UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections

The Oral Histories Collection holds primarily interviews conducted by Special Collections staff, along with supporting documentation. Also included are oral histories done by others and donated to Special Collections. Many of the oral histories augment materials in other areas of Special Collections.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

California Revealed is a State Library initiative to help California’s public libraries, in partnership with other local heritage groups, digitize, preserve, and provide online access to archival materials - books, newspapers, photographs, audiovisual recordings, and more - that tell the incredible stories of the Golden State. We also provide free access and preservation services for existing digital collections for partner organizations with in-house digitization programs. California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

Slides and other materials relating to the San Diego artists' collective, co-founded in 1970 by Chicano poet Alurista and artist Victor Ochoa. Known as a center of indigenismo (indigenism) during the Aztlán phase of Chicano art in the early 1970s.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

The Katherine Esau collection represents the entire body of plant anatomy research Esau conducted from 1924 when she began research on curly top virus in sugar beets for the Spreckels Sugar Company to 1991 when she published her last article. The collection includes correspondence, research notes, photographs, biographical material, objects, and printed matter.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

The UCSB Library, with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Grammy Foundation and donors, has created a digital collection of more than 10,000 cylinder recordings held by the Department of Special Research Collections. This searchable database features all types of recordings made from the late 1800s to early 1900s, including popular songs, vaudeville acts, classical and operatic music, comedic monologues, ethnic and foreign recordings, speeches and readings.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

The archives of El Teatro Campesino are the largest archival collection on Chicano theater, consisting of approximately 157 linear feet of archives and manuscripts. They include a variety of formats, dating from the Teatro's founding in 1965. They include primary materials for researchers with an interest in theater arts, cultural arts, history, political science, labor relations, ethnic studies, sociology, antropology, and women's studies. Most materials are in English; some are in Spanish or a combination of the two languages. At least eight other languages are represented, an indication of the international interest in the Teatro.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

Administrative records, programs, subject files, correspondence, clippings, slides, photographs, serigraphs, posters, silkscreen prints, ephemera and other creative materials documenting activities of the San Francisco Bay Area Chicano cultural arts center. Includes work by many of the prominent Chicano(a)/Latino(a) artists, such as Juana Alicia, Rodolfo (Rudy) Cuellar, Alfredo De Batuc, Ricardo Favela, Gilbert Luján (Magu), Ralph Maradiaga, Juanishi Orosco, Irene Pérez, Patricia Rodríguez, and René Yañez.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

The collection is focused around the composing and conducting activity of Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) between the years 1927 and 1975. A small body of personal papers adds some material relating to his personal life (personal and legal correspondence, diaries, financial documents). The collection represents the extent of the personal papers in Herrmann's possession at the time of his death.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

The nonprofit agency Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) is the oldest multidisciplinary Asian American arts organization in the United States. Established in 1972 as a collective of artists in San Francisco's Chinatown/ Manila town neighborhood, KSW is now a nonprofit agency that serves many Asian/Pacific American communities from its office in San Francisco. This collections covers material from 1972 - 2002. It contains posters, publications, and photos. The struggles of the neighborhood such as low-income housing, strikes by garment and electrical union workers, and the eviction of the elderly tenants defines much of the art in this collection.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections

As early as 1970, La Raza Silkscreen/La Raza Graphics Center was producing silkscreen prints by Chicano and Latino artists. The organizers and artists of what was originally called La Raza Silkscreen Center designed and printed posters in a makeshift studio in the back of La Raza Information Center.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara, Library, Department of Special Research Collections