Guitarist Agustin Barrios
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...
LAUR graphic with photos of winners
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-...
Gitta Alpar
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...
Mashey Bernstein
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...
Architectural Rendering of New Arts Library
Wed, Apr 26, 2:15 pm | Art & Architecture, Gifts & Donors, Music
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...
Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza of Dignidad Rebelde
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...
Dean and Kim Pananides
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....
Tops of historic audio cylinders.
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...
Rudy Vallee holding a saxophone.
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...
John Levin examines a wax cylinder from his home collection.
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...

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