Poem in Your Pocket Day Exhibition
To celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day, on view in our flash exhibition case --for today only!-- are several examples from Library Special Collections' holdings of miniature bindings.
Poems and Lovers, by A. R. Witten, 1969. (Call number: Min. PS509. B3W784p)
The pocket-sized volumes in the collection include a wide variety of works -- from Catullus to nursery rhymes, early Italian printings to modern artists' books, delicate folded paper to sturdy leather bindings, sublime verse to silly doggerel.
La Divina Comedia di Dante, 1555. (Call number: Min. Z233.G4D23d)
Be sure to discover other Poem in Your Pocket Day events in Young Research Library. Check the Facebook page and Twitter feed (@ucla_yrl) for more information. By Megan Hahn Fraser, Processing Projects Librarian
Chocolate: From Pod to Package
Blog post by Russell Johnson, Curator/Librarian, History & Special Collections for the Sciences
A mini-exhibit of old favorites and recent acquisitions in the History & Special Collections for the Sciences section of UCLA Library Special Collections is on display at the Louise M. Biomedical Library (1st floor lobby/research commons) through 30 April 2014. Chocolate: from pod to package begins with the work of Francisco Hernández (1515-1587) and runs through items on loan from an extensive local collections of Peeps and Peepsiana. A highlight is the recently-purchased (from Zephyr Used & Rare Books in Vancouver, Washington) 1905 salesman’s sample travel case and book from Walter Baker & Co., the Dorchester, Massachusetts company which was awarded Grand Prize in St. Louis at the 1904 World’s Fair for its educational exhibit about the making of chocolate. This exhibit is part of an occasional series, “This Just In: Recently Acquired Gifts and Purchases.”
Center for Research Libraries 2014 Primary Source Award for Research Awarded to Christian Reed
The Center for Primary Research and Training is thrilled to announce that Christian Reed, CFPRT scholar and Ph.D. candidate in English, is this year's recipient of the Center for Research Libraries 2014 Primary Source Award for Research. This is the second time someone from the CFPRT has won a CRL Primary Source Award; the first went to former CFPRT Head, Kelley Bachli, who was nominated by Genie Guerard in 2011.

Enlisting the assistance and creative genius of artists and activists, as well as UCLA faculty and students, Christian formed a network of sonneteers that utilized primary source materials in the creation of aqueduct sonnets. The project was executed in three parts: a digital exhibition of sonnets on the Los Angeles Aqueduct Digital Platform, a sonnet reading in Library Special Collections, and a physical exhibition of the sonnets and archival materials that inspired their creation. Christian was not only innovative in the conceptualization of this project and its components, but he continues to be an advocate for creative, scholarly uses of primary source materials. In building his network of artists, writers, and academics for this project, Christian engaged in important outreach work for the access and use of archival materials. His sonnet project was developed diligently as a community-building experience. Many many thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of both the sonnet project and the Los Angeles Digital Platform. And a heartfelt congratulations to Christian! Jasmine Jones and Jillian Cuellar Center for Primary Research and Training UCLA Library Special Collections
Earth Day Exhibition Now On View in LSC
Blog post by Julie Graham, Accessioning Archivist (and Friend of Mother-Earth)
What better way to commemorate Earth Day 2014 in Los Angeles than a flash exhibition featuring two recent accessions to Library Special Collections? Andy Lipkis founded TreePeople in Los Angeles in 1973, at age 18. Through his leadership, the organization has grown into one of California’s largest independent environmental organizations. Through the hard work of volunteers and help from supporters, TreePeople has spearheaded an approach using trees and forest-inspired technologies to make cities sustainable while mitigating floods, drought, pollution, and climate change. TreePeople’s efforts have resulted in the planting of over two million trees in forests, urban neighborhoods and school campuses. Over two million children have participated in its award-winning Environmental Education programs for students, youth groups and teachers. TreePeople has received numerous honors and awards including recognition by the United Nations World Forestry Organization for its work as a global model for other large cities. The TreePeople Records will be processed this summer, and will be open for research later in 2014.
Andy Lipkis, unidentified woman, and Mayor Tom Bradley. TreePeople Records (Collection 2180).
