. Perhaps also there may be certain scripts, notes, or drawings that are missing from this collection that may have acted as Meyer’s starting point and influences for future scenes or characters in episodes. Also, certain drafts or suggestions may have not actually ended up in the final script for each episode, since so much editing goes in to each episode, especially depending on the time frame and censorship laws at the time.

Overall, I found this collection to be extremely interesting because many narratives could be drawn from this extensive collection. I would have liked to see it divided up more into the type of document/artifact it was, but perhaps this may happen with the data at a later date through narration…

In 1942, José Diaz died at a party near the pond called Sleepy Lagoon. 22 men, all but one being Mexican American, were indicted for his murder. The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee Records, 1942-1945 collection is an archive of materials related to the effort of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee to raise funds for an appeal and to publicize the case. In 1944, the decision to indict was reversed by a higher court.

The records in this collection include both official publicity materials put forth by the committee as well as internal records of the committee’s proceedings. It also includes the transcript of the initial trial and appeal trials. Looking at these records brings to mind several interrelated but separately-focused narratives that could be presented using the available data

The obvious narrative is one focused directly on the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee and its efforts. Financial records, minutes and internal notes give us an understanding of how the committee functioned and how it was structured. The materials collected by the committee on the Mexican American community in Los Angeles at the time give context to their mission in mounting the defense for these indicted men. Their publicity materials show us the kind of narrative that they themselves were trying to put forth. One thing missing from this narrative is a comprehensive idea of public and media perception of the committee itself. While items such as the “Zoot suiter drawing” by Manuel Delgado give us one kind of perception of the committee, we do not see many materials that report on the committee itself. Hence, to properly understand the organization and its impact we would need to also look at how the committee itself was understood by the surrounding community.

An alternative narrative could focus on the trial itself and its progress, as well as more directly on the experiences of the defendants in this case. The trial transcript provides an entire account of its proceedings, while correspondence from the defendants and their family members allow us a glimpse of how they were handling the entire case process. However, the collection does not give us a lot of information on the defendants and their lives, so we would have to look for this information elsewhere. Another concern is that the committee was not focused on resolving this case but rather absolving these men. Hence, their materials are not focused on the investigation of Diaz’s death, but on the perception and discrimination that led to the indictment of the 22 men. Materials directly relating to Jose Diaz are not included in the collection, but if we chose to build a narrative around the trial they would have to be included. Diaz’s death was never fully resolved, which a narrative of the trial would have to address.

More broadly, these records help to document the attitudes toward Mexican Americans in Los Angeles at that period and could be part of an important narrative regarding racism and discrimination. The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 in Los Angeles were a series of racial attacks primarily aimed at Mexican Americans, and had roots in the misconceptions and fear drummed up by the Diaz case. Similar attacks occurred against Latinos in other cities across the country. This sort of narrative would require a great deal of more information, however these records would constitute a significant chapter.

 

For this week’s blog, I select “Finding Aid for the Collection of Material about Japanese American Internment, 1929-1956 bulk 1942-1946” to interpret and evaluate the collections of Japanese American Internment during the WWII. As shown in the scope and content note, the collection includes publications and press releases by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), as well as yearbooks and pamphlets that focused on the Manzanar and Minidoka internment camps, created by Japanese American internees and advocacy groups. It also includes recordings and transcripts of speeches and selections of published articles on subjects such as segregation within camps, the loyalty of Japanese Americans, resettlement, and the internment process.

 

The Container List introduces the contents within each of the 3 series. First, Series 1 consists of 2 boxes of publications and speeches sponsored by the WRA. The box and folder listing suggests narratives from an official perspective: reports for the living condition in the camps, and pamphlets advocating Japanese Americans internment, resettlement, and enlistment in the armed forces.

Series 2, on the other hand, includes a box of yearbooks and newsletters written and produced by Japanese American internees from the camps. Thus, it can be inferred that in this section,  the internees produce narratives about their lives in the camps.

