Sign here...

"Autograph Collection, Rare Books Department, Los Angeles Public Library..."
Yes, such a collection exists. The Los Angeles City Public Library has a number of special collections, one of which contains over 1,700 autographs. Started by former City Librarian Charles Lummis at the turn of the LAST century, the City's autograph collection includes many that on specially designed stationery Lummis used to get autographs from important people of the era. From local leaders to film stars to authors to artists, Lummis started a collection that would later go on to be one of the most unique in the City. According to the collection's website, "Lummis sent a specially-designed piece of library stationery to all the leading men (and some) women [sic] of the day, asking them to 'improve' the page with a saying, drawing, or other inspiring example of their work." Artists added drawings, some included poetry, and others quips about L.A.


Some interesting notes on the collection...

-The collection has signatures from the past five former mayors except for Hahn (Riordan, Bradley, Yorty, & Poulson).

-It only includes one Councilmember: John Shumacher, who served in the 19th Century.

-335 signatures are not dated, so they can only be known based on they died: it had to be before then!

-Bing Crosby is there, but not Bob Hope (but Dolores, his wife, is!).

-John Muir is in there, as is Luther Burbank, but not Col. Griffith J. Griffith.

-12 U.S. Presidents are included in the collection from Lincoln to both Roosevelts to Nixon.

-A new signature has not been added to the collection since 1999... until now...

In 1907, 100 years ago, there were 213 signatures added, and I think we could add at least that many in 2007. The library could send out 250 letters the way that Lummis did and build this collection by 225 (some won't respond)... they could do it in honor of the City's 225th Birthday!

So, to help them along, here's my suggestions for some new additions based on the rationale of the Lummis collection of "leading" men & women of Los Angeles. These are folks that are still alive as of the time of this posting. Some of them might not meet your standard in terms of their positions on issues, but either now or in the past, they were leading Los Angeles:

Frank Gehry
Rick Caruso
Kevin Roderick
Steve Soboroff
All living Los Angeles City Councilmembers (we lost two last year alone)
James K. Hahn
Ed Roski
Johnny Grant
USC President Steven Sample
Governor Schwarzenegger
Jerry Perenchio
First Lady Maria Shriver
Kent Twitchell
Catherine Mulholland
Walter O'Malley
Eli Broad
Tommy Lasorda
Michael Eisner
Frank McCourt
Lewis MacAdams
District Attorney Steve Cooley
Cardinal Roger Mahoney
The Los Angeles Congressional delegation
Bill Allen
John Mack
Chief William Bratton
Andy Lipkis
Lod Cook

Another approach may be to solicit from the community verifiable signatures of the deceased that have led this city (from Fletcher Bowron to Walt Disney to Bob Hope to Isaac Van Nuys to Lew Wasserman).

...and don't even start on all the celebrities that could be - and should be - solicited.

Of course, as viewed above, Mayor Villariagosa's could be the first signature to be officially added in this new wave of autograph collection additions!