TreePeople’s efforts have resulted in the planting of over two million trees in forests, urban neighborhoods and school campuses. Over two million children have participated in its award-winning Environmental Education programs for students, youth groups and teachers. TreePeople has received numerous honors and awards including recognition by the United Nations World Forestry Organization for its work as a global model for other large cities.
City of Los Angeles Earth Day Proclamation, 1980, signed by Mayor Tom Bradley. TreePeople Records (Collection 2180).
In the late 1930s, in response to a pair of deadly floods, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control the unruly Los Angeles River. After 20 years and 3 million barrels of concrete, over 400 miles of the River and its tributaries were narrowed, straightened, deepened and encased in cement. Within a short time, important native species were largely gone and the Los Angeles River gained the reputation of being a huge concrete eyesore. In 1986, Roger Wong, Pat Patterson and Lewis MacAdams formed the Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR), now the oldest LA River advocacy organization committed to protect and restore the natural and historic heritage of the Los Angeles River and its riparian habitat. Among FoLAR’s many programs to connect people to the River are an annual river clean-up, the "Gran Limpieza," which brings several thousand people to the river to clean up every spring; and an on-going series of conferences and planning workshops dealing with every aspect of the river. Over the years, two former railroad yards along the river have been transformed into state parks and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority have created half a dozen riverfront pocket parks, and a bike path that continues to grow. Processing of Friends of the Los Angeles River Records will begin later this year.
Ashley Cat (2009) by Leo Limón; one of his colorful LA River Gatitas.
Friends of the Los Angeles River Records (Collection 2215).
Over the years, two former railroad yards along the river have been transformed into state parks and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority have created half a dozen riverfront pocket parks, and a bike path that continues to grow.
Los Angeles River: still an important transportation corridor!
Friends of the Los Angeles River Records (Collection 2215).
Earth Day involves yearly events designed to focus political and community attention on environmental concerns. Taking place on April 22, Earth Day provides the opportunity for us to celebrate Mother-Earth while considering ways to protect her. For the TreePeople and the Friends of the Los Angeles River, every day is Earth Day. Sources: TreePeople: Andy Lipkis, Founder and President “A river -- again -- in Los Angeles,” by Lewis MacAdams, October 27, 2013; Los Angeles Times article
Recently Processed Collections
The following collections were recently processed, and are now open for research. Hans H. Baerwald Papers (Collection 531). Hans Baerwald was a UCLA professor emeritus and internationally renowned scholar of Japanese politics. The collection consists of correspondence, Baerwald's master publication file, lecture notes, professional organization and conference files and research files on subjects such as the purge, the Lockheed case, elections, the Economic Bubble, occupation policy, the Diet, Japanese Prime Ministers and the Showa Emperor. Everett Claire Olson Papers (Collection 583). Dr. Everett C. Olson, a zoologist, paleontologist and geologist, began his long-term field program in the American Southwest, studying Permian vertebrate fossils during the 1930s while working within the University of Chicago's Department of Geology. In 1969, Olson joined the UCLA faculty where he taught zoology and later served as chair of UCLA's Department of Biology. The collection includes research documents such as field notes, geological maps, photographs, negatives, slides, drawings, and figures, as well as correspondence, conference materials, publications collected by and authored by Olson, lectures written by Olson, and presentation materials. Daniel M. Popper Papers (Collection 584). Daniel M. Popper joined the new astronomy department at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1947 as its first stellar astronomer. At UCLA, Popper became a full professor in 1955, chaired the department from 1951-1957 and 1959-1963, and retired as professor emeritus and research astronomer in 1978. The collection includes research files, the UCLA Astronomy Department's administrative documents, information on Popper's courses, correspondence, and publications. Ruth St. Denis Papers (Collection 1031). Ruth St. Denis (1879-1968) was a modern dance pioneer who combined spirituality and dance. Throughout her career, St. Denis’s dances were greatly influenced by eastern culture and religion. In the later years of her career, Christian themes were also explored and depicted in her works. Her papers include handwritten journals, personal and professional correspondence, essays, poems, lectures, choreographic notes, musical scores, dance programs and ephemera, photographic prints, reel-to-reel audio recordings, books from her personal library, and