Special Research Collections

The UC Santa Barbara Library’s recorded sound collections are vast and diverse: they include over 400,000 recordings representing voices throughout history, from intimate home recordings from the 1890s, to rare commercial recordings on wax cylinders and 78 rpm discs, to unique radio broadcasts. Thanks to a generous donation by alumni Mark Maxson ‘75 and Mary Burchill ‘76, the collection now includes a unique set of recordings made by California author and Nobel Prize laureate John Steinbeck (1902–1962).

The UC Santa Barbara Library is excited to announce that it has recently received a gift from antiquarian bookseller and philanthropist Kenneth Karmiole ‘68 to establish The Kenneth Karmiole Annual Lecture Series on Religion in American Life. This is Karmiole’s third endowment established at the Library, following his Kenneth Karmiole Endowment for Rare Books and Manuscripts and the Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Research Fellowship.

Preserving Groundbreaking Research in Geography, Geoinformatics and Geographic Information Science

This fall, the UCSB Library acquired the academic archives of notable faculty emeritus Dr. Waldo R. Tobler (1930–2018) as part of our University Archives. The University Archives collects and preserves historical documents related to UCSB’s legacy and includes unique archival materials of esteemed faculty, including research and teaching notes and unpublished manuscripts.

Greg Scholl never sought out to become a collector. In fact, as is the case for many accidental collectors, it all started with a curiosity about a subject that turned into a casual hobby and then morphed into a multi-decade long pursuit of collection completion. This formula describes many collectors who donate materials to UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections. 

A Time Capsule of the Jewish, LGBTQ+, and Academic Communities in Santa Barbara, 1962-1994

In 2007, Bay Area artists Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza created Dignidad Rebelde, a graphic arts collaboration that uses art to highlight community struggles, amplify stories, and support global indigenous and people of color movements.

In Fall 2022, the archives of the music and comedy duo Smothers Brothers were donated to the UC Santa Barbara Library’s Performing Arts Collection on behalf of the two brothers, Thomas and Richard Smothers.

Over the last 25 years, Buellton residents Kim and Dean Pananides ‘67,’75 have built a complete collection of first editions of the renowned Trianon Press, a Paris-based publisher of fine art books, which they are donating to the UC Santa Barbara Library Department of Special Research Collections. The new collection will be established as The Dean & Kim Pananides Trianon Press Collection.

UCSB Library is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of a Humanities For All Quick Grant award from California Humanities for the Santa Barbara Community Archiving Project.