John Edwin Smith, Founding University Librarian May 19, 2010
Posted by ucisca in Early UCI Campus, Photographs.add a comment
John Smith was selected as UCI’s founding University Librarian in June 1963. The three new campuses (UCSD, UCI, and UCSC) opened with identical core library collections of approximately 65,000 volumes each. The undergraduate libraries at Harvard and Michigan were the basis for that core list. Based on the UC efforts, Books for College Libraries, first published in 1967, provided a highly influential core list of 50,000 volumes that every undergraduate library should own. In building UCI’s initial collection, Smith also wrote to each of the founding UCI faculty stating: “Send along your favorite basic list of 100 to 150 books which you would expect to find.” Many submitted lists, and on UCI’s first day of classes on October 5, 1965, the UCI library opened with a notable collection of 100,000 volumes. John Smith was University Librarian from 1963-1979. Earlier in his career, while at UCLA, Smith was influential in the American Library Association’s intellectual freedom movement, an early high point of which occurred when ALA met in Los Angeles in 1953 and publicly stood firm against McCarthyism, endorsing the Freedom to Read Statement, issued that year jointly by ALA and the Association of American Publishers. John Smith died in Santa Ana on July 28, 1986.
AS-061. University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
UCI Site Preparation 1964 May 19, 2010
Posted by ucisca in Early UCI Campus, Photographs.1 comment so far
An aerial view in 1964 of site preparation for the first UCI buildings.
AS-056. Early Campus Photograph Albums 1959-1969. Special Collections and Archives. The UC Irvine Libraries. Irvine, California.
Gateway Commons ca 1968 May 17, 2010
Posted by ucisca in Early UCI Campus, Photographs, Student Life.Tags: Gateway Commons
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The Libraries Gateway Study Center was originally the Gateway Commons, the main dining establishment on campus.
AS-056. Early Campus Photograph Albums 1959-1969. Special Collections and Archives. The UC Irvine Libraries. Irvine, California.
Anteater in Aldrich Park May 12, 2010
Posted by ucisca in Anteaters, mascots, Zot!.3 comments
An early photograph of a baby anteater in a tree in Aldrich Park (formerly Campus Park), ca. 1968. Is this cute, or what?
AS-061. University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Vice Chancellor Manuel Gómez May 11, 2010
Posted by ucisca in Early UCI Campus, Photographs.Tags: Manual Gomez
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Vice Chancellor Manuel Gómez will retire at the end of August 2010, concluding an exemplary 38-year career at UC Irvine. Here is a photograph of Manuel near the beginning of that 38 years. He has been a friend to Special Collections and Archives. We thank him for his support and encouragement, and wish him well in this new chapter of his life.
AS-061. University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Studying for midterms ca. 1970 May 7, 2010
Posted by ucisca in Early UCI Campus, Student Life.Tags: library, Midterms, Studying
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Studying for midterms in the library in 1970 looks a lot like 2010, except for those chairs…. BRING BACK THOSE COOL CHAIRS!
UC Irvine Celebrates Cinco de Mayo May 5, 2010
Posted by ucisca in Activism, Student Life.Tags: Cinco de Mayo, MEChA de UCI
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Below are posters from past Cinco de Mayo events held at UCI, sponsored by MEChA de UCI.
AS-132. Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán ( MEChA) Records, University of California, Irvine . Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Cinco de Mayo Photographs, 1981 May 5, 2010
Posted by ucisca in Student Life, University Archives.Tags: celebrations, Cinco de Mayo, dance, Photographs, University of California Irvine
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AS-061. University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
