Sesquicentennial Events in April

Join SCUA this week as we begin our short series of lectures presented in conjunction with our Civil War exhibit, Echoes of the War: The Civil War Sesquicentennial. This Thursday, April 14, at 4 p. m. we will host Ed Blum, assistant professor of history at SDSU as he discusses "Satan and the Civil War: Considering Ultimate Evil in the War that Shaped America." The lecture will be held in Room LL430 of the SDSU Library.

Next Wednesday, April 20, Thomas Bahde will discuss "Neither Historian Nor Novelist: Captain Francis Moore & The Making of Civil War Memory" in Room LL430 at 7:30 p.m. Bahde, who is the curator of the current exhibit, will speak on a Civil War soldier's memoir held in our collection. Join us to hear these terrific speakers!

Opening Today!

At long last, we are able to say that our Civil War exhibit is open! Though there have been some delays (due to the arrival of fantastic new exhibit cases for our Donor Hall), this exhibit is worth the wait. “Echoes of the War: The Civil War Sesquicentennial” draws on the rich holdings of Special Collections and University Archives to explore the war’s major themes and to highlight the experiences of ordinary Americans during the conflict. From the debates over slavery and abolition that presaged the onset of the war, to the experiences of both Northern and Southern fronts, the exhibit seeks to move viewers away from the noise of battle and closer to the daily experiences of both soldiers and civilians. Original diaries, letters, documents, and photographs highlight soldiers’ everyday lives, their experiences in camp, and their sometimes-conflicted feelings about the causes of the war. The exhibit also engages the war as it was remembered and commemorated by veterans and later generations, asking viewers to question their own understanding of the war and its consequences. The volunteer guest curator for this exhibit is Thomas Bahde, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar in the History Department at UCSD and editor of the memoir of Civil War soldier Captain Francis T. Moore, forthcoming from Northern Illinois University Press. Stop by the Donor Hall today to peruse this fantastic display!

There are two partner exhibits to "Echoes of the War," and both are in Special Collections, on the 4th floor of the Library Addition. "Sources of Conflict: Researching War in Special Collections" showcases our numerous military-related collections and compelling primary sources related to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. This is a popular research and writing topic among undergraduates, and this display uncovers some amazing archival content that can be used in papers and research projects for classes in history and other disciplines. Finally, "Dear Doc Post: San Diego State's Aztec News Letter in World War II" displays some fantastic letters from student servicemen written from all over the world during the Second World War. They wrote home to Dr. Lauren Post, who published their letters in the Aztec News Letter and thus united scattered "Staters" during a difficult time. Photographs, ephemera, and university publications are display, and explore areas such as the making of the newsletter, combat reports, the letter as artifact, and travel accounts. Come on up to SCUA this semester and check these out!

Later, we'll have updates on lectures and events related to the Civil War exhibit--check back soon!

The WWII Servicemen's Correspondence Collection

Today's anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 warrants a look at one of our wonderful University Archives collections relating to soldier-students at San Diego State. The World War II Servicemen's Correspondence Collection is an incredible wealth of personal war experiences, written by San Diego State students serving all over the world. During the early months of World War II, geography professor Lauren Post began the Aztec News Letter, a highly popular newsletter sent to dispersed Aztecs serving in all branches of the military. Servicemen and their families wrote to Dr. Post to relate news of themselves, and to tell of the war activities of other "Staters" they had encountered. Many soldiers express, in poignant terms, their personal difficulties in dealing with combat, with suffering, with loss, and with the war atrocities they were seeing.

This letter, written only three months after Pearl Harbor by football player Wally "Mac" McAnulty, likens his experience at Pearl Harbor to a game: "It was really something on the seventh of December. I'll tell you it was just the same as waiting for a kickoff. Your old stomach was just as tight as it could be but when the first gun was fired, boom, it was gone and you were figgering [sic] how to run one through tackle." Wally goes on to say that the one job he dislikes in his service so far is that of censor: "I once thought that reading other folks mail might be fun but boy was I fooled. Reading a hundred to a hundred and fifty letters a day is no fun."

Currently, Special Collections is working on a project to capture data about each of the approximately 3000 letters in this fantastic collection, in anticipation of its eventual digitization. Selections will be on display beginning next Spring in a small exhibit featuring the collection in the Special Collections foyer. This will accompany the Spring display inside the department, called Sources of Conflict: Researching Wars and the Military in Special Collections, which will feature a number of our war-related collections. And watch out for our Spring Donor Hall exhibit, Echoes of the War: The Civil War Sesquicentennial. We're looking forward to these displays in the coming semester!

