On June 1, 2023, seven UCSB undergraduate students were recognized at the fifth annual Library Award for Undergraduate Research (LAUR) ceremony. The awardees demonstrated deep engagement with the Library’s collections, resources, and services while producing a scholarly or creative work. First-...
Thu, Jun 1, 8:51 am | Gifts & Donors, Special Research Collections
Gitta Alpar’s life story played out like a sweeping biopic: Born Regina Klopfer in 1903 in Budapest, Hungary, Alpar’s coloratura soprano talent was realized at an early age. By the age of 25, she had become one of the most beloved opera stars of her time. Alpar was the lead in classic opera...
Fri, May 19, 10:04 am | Gifts & Donors, Special Research Collections
A Time Capsule of the Jewish, LGBTQ+, and Academic Communities in Santa Barbara, 1962-1994
Retired UC Santa Barbara lecturer and alumnus (‘77) Mashey Bernstein has kept a journal since he was 16 years old. What began as an outlet for self-exploration evolved into a decades-long practice that not...
Project Will Combine Music and Art & Architecture Collections in Modernized Space in Main Library
UC Santa Barbara Library is planning a new Arts Library by bringing together the Music and Art & Architecture Collections into a modernized space in the main Library building. The project will...
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 an effort to expand both the communal and educational...
Mon, Nov 21, 11:00 am | Special Research Collections, Gifts & Donors
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....
Thu, Apr 28, 2:33 pm | Special Research Collections, Gifts & Donors
UCSB Library Launches Early Recordings Initiative in Effort to Preserve Last Remaining pre-1903 Sound Recordings
In a race against time, the elements, and eBay, the UC Santa Barbara Library, in collaboration with L.A.-based collector John Levin, has created the Early Recordings Initiative—the first...
Wed, Apr 27, 3:00 pm | Special Research Collections, Gifts & Donors
UCSB Library is one of 20 organizations that received a 2022 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in April for a Recordings at Risk project.
Nearly $50,000 is now available for the project, “Preserving America’s Radio Heritage: The Recordings of Variety Show Pioneer...
Mon, Dec 20, 12:20 pm | Special Research Collections, Gifts & Donors
Around the world, there exist repositories of writings, imagery, and tools that mark the evolution of humankind, but what are the sounds of our shared history?
For the last 35 years, collector John Levin has been amassing a collection of brown wax cylinders--one of our earliest media for recorded...
Thu, Dec 16, 10:29 am | Special Research Collections, Gifts & Donors
Count Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, and vampire pop culture may not seem like obvious areas for scholarly research. However, couple Melinda Hayes, University of Southern California (USC) Rare Books Librarian, and Wayne Shoaf, USC Metadata and Digital Librarian recognized this undervalued collecting...