Ultimately, Series 3 contains a box and a map folder which include printed materials and a recording of a radio broadcast. Since the creators vary from the Japanese American Citizens League to the American Council on Public Affairs, narratives of this section features external reflections on the internment of Japanese Americans.

Based on the records in this collection, I think it is still hard to get a comprehensive understanding of Japanese American Internment. One of the drawbacks in the collection is that except for box 1 of series 1,  all  of the remaining files are organized in alphabetical order. Instead of grouping the archive according to a specific timeline or topic, the current approach make viewers difficult to compare and analyze historic details such as the change of people’s attitude and treatment inside the camp as the war progressed. Also, the lack of sources from the internees’ perspective (contrast to the 2 boxes of official documents) can lead to significant misrepresentation.  Moreover, since this collection features two of the internment camps, it would be more subjective if a broader view on the relationship between the two camps and the other camps is available: did the two mentioned here offer superior resources for the internees? Or were they among the worst camps in the country? To compensate for these shortcomings, I’ll suggest to upgrade the collection by including more interviews and diaries of the internees, assort the documents in a chronological order, and evaluate the status of the featured camps in comparison to other camps in general.

 

For this week I chose to explore a Finding Aid related the George Meyer’s script files in reference to Seasons 2-6 (1990-2004) of long-running television comedy, The Simpsons. The physical collection of scripts is . stored off-site at the Southern Regional Library Facility (SRLF) at UCLA. The physical collection contains script files, story notes, outlines, and/or various script drafts written or co-authored by Meyer. In addition the collection also contains a photocopied version of The Simpsons character design guidelines.

---

George Meyer’s Background

George Meyer’s writing background starts during his sophomore year at Harvard where he joined the writing staff of The Lampoon and established many important long-term relationships. In 1981 he transitioned to writing for the David Letterman Show and eventually ended up writing for Saturday Night Live as well. Meyer ended up writing for The Simpsons in late 1981, a few months before the show premiered, and eventually went on to become an executive producer for the show. This short biography which was presented in the finding aid helps paint a picture of how Meyer’s early writing experiences might have helped contribute to his writing style for The Simpsons.

---

Finding Aid Organization

The finding aid is organized alphabetically, an inconvenience since a chronological order would better allow someone to analyze how the writing style might’ve changed/incorporated current events of those times.

It starts out by listing a Censor Notes file based on 1989-1996. This is relevant to showing what factors Meyer’s was unable to incorporate/work around during those times, but because it is only limited to a time-frame of 7 years it isn’t helpful for any scripts past 1996. To form a good narrative analysis one would have to examine two categories of Meyer’s scripts, those within the Censor Notes time period and those after it in order to understand if there was writing style change.

Next the finding guide lists a character design guide and episode guide for seasons 1-9 within box 77. An analyst can use this to draw conclusions regarding how character designs might’ve shifted throughout various season changes as well as to the thought processes and insights used in creating various characters, settings, and season narratives.

The rest of the collection, which features the main bulk of files, contains script files featuring various drafts and outlines for the Season 2-6 episodes. The finding guide only mentions a brief annotation and writer note for each of these.

---

Improvement Recommendations

If I were to personally recommend some improvements to the finding guide I would recommend first and foremost to organize it chronologically. My reasoning for this is because this kind of format makes it easier to see what kind of writing style shifts might’ve occurred based on any current events for those time periods. Another suggestion I would make would be to feature maybe a brief episode synopsis note in the annotation section. This additional context can help shape a contextual frame for what each episode pertained to. In addition this ties back to the chronological order where a viewer can then piece together possible season arching narratives.

 

I examined the George Meyer Simpson Script files from 1990-2004. Within the finding aid, one may find a seventy-eight box collection of Meyer’s works in which he produced for the comedy show, The Simpsons. The boxes each contain several scripts, drafts, and annotations.

