Reading the Covers: Community and Change in Local Government Documents
As we digitize local government documents, certain cover designs begin to stand out. Many public documents follow a familiar pattern of cover imagery: text-heavy, highly formal, and primarily functional. However, in many documents produced after the late 1960’s, a different visual approach emerges: Children’s drawings, bright colors, scenes of families and neighborhoods, and other imagery that feel less formal and more approachable.
By the late 1960s, public attitudes towards institutions were beginning to shift. New values of community involvement, humanism, and shared responsibility entered many facets of society. Local governments were no exception. Covers from this period often emphasize participation, inclusion, and community. These reflect how public institutions saw themselves and how they wanted to be seen.
One example clearly demonstrates this trend. Take a look at the cover design of the Comprehensive General Plan for the city of Pomona (1976). The central image of a house immediately signals stability and security for families rather than abstract land use policy. Several flags on the lawn seem less tied to specific nations or identities and more as symbolic representations of diversity and different constituencies. Figures representing a range of different genders, racial backgrounds, and ages reinforces a sense of inclusion, indicating that the plan is meant to serve a broad and diverse public. The images of a park space and an active construction site point to both collective use and growth: a city building towards a better future. Taken together, the imagery shifts the tone of the document away from technical urban development and toward aspirational, community-centered, inclusive, and forward-looking city planning.
Comprehensive General Plan, Pomona, California (1976)
Beyond the informational value of the documents in the California Local Government Documents Collection, these covers raise broader questions: What are local governments trying to communicate? How do these images shape the way we approach government information? Does local government policy actually reflect the image they are trying to present?
Explore additional examples of human-centered, community-oriented cover designs from the collection. What kinds of readings do these covers invite beyond the text itself?