business materials. The collection spans the majority of her life, though the bulk of collection derives from the 1920s to her death in 1968. Omar Suttles Papers (Collection 1292). Omar Suttles (1893-1980) was the founder of the Airfloat Coach Manufacturing Company and manufactured one of the earliest travel trailers built specifically for recreation. He co-founded the Trailer Coach Association (TCA), presently known as Manufactured Housing Institute, and wrote a long-running column for Trailer Life magazine. The collection consists primarily of Suttles' scrapbooks, photographs, reminiscences, correspondence, memorabilia, brochures, and other printed materials, ranging from approximately 1927 to 1981, with Suttles posthumously receiving correspondence and honorary mentions in serials. Blood Relatives and Tomorrow Never Comes motion picture scripts and publicity material (Collection 1354). Blood Relatives (1977) and Tomorrow Never Comes (1978) are two feature films produced by Michael Klinger and Julian Melzack. The collection consists of publicity and script material representing the two films. Barbara Morgan Wight Gallery Collection (Collection 1872). The collection includes 143 mounted photographs, 137 of which were taken by Barbara Morgan and 6 by her husband, Willard D. Morgan. The photographs include images of dancers, nature, Camp Treetops, a Southwest series, New York cityscapes, and a junkyard series. Leon Knopoff Papers (Collection 1876). The papers document the professional and research career seismologist, geophysicist, and UCLA Professor Leon Knopoff (b.1925-d.2011). Knopoff was known for his range of theoretical advances including a framework for the "double couple" model of an earthquake. The papers include: correspondence, files documenting Knopoff's research projects, files generated by Knopoff as director of the UCLA Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (1972-1986); laboratory notebooks, speeches, and lectures. Additionally, the collection documents Knopoff's correspondence, research, and teaching as a musician and musicologist.
Frank La Tourette Papers (Collection 1927). Frank D. La Tourette was a television writer, producer, director, and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1980s. The collection consists of printed materials such as clippings and publications, correspondence, and writings by La Tourette. Max Weinberg Papers (Collection 1932). Max Weinberg was a writer and producer of motion picture trailers. The collection includes Weinberg's files which may contain one or more of the following: business correspondence and memos, film trailer scripts, radio and television spot scripts, production notes and a small amount of screenplays, promotional material, photographs, reports, and newspaper and magazine clippings. Harold Leonard Motion Picture Research Files (Collection 1933). Harold Leonard was a critic and film historian. The collection consists of Leonard's research files dealing mainly with critical and historical aspects of motion pictures. Degania Golove Papers (Collection 1984). Degania Golove is an activist and historian primarily focusing on lesbian history. This collection contains her collection of course syllabi for courses on Women's Studies, Lesbian Studies and Feminist Studies. Margreit Kiers and Kenna Hicks Papers (Collection 1985). This collection is centered around the activist activities and collecting habits of Margriet Kiers and Kenna Hicks. They were both heavily involved with several local Santa Barbara activist organizations as well as several national gay, lesbian and feminist organizations. They also kept abreast of national lesbian issues through a large collection of periodicals which are represented here. Sophia Corleone Papers (Collection 1988). Sophia Corleone organized, along with co-coordinator Gail Suber, the Lesbian Writers Series of readings at A Different Light Bookstore in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. This collection contains materials relevant to the planning of the series as well as her own personal research materials and flyers and newsletters related to community organizations and events. Sylvia Dobson Papers (Collection 1989). Sylvia Dobson was a schoolteacher and a close friend of the modernist and imagist poet Hilda Doolittle. This collection contains their correspondence as well as some research materials concerning Hilda Doolittle. Martha Foster Papers (Collection 1990). Martha Foster was a lesbian poet and fiction writer who lived in Los Angeles, California. This collection includes correspondence, photographs and manuscripts. Tom Sturak Collection on Horace McCoy (Collection 1995). Tom Sturak was an English Department doctoral candidate and, later, professor at UCLA, whose dissertation on the life and work of ‘hardboiled’ fiction author Horace McCoy was published in 1966. This collection encompasses the materials collected by Sturak for his research, as well as his correspondence, drafts, and a completed copy of his dissertation. Collected materials include McCoy’s manuscripts, published articles, screenplays, personal and professional correspondence, and personal records and ephemera. They focus primarily on Horace McCoy’s work as a screenwriter and novelist while living in Los Angeles.