New Online Exhibit: Unidos por la Causa

Special Collections is proud to announce the publication of our latest online exhibit, Unidos por la Causa: The Chicana and Chicano Experience in San Diego. This fantastic exhibit, prepared by SCUA employees Amanda Lanthorne, Priscilla Lopez, and Kerwin So, is the tenth in our series of exhibits using an open source exhibits tool from the New Media Consortium called Pachyderm. It is our very first bilingual exhibit, and we are excited to release these great selections from our Chicano/a Studies collections in both English and Spanish. We are currently processing several more additions to the Chicano/a Studies Archive--stay tuned to New and Notable for updates! And don't forget to take a look at the physical version of Unidos por la Causa on display in the Reference area of the Library under the Dome, which will be available through December 31.

In other exhibit news, we're busy planning our upcoming Civil War anniversary exhibit for Spring 2011, which will be in the Donor Hall for all of Spring Semester. To complement this exhibit, we'll be showcasing some of our best war- and military-related collections in the foyer gallery outside SCUA in the Spring. And inside the department, have a blast from the past with selections from University Archives in our SDSU A-Z display. Drop by the department to take a look soon!

Opening Tonight! "Unidos Por La Causa: The Chicana/o Experience in San Diego"

Tonight, Special Collections and the Library will celebrate the opening of our new bilingual exhibit Unidos Por la Causa: The Chicano Experience in San Diego, a display of photographs, art, and historic documents illustrating the early years of the Chicano movement for social justice and civil rights in San Diego. Among many documents and images that illustrate the movement, the exhibit includes a selection of 62 movement-related posters and broadsides produced in the 1960s and 1970s promoting anti-war marches, UFW protests, student conferences and many other cultural and political events, demonstrating the movement's struggle for equal education and its resistance to injustice.

Unidos Por la Causa celebrates San Diego's Chicana/o community and the Chicana/o movement, and will be a guide to some of the most seminal events in San Diego's Chicana/o history, including those which helped to shape the community during the 1960's and 1970's. The exhibit draws upon materials held in Special Collections and University Archives. These collections, many of which have only recently been acquired, include the Arturo Casares Papers, the Enriqueta Chavez Papers, the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department Records, the Chicano Federation of San Diego County Records, the Leonard Fierro Papers, the Maria Garcia Papers, MANA of San Diego County Records, the Rene Nuñez Papers, and others. In addition, a separate exhibit case displays artifacts and other materials documenting the takeover of Chicano Park in 1970 and includes a video display of film footage of the Takeover in 1970 (illustrated above).

A special reception during the celebration will honor contributors and donors to the Archive, followed by a talk by Martín Gómez, Director of the Los Angeles Public Library, one of the largest metropolitan library systems in the United States. Mr. Gómez’s presentation “Archiving a Movement” will discuss how this particular archive is part of a nation-wide revitalization of libraries reflecting increased Latino patronage. The lecture will take place in Love Library Rm. 430 on Wednesday, October 20 at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. A flyer publicizing the lecture is attached to this message. We hope you will join us Wednesday at 7 p.m. for this important talk.

These events are made possible through the generous support of the President’s Leadership Fund, by contributions from SDSU departments, and support from individuals and organizations in the San Diego community. Please join us!

Welcome Back SDSU!

Fall 2010 Greetings to returning students, faculty and staff at San Diego State! Special Collections and University Archives is gearing up for a fantastic semester, full of class visits, exhibit openings, and extended public service hours.

This fall, you can browse several terrific exhibits in the library which feature materials from Special Collections. In the Donor Hall, see original newspapers, photographs, correspondence, and other primary sources drawn from our Women's Studies collections in "Sustaining a Revolution: Women's Studies Turns 40." In Special Collections (on the fourth floor of the Library Addition), you can view first editions, rare ephemera, and manuscripts in our visiting exhibit from Vanderbilt University, "Mark Twain: An American Original," as part of our year-long celebration of Twain. Outside the department in our foyer gallery, see items from the collections supporting the legacy of Mark Twain in "Laughing Matters: Researching American Humor in Special Collections." Last but definitely not least on the exhibit schedule, we will be opening our fantastic exhibit on Chicano/a history in San Diego, called "Unidos por la Causa: The Chicano Experience in San Diego," on October 1st in the Reference area. Come check them out while you're under the Dome! If you miss them during the library's open hours, we'll have online versions of most of these exhibits later in the fall.