The finders aid begins with a short narrative biography on Meyer, shortly detailing his college education and his climb to fame. The short narrative describes his undergraduate career at Harvard University, and his short-lived ambitions to enroll in medical school; hindered only by his own procrastination to actually — enroll. The biography then goes to describe several of his own “pet projects” such as the magazine that he published, which only contained three printed issues. Later, it delves into Meyer’s careers writing for other shows such as David Letterman, and how he created some signature skits for the show and thus propelled his own success.

Viewing the finding aid, it appears that the organization of materials is done somewhat… counter-intuitively. It took me a few moments to finally realize that the articles were organized alphabetically rather than chronologically, and I was confused as to why the box numbers were out of order. The finding aid would probably prove more useful if it were organized chronologically, therefore one researching Meyer and his work on The Simpsons could appreciate and examine his growth as a comedy writer and perhaps changes in style/behavior. Organizing chronologically would also allow for one to analyze how Meyer evolved the characters throughout the series.

Trying to understand as to why one might organize the archive alphabetically, I reason that it might be ordered this way in order to assist researchers in finding specific scripts, but in actuality this is not completely necessary. One could simply search the title of the episode in Google and find the date that the episode was aired or recorded.

The narrative that one might create through the articles within this finding aid would specifically include Meyer’s time working for The Simpsons. It would leave out his legacy post The Simpsons and his history prior to The Simpsons as well. In addition, while it does include notes, many of his own inspirations for certain lines in the scripts may not appear because the finding aid and archive do not contain personal interviews. Overall, while it does give a complete list of artifacts, the scope is limited to simply the scripts and archives that it contains. Interestingly, however, the archive does contain a list of censor notes which could be useful to explore if one would like to research Meyer’s most crude examples of humor.

The Finding Aid for the Virginia Espino and Renee Tajima-Pena Collection of Sterilization Records is a register provided by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and processed by Angel Diaz. The collection is made up of court records following the 1970s Madrigal v. Quilligan federal class action lawsuit. The Madrigal v. Quilligan lawsuit exposed the coerced sterilization of a number of Latina women by the L.A. County University of Southern California Medical center. The case followed 10 Latina women versus E.J. Quilligan (an M.D.) and other involved obstetricians. The compilation of records span the summer of 1975, up until the spring of 1979. While the judge would ultimately rule against the women, the case would attract public attention and prompt activism related to the forced sterilization of minority and non-English speaking women.

The collection is stored in the Chicano Studies archive, and is made up of two series. The first series features court documents from 1975-1979. The second series includes an oral history of the case, with several audio recordings and cassette tapes. The finding aid for the Virginia Espino and Renee Tajima-Pena Collection functions as an inventory of sorts for the Madrigal v. Quilligan case. The finding aid offers researchers a guide to navigating a potentially esoteric and largely unexplored narrative. The presence of audio recordings and oral reports may offer listeners a personal account of this history– presenting researchers with the individuated and acute details often left out of historic retellings. On the flipside, if I were to utilize only the contents of the finding aid, I may desire a greater historic framework for assessing this singular event. Specifically, how this might relate to the sterilization of Native American women in the 1970s, or the more recent coerced sterilization of California female inmates in the 21st century. To think of the Madrigal v. Quilligan case as an isolated incident would mean denying a profound history of eugenics and forced sterilization of marginalized women in the U.S. Further, if one were to focus exclusively on the contents of the finding aid, the extent of the research would be contained to the number of legal participants and documented cases. I don’t think it would be an error on my part to assume that the infringement upon the reproductive rights of disenfranchised women extends far beyond the 10 women involved in the Madrigal v. Quilligan legal battle. 

This week I chose to explore the Finding Aid for the George Meyer Simpsons script files, which is held at Charles E. Young Research Library in UCLA’s Performing Arts Special Collections. The finding aid details the organization of the drafts of scripts for seasons two through six of The Simpsons penned by George Meyer, writer and producer of the longest running animated television series. The 78 boxes also contain script annotations and other story notes recorded by Meyer.

