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Earth Day is an annual international event, first held on April 22, 1970, to demonstrate global solidarity in the shared responsibility to protect the Earth’s natural resources for future generations. To mark this year’s celebration, UCLA undergraduate Willa Needham, dual labor and gender studies major graduating spring 2024, curated materials from the UCLA Library Digital Collections that underscore the prevalence of environmentalism throughout history and across international borders. These photographs, illustrations and posters have diverse origins and reflect the expansive nature of the Library’s collections.
Bonnie Cashin's illustrations of environmental hazard suit design, Bonnie Cashin Collection of Fashion, Theater and Film Costume Design, 1913-2000
(opens in a new tab)This hand-drawn illustration of an environmental hazard suit is from the Bonnie Cashin Collection of Fashion, Theater and Film Costume Design, 1913-2000. The collection contains the influential fashion designer Bonnie Cashin's personal archive documenting her design career. The scope of materials include many of her design illustrations, personal photographs and writings related to her designs. The sardonic handwritten caption on this illustration, drafted in 1966, reads, “If our earth continues rocketing toward complete pollution, we may, in order to survive each have to wear a sort of life-support suit…The exterior of this body container would be of a material, thin, transparent * weightless with combat properties which I am sure Nasa can develop. Underneath is a 2nd skin garment in which the individual might be able to express some personal aesthetic. Obviously the fashion market as we know it would become extinct -- and perhaps it would end the constant repetition of the 20s 30s etc...”
Anna May Wong Planting Trees, Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection
(opens in a new tab)In this photograph, Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American Hollywood film star, plants trees with children in Los Angeles. The image appeared alongside an article in the Los Angeles Times on September 1, 1938. The Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection is an extensive archive of photographs and negatives of the Times circa 1918-1990. A vast number of topics are captured in the photographs including entertainment and the environment.
Ecologically sustainable industrial development, Ethiopian Poster Collection
(opens in a new tab)This illustrated poster from the Ethiopian Poster Collection depicts a vision for sustainable industrial development. An image of a gleaming, clean cityscape is captured in a colorful ring that looms above a larger scene of smokestacks and pollution. The poster was published by the Addis Ababa Ecologically Sustainable Industrial Development Project, Pollution Control Department. The Ethiopian Poster Collection consists of multi-lingual posters covering politics, religion, general health education and culture.
Grizzly Giant sequoia in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park, circa 1900, C.C. Pierce Photographic Collection, c. 1898-1934
(opens in a new tab)This photograph from the C.C. Pierce Photographic Collection shows the giant sequoia tree known as the Grizzly Giant with a small group, perhaps a family, posing at its base. The photographer, Charles C. Pierce (1861-1946), was a pioneering Los Angeles resident who captured architecture and landscapes in the early 20th century. The Grizzly Giant is the oldest tree in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park, estimated to be 2,700 years old, and is counted as the 25th largest tree in the world. It is 210 feet (64 m) tall, and has a basal circumference of 92 feet (28 m) and a diameter of 30 feet. The Grizzly Giant is prioritized in conservation efforts at Yosemite and receives special protections during wildfire threats.
El diario de las chicas Nº 42, 1996, Memoria Abierta Publications, Modern Endangered Archives Program
(opens in a new tab)Issue Nº 42 of Diario de las Chicas highlights the intersection of advocacy for women’s issues and environmental protections. The cover partially reads “The Future of the Planet, Reproductive Health and Women and Health…in the North and in the South.” Diario de las Chicas (The girls' newspaper) was a feminist newspaper published in Mendoza, Argentina by the Grupo Ecuménico de Mujeres (Women's Ecumenical Group) in the late 20th century. This magazine was preserved and digitized through a collaboration with Memoria Abierta Publications, an alliance of Argentinean human rights organizations, and UCLA Library as part of the Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP). MEAP funds projects that document, digitize and make accessible at-risk archival materials, especially those related to repressed cultural heritage, from the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Library Digital Collections
Rare and unique items from the UCLA Library and contributing institutions, viewable on the Library Digital Collections site and made available with IIIF functionality for research and instruction. - default
Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection
The Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection includes tens of thousands of images published in the Los Angeles Times in the past century. - about
Modern Endangered Archives Program
Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP) grants enable digitization and access to at-risk cultural heritage collections from around the world.