Special Collections has particular strengths and interests in the following areas.

Rare Books and Named Collections

  • General (Included in this area are works of exceptional value, scarcity or age)
  • Early imprints, published prior to the dates listed: United States (east of the Mississippi, 1851; west of the Mississippi, 1876); Europe, 1801 (selectively to 1851); Canada, 1901 (except Ontario, Quebec and other eastern provinces, 1851); Latin America, 1851; Asia, 1801; Africa and the Pacific, 1901
  • First and signed editions of major American and British authors, with emphasis on 19th and 20th century literature (strengths include Charles Bukowski, Concrete Poetry, T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Aldous Huxley, Henry James, Robinson Jeffers, D. H. Lawrence, Henry Miller [Philip Peatman Collection], Christopher Morley, Ezra Pound, John Steinbeck, and Henry D. Thoreau)
  • Limited editions of significance
  • Works associated through inscription, annotation, or previous ownership with important individuals, institutions or historical events
  • Works of importance due to illustration, including artists’ books
  • American Religions Collection (primarily non-traditional religions in North America; includes materials on Adventist, Astrology, Atheism, Buddhist, Christian Science, Communal, Evangelical Christian, Hindu, Islam, Magick, Mormon, New Age, Occult, Pagan, Scientology, Spiritualism, Theosophy, and numerous other groups and movements)
  • Stuart L. Bernath Memorial Collection (American diplomatic history and international relations)
  • Californiana and Western Americana (California authors, California history, California imprints to 1876 and selectively thereafter, local authors, local history, Western writers; strengths include Robinson Jeffers, Jack Kerouac, Donald Culross Peattie, Charles Snow)
  • Charles Darwin/Evolution Collection
  • Morris Ernst/Banned Book Collection
  • Lawrence B. Romaine Trade Catalog Collection (primarily 19th and early 20th century American materials)
  • Hobart O. Skofield Printers Collection (book arts, bookplates, fine printing, history of the book, writing and printing, miniature books, papermaking, Santa Barbara presses, small and private presses with emphasis on California, typography)
  • Raymond Toole-Stott Circus Collection (19th to mid-20th century European and American materials)
  • William Wyles Collection (Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, abolition, American expansion, antebellum South, slavery, travel in America, and American West)

Manuscripts

  • General (collections that are manuscript components of named collections or that complement materials in other Special Collections collecting areas)
  • American Religions Collection (emphasis on non-traditional religions in North America; includes correspondence, flyers, calendars, newsletters and research files relating to numerous groups and movements)
  • Stuart L. Bernath Memorial Collection (emphasis on collections of individuals with diplomatic or international relations experience; includes James S. Beddie, Charles Montgomery Hathaway, and Wilson-McAdoo papers)
  • Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions [CSDI] Collection (records of the institution and papers of its leading figures, including Robert Hutchins and Harry Ashmore; emphasis on issues such as education, freedom of the press, and public policy)
  • Humanistic Psychology Archives (includes Rollo May, Carl Rogers and Virginia Satir collections)
  • Map Collections (includes John Maximus Collection of early European maps; also items that are components of other collections)
  • Santa Barbara History Collections (emphasis on local and Central Coast area; includes Community Development and Conservation Collection (CDCC), as well as other sources relating to natural resources, planning and the environment)
  • Hobart O. Skofield Printers Collection (emphasis on individual printers and presses; includes collections relating to Peter Beilenson, Edward O. Erickson, Frederick Goudy, John Henry Nash, Bruce Rogers, William Edwin Rudge, Mudborn Press, Pear Tree Press, and Rowny Press)
  • William Wyles Collection (emphasis on Lincoln, Civil War and American expansion, with papers of individuals and families, as well as records of military units; includes Gen. Mortimer Leggett and Jay Monaghan papers, and 1st South Carolina/33rd U. S. Colored Troops records)

California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives

  • African American (includes William Downey, Charles C, Irby, Anita J. Mackey, Horace J. McMillan, Lowell Steward,and Samuel Williams papers)
  • Asian American (includes Asian American Theatre Company, Robert Billigmeier/Tule Lake Relocation Center, Iris Chang, Chinese American Voters Education Committee, Inc., Michio Ito, Genny Lim, and Ester Soriano-Hewitt collections)
  • Chicano/Latino (includes Oscar Zeta Acosta, Alurista, Aztlan, Ana Castillo, Bert Corona, Jose Montoya, Galeria de la Raza, Yolanda Lopez, Ralph Maradiaga, National Hispanic Women’s Network, Sheila Ortiz-Taylor, Ernesto Palomino, REFORMA, Patricia Rodriguez, Royal Chicano Air Force, Self-Help Graphics, Gil Sanchez, El Teatro Campesino, Rini Templeton, and Luis Valdez collections)
  • Native American (related materials in Wyles and CDCC collections)

Performing Arts

  • Music (older formats, such as cylinders and 78 rpm sound recordings; emphasis on classical and ethnic; also includes papers of Peter Fricker, Bernard Herrmann, and Lotte Lehmann)
  • Dance
  • Theatre (includes holdings such as the Dame Judith Anderson Collection and the Lobero Theatre)
  • Related Areas (materials such as the Toole-Stott Circus Collection)

UCSB Oral History Program

  • Oral histories supporting UCSB printed or manuscript collections
  • Santa Barbara area history
  • UCSB history

University Archives

  • Records of enduring value created or received by UCSB and its predecessor institutions, and other materials relating to the activities of the University, its students, faculty and staff
  • Official records emanating from the University, except for records retained by the originating offices (primarily student, financial and personnel records)
  • Original copies of theses, dissertations and projects accepted by the University in fulfillment of advanced degree requirements
  • Records of individual administrators, faculty and staff, which have been created in their official capacities and which describe the development of the University, as well as personal papers reflecting contributions to their respective fields of interest
  • University publications
  • Records and publications of student organizations and groups, and publications edited by students
  • Recordings of lectures, public events, special programs and conferences
  • Records and publications of University affiliated organizations