This year, we're happy to return to our extended service hours in the Reading Room. We'll be open for you to consult the collections Mondays and Tuesdays 10am to 7pm, and Wednesdays through Fridays 10am to 5pm, so drop by any time! And if you want to browse our holdings after those hours, check out our research guides or our Finding Aid Database. Got a question? Browse our homepage, send us a reference question, check out our digital collections, or better yet, drop by the department to get an extended reference consultation with one of our librarians!

Images: Registration, 1965: University Archives Photograph Collection.

Happy Independence Day!

In honor of July 4th, the library and Special Collections will be closed all day on Monday, July 5th. But after the holiday, we'll resume our summer hours of 10am to 3pm, Monday through Friday. In July, look for a brand new online exhibit about the history of San Diego theatres, a new page of highlights from our Spring book arts exhibit, Above and Beyond, a new physical exhibit in the Donor Hall honoring the fortieth anniversary of Women's Studies at San Diego State, and a new exhibit in the Reading Room commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Mark Twain. Stay tuned for more details as we work on these projects through our busy summer!

Image from the John and Jane Adams Postcard Collection.

Two Final Spring Collections

To round out our list of Spring 2010 newly processed collections, we'll end with the fascinating archival collection of an important local organization, and the related manuscript collection of a notable San Diegan. Both collections add significantly to our strong emphasis on African-American history and general twentieth-century social history in San Diego, which also includes the Carlin Integration Case Records, Citizens United for Racial Equality Records, School Integration Task Force Records, and the Leon Williams Papers. Documents from both new collections now supplement our wonderful online exhibit, "Creating Community: African-Americans in San Diego."

Image: Protest against discriminatory employment practices at the San Diego Bank of America, 1964. From the Harold K. Brown Papers.

Center for Community Economic Development Records, 1963-2006 (MS-0432)
Initially formed in 1995 as a certificate program in Community Economic Development at San Diego State University's College of Business Administration, the program expanded in 2000, becoming the Center for Community Economic Development (CCED) under the direction of Harold Brown. The Center's goal was to endorse economic self-reliance, and generate community-minded individuals in the hopes of improving disadvantaged and low-income neighborhoods. The collection documents the establishment, operation, and curriculum of the Center's thirteen-year existence. The collection includes correspondence, reports, power point presentations, student projects, photographs, certificates, awards, seminar handouts, class curricula, real estate research files, and student rosters. The majority of materials date from 1996 to 2005, and highlight the CCED's efforts to promote and foster community economic development through classes, seminars, and student projects.

Harold K. Brown Papers, 1956-2000 (MS-0436)
Hal Brown became extremely active in the San Diego civil rights movement during the 1960s. Later, Brown became the Deputy Director for the US Peace Corps in Lesotho. In 1971, he returned from Africa and became California State University's Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Assistant to the Vice President for Administration, making him the first African-American administrator at San Diego State. Later, he was the Associate Dean of Planning and Director of the Afro-American Studies Program. The collection documents Brown's participation in the local Civil Rights Movement, his dedication to community economic development, and his professional life, with a heavy emphasis on the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Brown's role in the School Integration Task Force, and his involvement with the Black Economic Development Task Force.

Women's Studies turns 40

This summer in Special Collections, we're gearing up for our Fall 2010 exhibit honoring the fortieth anniversary of the Women's Studies program at San Diego State, which was the first Women's Studies program ever founded in the U.S. in 1970. Special Collections is collaborating with the department to research, mount, and install a fine display of our fascinating primary sources related to the historic founding of the program. Our friends at SDSU's 360 Magazine currently have an article featuring perspectives on the anniversary from the department chair, an alumnae, and newly-minted M.A. graduate, Stevie Seibert. In the interview produced by 360, Stevie talks about her extensive research on the exhibit and about her experiences researching in Special Collections. We're looking forward to a great exhibit in the fall!

JFK's Visit to San Diego State

On June 6, 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered San Diego State College's commencement address before approximately 30,000 people at the Aztec Bowl. He was awarded an honorary doctor of law degree during the commencement exercise at San Diego State University. It was the first honorary doctoral degree awarded by any California State University campus. Following a letter to President Kennedy in which Associated Students President Bob Weir asked him to consider giving the 1963 commencement address, California Governor Edmund Brown extended a formal invitation to the President on April 18, 1963. On May 16, a letter from Kennedy's aide Ken O'Donnell addressed to President Malcolm Love was received confirming that Kennedy would be honored to accept the honorary degree. In his commencement address he said, "As a nation, we have no deeper concern, no older commitment and no higher interest than a strong, sound and free system of education for all. In fulfilling this obligation to ourselves and our children, we provide for the future of our nation-and for the future of freedom."

