Summary Description of the Archive

Who is Robert J. Lagomarsino?

Robert J. Lagomarsino is a native of Ventura County with a long and distinguished career in public service. Prior to his election to Congress in a special election in March of 1974, Mr. Lagomarsino was elected in 1961 and served twelve years in the California Senate, representing the counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara. During his service as a United States Congressman, Robert Lagomarsino was a member of two major House Committees: the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. He was also asked by the House Leader to chair a task force to analyze and develop recommendations to the system of selection of standing committee assignments, the Committee on Committees.

The Robert J. Lagomarsino Collection documents Mr. Lagomarsino's service as a California State Senator (1961-1974) under governors Brown and Reagan and as a United States Representative (1974-1992) under presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush, and Reagan. The collection includes original furniture as displayed in the library exhibit room, artifacts, photographs, and a special compilation of original correspondence and memorabilia from government officials and celebrities. The collection also details the Lagomarsino family history, documenting Ventura County's early beginnings in the State.

The Lagomarsino Federal Collection reflects two decades of national and international issues and the parallel challenges encountered by Congress. Robert J. Lagomarsino served as Congressional Observer to the Geneva Arms Control Talks, as Chairman of the POW/MIA Task Force, and as a Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Lagomarsino authored the legislation which created the Channel Islands National Park, the Dick Smith Wilderness Area, the Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area, and thirty years ago, as a state senator, introduced Senate Bill #70, calling for the establishment of a state university for Ventura County!

Events documented in the archives include the "Watergate" hearings and the final report of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. The Congressional files consist of correspondence, memoranda, congressional bills, newsletters, press releases, news articles, and speeches regarding domestic issues and topics of international relations. The congressional files also offer exclusive "special" reports made by U.S. observation delegations during their world travels, addressing the state of affairs in Central America, the Middle East, the Far East, and the Soviet Union. These files can be found under the Congressional Legislative (Issue) Files Record Group.

For those particularly interested in California history, the archive encompasses a wide range of Ventura County events and personalities, such as the Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan campaigns for governor in the 1960s, Santa Barbara student demonstrations regarding the Vietnam War in the 1970s, the space shuttle program at Vandenberg Air Force Base in the 1980s, and tanker oil spills affecting the Santa Barbara Channel in the 1990s.

For a list of issues and topics covered in the Congressional files, please see the CONTENT SCOPE and CONTENT NOTE portions of the Finding Guide.