From Tom Bradley, the Gift of History

During nearly 60 years of marriage, Ethel Bradley shared her husband with the city of Los Angeles--his time, his energy, his ideals.

Now she is 81 and a widow. But Bradley, who spent 20 years as the city’s first lady, is still sharing her husband, his legacy and his remembrances with the public.

On Friday, Bradley will donate a large collection of the late Mayor Tom Bradley’s personal items to the California African American Museum. The more than 100 pieces of memorabilia tell the story of Tom Bradley, the sharecroppers’ son who went on to spend five terms as mayor and to shape this city.

“It’s too much keep,” Ethel Bradley said in her View Park home. “I’d like to share it with people. I’ve always been a giver. I was always helping the people of this community. I still do.”

The collection is the most significant donation made in the nearly two decades the African American Museum has been open, officials at the Exposition Park facility said. News of the Bradley donation has left staff and the board of directors feeling a bit like lottery winners, planning for all that can be done with all they have received.

“We are truly honored to receive this generous history treasure-trove from Mrs. Bradley,” said Jamesina E. Henderson, executive director of the museum. “Our vision and intent for the museum is to become a preeminent historical, educational and cultural institution. With that intention we want to provoke discussion in a fresh way about historical events and pioneering figures.”

The collection, which had previously been stored in the Bradley home, offers a bounty of historical, often colorful, items that will be a part of the museum’s permanent collection and eventually be used in museum exhibitions, traveling exhibits and in scholarly research.

Among the many items in the collection is the uniform Tom Bradley wore when he was inducted into the Los Angeles Police Department, a plaque from his days on the City Council, and an Olympic torch he received from the 1984 Games, which he helped bring to Los Angeles.

“That’s the one thing he was really proud of, the L.A. Olympic Games,” Ethel Bradley said.

The collection includes historical papers on the city’s transit system and photos of the former mayor and his wife with a long list of stars and dignitaries: John F. Kennedy and his family, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, the late King Hussein of Jordan, and Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa.

The public “knew he was their mayor,” said Lorraine Bradley, a daughter of the couple. “They might not have realized he was so well-known and loved by these other people all around the world.”

There are glimpses also of Bradley’s private life: a 1941 wedding photo, and childhood photos of the couple’s two daughters. For the Bradley family, the years of Tom Bradley’s life as a public servant--years of long days and hard work--were also years of sacrifice. He was 75 years old when he left public office. Ethel Bradley was 73.

“Without her stability and her willingness to shoulder the burden on the home front, Tom would not have been able to give as he has given,” said Melanie Lomax, former president of the Los Angeles Police Commission and the Bradleys’ goddaughter. “She is to be given credit for helping to facilitate his public life.”

The idea of donating the collection was sparked during the Democratic National Convention, when organizers went to the family searching for photos of Bradley to be included in a historic display. It made Ethel Bradley think of giving again; she wanted to preserve his legacy. She especially had the city’s children in mind.

“The younger ones may or may not know him,” said Lorraine Bradley, an administrator at Henry Clay Middle School. “We’d like them to know him and be inspired. This person came from a background like theirs, or maybe not as privileged as theirs, and still made it to the highest office in Los Angeles. So if he could do it, they can too.”

The California African American Museum is the second major institution in the city to receive a substantial gift from the Bradley family. UCLA is home to about 20,000 Bradley papers.

His family chose the museum in part to ensure that residents of nearby areas, including South Los Angeles, will be able to tap his legacy.

And Bradley may do for the museum was he did for the city.

His admirers recall that one of Bradley’s greatest attributes was his inclusiveness and gift for building coalitions. Bradley, the first African American elected to the City Council and the city’s first African American mayor, diversified City Hall, adding African Americans, Asians and Latinos to what had been a predominantly white bureaucracy. He crossed lines of color and class.

For a museum that is always seeking to share history with all ethnic communities, the Bradley collection may help attract a wider audience.

“I think he brings that audience in,” said Redell R. Hearn, museum curator. “I don’t think you can do his legacy justice or talk about him without being inclusive.”

The donation comes at a time when the California African American Museum is planning to expand. In February the museum will begin a $2.5-million renovation, its first major remodeling.

The renovation will include more storage area. It is part of a rebirth in Exposition Park that includes the opening of the California Science Center two years ago.

The family will formally make the donation Friday at 10 a.m. during a public ceremony at the museum. The event will be a gathering of family, former members of Bradley’s administration and old friends. The Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray of First African Methodist Episcopal Church, former city Controller Rick Tuttle, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and the Bradley family are expected to attend.

A number of items from the Bradley collection will be on display Friday and throughout the weekend. A full exhibit of the collection has not been planned.

But for Ethel Bradley, simply knowing his legacy is being kept, knowing that she has shared him with the public, once again, is enough. “I was always there for him,” she said.

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Times photographer Genaro Molina contributed to this story.