About

Visually non contributing.

History:
Thomas S. Dabagh, was the founder of the UCLA law school law library in 1947. He had been director of the Los Angeles County Law Library (LACLL), and he was an invaluable member of the Law School Library Committee. Trained in the UC system, he received law and library degrees from Berkeley in 1926. He did more work at Columbia University School of Law in the 1926–27 academic year, and eventually took more courses in public administration at Berkeley in 1931–32. Before assuming the LACLL directorship, Dabagh worked as a research assistant and then a deputy for the California Office of Legislative Counsel from 1930 to 1936, developing expertise in the Sacramento political processes. He honed his library and administrative skills as the librarian for the School of Jurisprudence, University of California, Berkeley (as Boalt Hall was formally known at the time) from 1936 to 1939, during which time he also taught legal research. Dabagh was a librarian’s librarian. Described as a quiet and charming man, always ready to lend a hand or an ear, he embodied many of the finest qualities associated with librarianship. Dabagh’s experience running the two major legal research libraries in California—Bolt Hall and LACLL—made him perfectly suited to assist the UCLA Law School Library Committee members with the task before them. Dabagh’s tenure as director of LACLL ended in 1949. On April 15 of that year, he submitted a letter of resignation to the Board of Trustees, in which he announced that he would soon become “a member of the staff of the new School of Law at Los Angeles, effective July 1, 1949.” At the time of his resignation, LACLL was the largest public law library in the world. Dabagh was invited to join the staff as associate professor of law and law librarian at a salary of $10,000 per year, effective July 1, 1949. In Dabagh they had all that plus a teacher, a cataloger, a leader in his profession, a legislative expert, and a proven administrator. (Renee Y. Rastorfer, “Thomas Debagh and the Institutional Beginnings of the UCLA Law Library: A Cautionary Tale.” 2003).

1930 census:
4146 Dundee Drive (Rents for $175 per month): 1) Joseph McGee, renter and head of household; 38 year old white married male; married at age 29; born in Pennsylvania; father born in Pennsylvania, mother in Indiana; a furniture salesman. 2) Agatha McGee, wife; 36 year old white married female; married at age 27; born in Virginia; father born in Virginia, mother in Pennsylvania; not working. 3) Catherine McGee, daughter; 7 year old white female; in school; born in New York. 4) Mary McGee, daughter; 4 year 7 month old white female; born in New York. 5) Joan McGee, daughter; 2 year 10 month old white female; born in New York. 6) Joseph McGee, nephew; 17 year old white single male; in school; born in Pennsylvania; parents born in Pennsylvania. 7) Hanna M. Kildea, servant; 45 year old single white female; born in English Canada; parents born in Ireland; to US in 1916, a naturalized citizen; general housework for a private family.
1940 Census:

4146 Dundee Drive (Rents for $80): 1) Thomas S. Dabagh, head of household; white married male 37 years of age; born in California; County law librarian; independent organization; earns more than $5.000. 2) Margaret B. Dabagh, wife; white married female 34 years of age; born in South Carolina; not working.