Orange County Branch Newsletter

April 2014

History and Heritage

History and Heritage - A Historian’s History: The OC Archive’s Chris Jepsen


By: Jim Washburn

For Chris Jepsen, his job is never the “same old, same old.” Jepsen, assistant archivist at the Orange County Archives, is surrounded by an accretion of aged leather-bound ledgers, assessor’s logs and other County artifacts. But thanks to other County agencies’ requests for information or those from the public, there’s always something new to discover.

“I love the fact that I arrive at this job every day never knowing what’s coming. I never know who’s going to walk through the door or call about what,” Chris says.

Jepsen joined the Archives 11 years ago, a dream job for a guy who got hooked on history in his high school days in Huntington Beach.

“For a photography project, I started shooting some of the older houses and buildings in town, and some owners would come out and talk to me about the history of their place. One suggested I talk to the city historian, and I ended up doing a lot of photography work for her.”

From that point on, he involved himself in other history projects around the county. It was all volunteer work as he pursued a career in public relations and marketing.

“I was doing that, sitting in a cubicle in Irvine, and learning to enjoy it less and less, when I got a call from the then-county archivist, Phil Brigandi,” Jepsen recalls of being asked to join the County staff. ”I did not even ask how much it paid; I just said, ‘When do you need me?’ I’ve been here ever since.”


This year, the work of the Archives is featured on the County website as Orange County celebrates its 125th birthday year. The County officially came into being on Aug. 1, 1889.

The Archives was created in 1984 by the Board of Supervisors to preserve County government history and records, as well as county history in general. County agencies call for help when they need a glimpse into the past to make decisions for the future. Some public requests come from those looking to trace their family genealogy or the geology of their neighboring hills, or wondering about the history of their home.

“People generally think of archives in a university setting, a hands-off, hard-to-access, hushedtone place where you have to know exactly what you want and how to ask for it. Here, we belong to the people of Orange County,” he says. “Some people walk in here unable to articulate what they’re looking for, and we try to help them figure it out.”

Surprisingly, Chris isn’t much of a collector, insisting, “I’m not that interested in old things per se. But if there’s a story that goes with it, that’s what I want. History is digging out the story behind things. It’s kind of like detective work.”

Some things he’s learned surprised him.

“For one thing, we’re not named for orange groves,” he says, debunking a common myth. “There was no commercial citrus production here when the county was breaking away from LA County in the 1870s. There were a lot of names tossed around-- Anaheim County was one— but they settled on Orange because in those days citrus was kind of exotic and was almost a shorthand for the Mediterranean paradise that California was advertised to be. It’s only later that growers realized, ‘Hey, this is a great Mediterranean climate for growing oranges.’ ”

Another surprise came researching the early days of the County hospital. “When it outgrew the house it was started in, they found a perfect location in Santa Ana, with lots of small rooms and a lobby up front. It turns out it was a brothel. The county cut a deal with the Madame—a woman named Glass-Eyed Molly—who stipulated that they had to set aside a room so her father--named Mysterious Bill—could continue to live there until he expired. We hadn’t expected to find that story,” he says with a chuckle.

Most of the Archives’ countless documents, and over a million photographs and other items reside in the Old County Courthouse, which opened in 1901. Though it’s an effort fitting everything in, Chris says, “This is where all the old county records started out.”

Away from work, Chris’ chief pastimes still involve history. He’s president of the Orange County History Society; he writes the OC History Roundup blog, and pens a monthly Ask the OC Answer Man column for Orange Coast magazine. Other than that, he says, “I like photography, and I like to go hiking in the back country, but even then I always have an eye out for the history of a place.”

Sponsors