Gifts & Donors

Considered to be one of the first truly independent labels, Gennett Records will be the next record company to join the Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR), a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78 rpm era edited by a team of researchers at UCSB Library.

In a prime example of inter-library collaboration, the Santa Barbara Public Library (SBPL) recently partnered with the UCSB Library Special Research Collections to preserve more than 3,000 historic photos of Santa Barbara County collected by Santa Barbara native Edson Smith; 104 issues of Santa Barbara County’s first newspaper The Santa Barbara Gazette; and SBPL’s own archives.

In 2018, Leslie Leaney and other members of the Historical Diving Society USA established the Leaney-Brooks Diving History Archive and Endowment at the UCSB Library.

Comprised of a collection of rare books, magazines, monographs, and more, Leaney envisions the growing archive as a repository for all diving history collectors who wish to see their materials preserved and used for global scholarship. 

Roger O. Camp ticks off all of the boxes as a friend of the UC Santa Barbara Library: alumnus (‘67), collection donor, and Legacy Circle member.

A longtime supporter of the Library, Camp reached out this spring with an inquiry: “Would the Library be interested in acquiring [his] life’s work as a professional photographer?”

On June 3, the Library celebrated the six students who received the third annual UCSB Library Award for Undergraduate Research (LAUR), which recognizes students who produce a scholarly or creative work that makes expert and sophisticated use of the collections, resources, and services of the UCSB Library.

The awards were highly competitive this year, with more applications received than ever before. 

The UC Santa Barbara Library has digitized 104 issues of Santa Barbara County’s first newspaper, The Santa Barbara Gazette, making them publicly accessible online. The issues can be viewed via the Library website. 

Art power couple Mary Heebner and Macduff Everton have been long-time contributors to Santa Barbara's creative economy. Over the last 30 years, their travels around the world have been the source of inspiration for photojournalism, visual anthropology, papermaking, painting, published books, and more, many examples of which are currently represented in the archives of the UCSB Library's Special Research Collections (SRC).

Art power couple Mary Heebner and Macduff Everton have been long-time contributors to Santa Barbara's creative economy. Over the last 30 years, their travels around the world have been the source of inspiration for photojournalism, visual anthropology, papermaking, painting, published books, and more, many examples of which are currently represented in the archives of the UCSB Library's Special Research Collections (SRC).

Dr. Shirley Kennedy’s motivation to preserve her personal archives began with a flood of rare Southern California rain, which seeped its ruinous way into her materials documenting the 1998 UCSB visit of Regents Scholar Fan Shengqi, a Chinese jazz musician.

The American Radio Archives, one of the world’s largest and most valuable collections of radio broadcasting will soon become part of the UC Santa Barbara Library’s Department of Special Research Collections.