The records in this inventory have been gathered by archivists in the hopes of documenting all the bits and pieces of available, relevant, and recorded data that describe the initial visions behind the second to sixth seasons of The Simpsons. The finding aid describes the pieces of data, but without a narrative to string the data together, we are left without any sort of storyline to this history. Given an extensive biography of George Meyer in this finding aid, and seeing as though the collection documents the man who wrote the show more so than the show itself, one would be able to imagine a narrative of a Harvard graduate who found comfort in writing for comedy television shows, switching from show to show and building up a large network of people “in the business” until he finally landed a writer/producer spot on The Simpsons. While the documents themselves are neutral in their nature, their inclusion in this collection was deliberately decided as “relevant” by the scholars who added them to the collection in the first place. This bias, along with the potentially varying interpretations of the documents, could lead to different imagined narratives by viewers.

It would be difficult for someone who had no prior knowledge of the television show to come up with a narrative based solely on the records in this collection. First, the scripts are organized alphabetically in boxes based on script titles. This makes it much harder to chronicle any sort of linear timeline for a narrative. A sequential arrangement of files would also have provided insight into Meyer’s personal growth as a writer and comedian, since the collection attempts to describe him through his scripts in the first place. While the records do list the date that the documents were written, grouping the files according to a timeline rather than alphabetically would allow scholars an easier and more efficient way of searching and examining the collection. Second, the descriptions of files in this finding aid mostly consist of the title of the script, the date it was written, and the author(s) of the work. Without additional notes or categories of the files (i.e. types of comedy, pop-culture references, etc.), it is much harder to analyze the data.

I chose to examine the finding aid of the Walt Disney Productions Publicity Ephemera (1938-198x), which is collected from Walt Disney Productions’ publicity ephemera created for feature-length and short subject films. The contents, enclosed within eight 4.0 linear ft. boxes and three flat oversize boxes, consists of 280 total of the following: press kits, press books, publicity stills, lobby cards, and publicity biographies for over 150 Disney titles mostly produced from 1950 to the 1980s. The collection’s finding aid gives important details such as regarding the repository, location stored, restrictions on use and reproduction, biography, scope and content, and how it is organized and arranged. In this case, the container list is arranged alphabetically by project title, indicating which box and folder it can be found it and the specific year it was created.

Although the content list titles simply give the name of the film and what type of contribution it gave to the animation (i.e. whether it’s a press release, still, actor biography, clipping, etc.), I am able to tell a narrative by gathering an idea of each individual production process and its relation to specific historical periods. Reaching way back into the 1930s, Disney films existed in a large portion of the 20^th century during significant political and social events. As stated in the biography, films created during WWII had the purpose of educating the American public about the war effort, such as the propaganda films for the U.S. government in the 40s. Many Disney titles are household names, considering that the Disney company has made a successful name in family entertainment with its cable television network, motion picture productions, and theme parks. The alphabetical order is useful in giving users easy access to particular family favorites, or to study the origin of older classic films that have been made into new updated releases in recent years. Comparing the process of creating an old-fashioned film (by looking at production handbooks/stills) with the technologically advanced process of new films today (with countless new datasets helping producers appeal to the new age audience) would reveal the timelessness of the storylines and importance of the themes despite the difference in decades.

If I based the narrative entirely on records in this collection, it might be missing credit for all individuals involved behind-the-scenes of the films. While the finding aid does provide the means of exploring a wide range of information on the company’s works, it seems to cover only actor biographies and public relations details. Given that there was the death of Walt Disney and tension in management, it is difficult to tell how these events may have influenced the company. A possible remedy, however, is to further research not only the background of a specific film but also the current events of the time period to gain a better understanding of the viewpoints of both the people involved in the making and the audience.

