WHEN THE FIRST ISSUE of the Los Angeles Daily Times rolled off the presses on Dec. 4, 1881, it was a provincial broadside in a city with a population of 12,000. Today the Times is a respected national newspaper in what has become one of the most important metropolitan areas in the world. As the city and the Times grew into greatness together, the newspaper played a dominant role in the development of Southern California.

It also has played a key role in defending the constitutional right to a free press, a topic that resonates as much today as it did in the first days of the newspaper. The 125th anniversary of the Times provides an opportunity to explore the often complex nature of the issue, and how the press grapples on a daily basis with its many manifestations.

(Left) The smoldering ruins of the Times building, morning of Oct. 1, 1910, after bombing by union organizers.  Los Angeles Times Archives. 

The exhibition showcases material relating to the 1972 arrest of reporter Bill Farr, who was jailed for refusing to reveal sources in the case against mass murderer Charles Manson. Also on view is the Times’ 1942 Pulitzer, won expressly for defending for all American newspapers the right to a free press. But in few places is the First Amendment more graphically illustrated than in editorial cartoons. For 30 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Paul Conrad kindled both affection and loath-ing from readers as he turned his pen on Nixon, Watergate, the Vietnam War, Carter, Reagan, and racism. Publisher Otis Chandler commented that powerful people would phone him from their breakfast tables to complain about Conrad, but Chandler would not muzzle him. Conrad cartoons, and reader responses, are a cornerstone of the exhibition.

The show also presents the more delicate side of dealing with freedom of the press issues—particularly in the case of free expression: In 1972, then-publisher Otis Chandler decided to ban X-rated movie advertising—against the advice of top executives concerned as much about lost ad dollars as the First Amendment. Chandler championed the ban, and set civil libertarians howling. The decision was fiercely criticized in some quarters as an outright suppression of free speech.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the only known existing first issue of the paper, drawn from The Huntington‘s collections. The Times also recently turned its own historical archive over to The Huntington for safekeeping, cataloguing, and for scholarly study. The collection includes material on the very earliest days of the newspaper, through the 1990s, chronicling the development of a region as well as major news events playing out all over the world. In total the collection comprises some 400 linear feet of material and also includes the papers of renowned columnists Jack Smith and Al Martinez, as well as Conrad’s original cartoons.

(Right) Newspapers being loaded onto an airplane for delivery to a widening readership in Southern California.  April 16, 1928.  Los Angeles Times Archives, Huntington Library.

The newspaper’s history has often been newsworthy in and of itself. Harrison Gray Otis, one of the paper’s early publishers, was a character larger than life—a retired Army general who sported around Los Angeles in a car with a cannon mounted on the hood. Otis, who ran the operation like a military outpost, waged a bitter battle against unions. The exhibition documents the 1910 bombing of the Times building, believed to have been linked to union agitators, with several dramatic photographs. The newspaper did not miss a day of publication, despite the deaths of 21 employees. While this incident was not explicitly linked to the First Amendment, in fact, the bombing, and Otis’s resolve to get the paper out by all means necessary, speaks to the issue of the freedom to simply have and to operate a press.

Event Programs

Printing Museum On Wheels

Feb. 10, March 3, May 26 (Saturdays) 1 – 3:30 p.m.

The mobile printing exhibit A Museum on Wheels will roll in to The Huntington on three Saturdays, bringing history to life with a working printing shop and antique presses. Mark Barbour, curator of the International Printing Museum, will demonstrate printing techniques and share colorful stories of the history of printing and the early years of the Los Angeles Times. Visitors will have an opportunity to set printer’s type and print their own keepsake. General admission.

Curator Tour: “First Freedoms”

March 8, (Thursday) 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Join exhibition curator Dan Lewis for a private tour of “First Freedoms,” commemorating 125 years of the Los Angeles Times. This gallery tour will examine the history of the newspaper and its role in defending First Amendment issues.

Members: $15, Non-Members: $20. Registration: 626-405-2128

Lecture: Food For Thought in the Los Angeles Times

May 12 (Saturday) 1-3 p.m.

Charles Perry, staff writer for the Los Angeles Times Food section and president and co-founder of Culinary Historians of Southern California, will speak on the 100-year evolution of the Times’ food coverage.

Members: $7, Non-Members: $10. Registration: 626-405-2128

Children's Workshop: Don’t Stop The Presses! 

March 31 (Saturday) 9 - 11:30 a.m.

Children can experience first-hand the excitement of using a printing press as they make their own small book or newspaper in a workshop led by Mark Barbour of the International Printing Museum. Participants will set moveable type and print on an antique press while hearing stories about the amazing world of printing, from the Gutenberg Bible to the Los Angeles Times. Ages 7 and up, with one accompanying adult. Members: $20, Non-members: $25. Registration: 626-405-2128.

This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of

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