Dr. Larry B. de Graaf

Professor Receives Ethnic History Award
by Mimi Ko Cruz

For his contributions to chronicling Southern California’s ethnic history, Lawrence B. de Graaf, emeritus professor of history and a founding faculty member, has won an award from the Los Angeles City Historical Society.

The society recognized the longtime historian with its Miriam Matthews Ethnic History Award in December. The honor is named after the first African-American librarian in the Los Angeles Public Library system who was a noted writer on ethnic subjects and was instituted in 2003. It was presented to de Graaf in recognition of his many books, articles and essays on Western and Los Angeles African American history and his work with community groups, preserving ethnic history.

De Graaf’s latest essay on the policies of Los Angeles government toward ethnic and immigrant groups is being included in a soon-to-be-published book. He has served on the city’s board of editors for the past five years. In that role, he has produced a two-volume history of Los Angeles government. He also has informally advised several city organizations on matters that concern ethnic history.

On campus, De Graaf helped establish the history department and its curriculum, set up the first campus archive and served as the university’s first archivist. Over the years, he’s become a specialist in Orange County history and the role of African Americans in the modern urban West.