The Finding Aid for the Virgina Espino and Renee Tajima-Pena Collection of Sterilization Records covers the court records of 10 Latina women in Los Angeles circa 1975 – 1979 who sued the Los Angeles County – University of Southern California Medical Center for malpractice on the grounds of racial discrimination: namely their coerced sterilization.

 

This finding aid collection was donated to the UCLA Research Center for Chicano Studies in 2013 by both Virginia Espino and Renee Tajima-Pena, who were conducting personal research at UCLA at the time.

 

While the finding aid does not provide explicit information on the how the malpractice physically occurred, one may infer from the sparse descriptions of each court document that E. J. Quilligan, M.D. (an obstetrician), may have been treating these women in preparation for childbirth. Given that an obstetrician is directly involved in the process of a planned or current pregnancy, the lawsuit against Quilligan takes a decidedly malicious turn, as his primary role as caregiver is to provide guidance in the prenatal stage, as opposed to the abortion or nullification of a pregnancy through coerced sterilization.

 

Whether or not these women were tricked into sterilization or were simply brute-forced remains unclear in the finding aid’s accounts. That additional information may be retrieved by combing over the photocopied court documents themselves, in addition to audio recordings. These documents may be accessed by contacting the Southern Regional Library Facility at UCLA (where they are currently stored) or sending a research inquiry to the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. However, these documents are currently unavailable online and the documents have been tagged as “unavailable for research”.

 

In closing, it is safe to say that these documents tell the narrative of systemic racism against Hispanic American women present in the USC Medical branch during the 1970’s, and paints a picture of abuse that may have very well expanded to many women beyond the 10 victims who came forward in this litigation. These records also address the reproductive rights of women and implies the emotional and physical damage caused by involuntary sterilization. Furthermore, questions of civil rights and women’s rights are underscored in this case, as the malicious malpractice of Doctor Quilligan clearly sets an example for the unlawful and unethical disregard for such basic human liberties.
It is also worth mentioning that the scope of these documents only cover the course case of the 10 women who stepped forward, and does not include the many other Latina women who were implied to have been harmed by Quilligan’s racial discrimination. The only way, in my mind, that this additional documentation may possibly be retrieved lies in the feasible cross-reference between this database and others within the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center of medical documents in the 1970’s that deal with Latina healthcare at USC.

This week I observed the ‘Archive of popular American Music’, which is a collection of American music that dates back to the 1790’s with over 62,500 musical recordings and 450,000 sheets of music. UCLA’s particular musical archive is known for their large selection of theatrical music, motion pictures, radio and television.

 

You can search the archive through simplistic measures as just a keyword search or you can do a more advanced keyword search with multiple keywords and a range of dates. If you do not know exactly what you are looking for you can search from an extended list of artist names, titles, covert art, or date.

 

On the main homepage there is 9 albums covers from early 1920’s. The album covers all shared a similar theme of masquerade type font, jazz, love and dancing. This archive is called the archive of popular American Music yet the main page with the visual album covers only contains music from the early 1920’s and one album from 1919. I would take this to mean that the 1920’s are when America hit a stride in music. If I were to write a paper on this archive I would write a story on the 1920’s as being a turning point in America’s culture dependent on dancing, parties and music. The archive portrays the 1920’s filled with jazz, dolled up women dancing, extravagant hats and masquerade balls.

 

I cannot tell from this archive why the home page is only albums from 1920’s and no other time period is represented on the initial home page. I think that this would infer that this was America’s time period of their most significant music, during a time when America was in time of a booming economy and flourishing pleasure advancements with theater and music.

 

The archive might want to visualize on their home page a lively representation of America during the ‘roaring 20’s’ when the US was flourishing, instead of a time of turmoil. The first album on the home page is from 1919, which is the year after WWI ended. Then in 1929 the Great Depression hit America, which is why I would remedy that they chose the image of “America’s Popular Music” to be cover albums from the early 1920’s because it brings attention to a time when people were not stressed with external factors like war and unemployment. People could spend time and money on focusing on these luxurious activities like writing and producing music.