Though we didn't finish in time to celebrate SDSU Month in March, we're still happy to announce a new online feature which captures an audio recording of that historic day with a selection of photographs and Daily Aztec articles documenting Kennedy's visit. (Please note: QuickTime is required to view; wait just a moment for entire feature to load before viewing.) Take a look, and perhaps revisit your own memories of Kennedy's San Diego visit!

Celebrate SDSU Month with the University Archives!

Discover a wealth of our university's history in our new exhibit, SDSU From A To Z. Take an alphabetical stroll through time and view photographs, yearbooks, correspondence, artifacts, and other primary sources, dating from the institution's founding as a teacher training school in 1897 to the vibrant university we know today. The selections on view will offer a glimpse into SDSU's rich and textured past using materials from University Archives collections. This exhibit is one of a number of artistic, academic, and athletic events and displays related to SDSU Month, held every year in March to celebrate our campus accomplishments and raise awareness of SDSU's vital role in San Diego's community. SDSU From A To Z is on display in the Love Library Donor Hall from March 1st through March 30th, so drop by and learn some SDSU history!

Above and Beyond: An Exhibit of Student Work in the Book Arts

Each semester, a lively and productive series of classes called The Art of the Book is offered in the Department of Art, Design, and Art History. Taught by professional artist and co-director of the Brighton Press Michele Burgess, this class is a memorable experience for all its lucky participants. In the past, students have learned binding and book arts techniques by creating one unique work for each different style of book structure. But during the 2009 Spring and Fall semesters, students went Above and Beyond the typical book arts class experience by undertaking the incredible task of "editioning" their creations. In the field of the book arts, to "edition" means to create a finite number of multiples of the same hand-printed, hand-bound book. Book artists then sell their limited editions to private collectors, libraries, and art museums. Through this assignment, students were able to operate just as professional book artists do, learning practical methods for edition binding while creatively exploring one theme in depth, and while using the full range of their artistic techniques and talents.

Students wrote their own texts using methods incorporated in "found" poetry forms. Throughout the course, there were exercises and discussions about the creative process, and about the processes used in conceptualizing and transforming ideas into paginated visual art forms. The art media and techniques used in each edition were chosen by students and adapted to editions standards, and included: hand binding, printmaking, painting, digital art and computer-generated imagery, letterpress, creative writing, metals, photography, wood and furniture techniques, ceramics and clay, drawing, sculpture, and fibers.

Special Collections is deeply appreciative of these students' willingness to donate one copy of their remarkable book creations to our collection. Stop by the gallery area outside our department (on the 4th floor of the Library Addition) starting January 25th to browse these incredible works of art!

The Peabody Magic Lantern and Glass Slide Collection

Last year, Special Collections acquired a fantastic collection of glass slides and magic lanterns, generously donated by Friends of the Library Betty and Homer Peabody. The collection contains over 2000 glass slides, and includes examples of standard, mechanical, photographic, and hand-painted slides in a wide range of topical categories ,such as medicine, education, religion, art, history, politics, travel, and popular culture. The collection also contains about 35 magic lanterns, most of which date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and includes a particularly exciting collection of toy lanterns. In addition to these working artifacts, the Peabodys donated their collection of magic lantern literature, which includes books and serials on the history and collecting of these fascinating instruments.

Though the collection of slides and lanterns has not yet been formally processed, a significant portion of the slides has been made accessible in a truly grand online exhibit (created by our talented intern Amanda Lanthorne), which delves into the details of magic lantern use, mechanics, themes, slide types, and more using images from our collection. Take your time and explore this wonderful resource!

Celebrating Darwin's Life and Work

Library and Information Access is hosting several exhibits during Fall 2009 in honor of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. In the Donor Hall, you'll find Darwin Now, a traveling exhibit created by the British Council that explores Darwin's life and the importance of the theory of evolution to the contemporary world and to modern science. Biological specimens from the collections of the SDSU Department of Evolutionary Biology (including a Galapagos Island tortoise shell and a terrarium of orchids and insectivorous plants) are also on display in the Donor Hall in an exhibit called The Fact of Evolution. Special Collections will host the exhibit The Book that Shook the World, a vivid exploration of Darwin's life, his masterpiece, and his other contributions to scientific thought using illustrations, photographs, and first editions of his works. A complementary display called Discovering Darwin highlights evolutionary thought in books and ephemera from the collections of Special Collections. These exhibits begin on August 10th and will run through December 20th, 2009. Stay tuned for details about lectures and other events in conjunction with these terrific exhibits!

(Image: the rare orchid Angraecum sesquipedale, which Darwin studied intensively.)