Rose Institute's California Political History Archive and Database
Owning Institution: Claremont Colleges Library
About this Collection
The Rose Institute of State and Local Government has launched its California Almanac, an interactive online almanac of cities, counties, and their governments. The site enables users to type in their zip code to look up individual cities for important economic, demographic, and political information––all compiled, fact-checked, and organized in one place.The Rose Institute's California Political History Archive and Database chronicles California's election, redistricting and political history together with biographical information on state legislators and constitutional office holders since 1849.
Collection Contents: Recognized as one of the leading centers in the country in demographic and election analysis and redistricting research, the Rose Institute has amassed in the past three decades an extensive archive of California's redistricting and election history, including the largest demographic and political database in the state. Unlike the official state-wide redistricting database at University of California at Berkeley, which includes data only from 1990 forward, the Rose Institute database includes demographic information together with the political information down to the census tract level going back to 1970. In addition to this database, the Rose Institute possesses an extensive collection of original documents and maps on redistricting and elections. This already impressive collection was recently augmented by Dr. Leroy Hardy, who gifted the Institute his own redistricting library including historic district maps, some going back to California statehood.
The Rose Institute is also known for its legal and regulatory analysis, having conducted extensive research on constitutional issues, including the impact of a full-time legislature and the history of initiatives in California. Through a recent project cataloging the transformation of the California legislature since 1950, the institute has added a biographical database for all California state legislators and constitutional office holders since 1849. This electronic collection, developed by Richard Burnweit (of Westmont College), includes an entry for each official, providing details such as the office held, party affiliation, dates of service, professional affiliation before service, reason for departure (e.g. electoral defeat, pursuit of another office, death, change in district, failure to seek re-election, term limits), and county and area represented.
This collection is of great political and historical significance, helping to inform the ongoing public debate over California's state government, past, present and future. View this collection on the contributor's website.
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