Special Research Collections

The UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections recently welcomed a deeply personal and historically rich donation from Farrokh Ashti Ashtiani to the U.S. and International History, Politics, Civilization and Cultures Collection.

The University of California, Santa Barbara Library recently finalized the processing and digitization of the faculty papers of renowned theoretical physicist and string theorist Joseph Polchinski (1954–2018). The papers offer scholars and enthusiasts unprecedented access to the works of one of the most influential theoretical physicists of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Library's Performing Arts Collection has recently been enriched by a significant donation from Andrew Farkas, a distinguished librarian, opera scholar, and biographer. With his donation, Farkas created The Enrico Caruso Jr.

The UC Santa Barbara Library is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a generous grant by The Ahmanson Foundation to support the preservation and accessibility of the American Radio Archives (ARA).

UCSB Library has received a collection of first editions and audio recordings by California author and Nobel Prize laureate John Steinbeck (1902–1962). It includes 25 first editions of Steinbeck's major works, including the novels The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, and East of Eden as well as important works of nonfiction, such as The Log from the Sea of Cortez, Travels with Charley, and America and Americans.

UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections (SRC) is often cited as a source in research papers, album releases, and monographs, but rarely does it appear in films.

Thanks to generous support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, UC Santa Barbara Library recently completed a project to digitize portions of its historical sound recording collection of recordings made by Columbia Records in Italy between 1923 and 1950. During this golden age of Italian recording, Columbia created approximately 15,000 Italian sound recordings, including opera, popular, jazz, ethnic and film music recordings.

At the intersection of Hollywood’s Golden Age and the rugged spirit of the American West stands the Carey family, a long line of entertainers who profoundly shaped the film industry in the 20th century and significantly contributed to the history and evolution of the Western cinema genre.

The UC Santa Barbara Library is excited to announce the recent acquisition of the Paul Georg von Möllendorff Chinese Cylinders, a collection of wax cylinders widely considered to be the first audio recordings from China. The cylinders, recorded in the late 1800s by linguist Möllendorff, contain sixteen recitations of a popular, celebrated poem "Returning Home"' by Tao Yuanming. Möllendorff recorded the poem in various Chinese dialects to document the differences in regional languages at the time.

UCSB Library recently acquired the archives of Marilyn F. (Dillard) Solomon as a notable addition to the Film & Television Collection. Solomon was a pioneer in local commercial television broadcasting, covering issues of interest that were traditionally marginalized in local media, including civic and governmental affairs, international events, and multiracial relations. She was raised in Detroit, Michigan, by parents Ernest C. and Jessie M.