Barbara Macdonald Papers (Collection 2159). Barbara Macdonald was a social worker, lesbian feminist activist and ageism activist. Her collection includes notes and drafts of writings and talks both published and unpublished by her. Angela Brinskele Photographs (Collection 2158). Angela Brinskele is a professional lesbian and has been Director of Communications of the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives for the past five years. Angela is a professional photographer who worked for The Lesbian News for several years and has been documenting the LGBT community for more than twenty- five years with a special emphasis on Lesbians in Southern California. This collection contains photographs covering gay and lesbian cultural and pride events from 1986 through 2008.
Pat Denslow Papers (Collection 2163). Pat Denslow was a lesbian activist and organizer. She worked heavily with both the Southern California Women for Understanding (SCWU) as well as Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC). This collection includes interviews, drafts and the final product of the project Elderbond by Pat Denslow and members of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC) including Barbara Macdonald. Betsy Calloway Papers (Collection 2164). This collection contains some personal correspondence from Betsy Calloway but the majority of the material focuses on her graphic design and printing business, Maud Gonne Press. Examples of the work, correspondence between clients and catalogs of comparable services serving the lesbian feminist community are contained. Francesca Roccaforte Papers (Collection 2165). Francesca Roccaforte is a photographer and teacher living in San Francisco, California. This collection contains photographic prints from several of her projects ranging from documenting horse races to Italian historical sites. Sandy Dwyer Papers (Collection 2166). Sandy Dwyer is a lesbian activist, playwright and journalist living and working in Los Angeles, California. This collection represents materials used by and produced by Sandy Dwyer in the course of her life. The bulk are scripts and promotional materials. Ardella Tibby Papers (Collection 2167). Ardy Tibby is a lesbian feminist activist and organizer as well as an entertainer and author. Her collection focuses on her personal life and connections during her life in California and Phoenix, Arizona. Elizabeth Gould Davis Papers (Collection 2169). Elizabeth Gould Davis was an American lesbian librarian and author who wrote the feminist text The First Sex. Her unpublished follow up manuscript for The Female Principle is contained within this collection. Mildred Berryman Papers (Collection 2170). Mildred Berryman was a researcher, writer, photographer, and stenographer in Salt Lake City, Utah and surrounding areas. As a lesbian member of the Church of Latter-day Saints, she did research concerning lesbian and gay communities in Salt Lake City, Utah. This collection contains her research. Dee Caruso Papers (Collection 2174). Dee Caruso has written for film and television. The collection consists of files related to Caruso's career, representing projects such as Get Smart, and The World's Greatest Athlete, among others. Margaret Cammermeyer Papers (Collection 2186). Margarethe (Grethe) Cammermeyer was born in 1942 in Oslo, Norway. Her career as nurse in the military included distinguished service in Vietnam, work for the Veteran’s Administration, and a position as Chief Nurse of the Washington National Guard. As a result of her statement in an interview for top security clearance that she was a lesbian, she was separated from the military in 1992. She successfully challenged her discharge and the military’s regulations that mandated that lesbians and gay men be separated from the service. This experience, documented in her memoir, Serving in Silence, inspired her to become involved in LGBT activism and politics. The papers contain her personal, professional, and activist materials including correspondence, legal documents, photographs, videotapes, ephemera and other materials. The majority of the material relates to her successful challenge in the courts of both her discharge and the military’s regulations that mandated that lesbians and gay men be separated from the service between 1992 and 1997. Renee Cote Papers (Collection 2197). Renee Cote was a psychotherapist and lesbian activist. This collection includes the thesis for her Master's Degree as well as additional publications.
This Just In: Recently Acquired Gifts and Purchases
Blog post by Russell Johnson, Curator/Librarian History & Special Collections for the Sciences
A mini-exhibit of recent acquisitions in the History & Special Collections for the Sciences section of UCLA Library Special Collections is on display at the Louise M. Biomedical Library (4thfloor public reading room) through 30 April 2014.
Illustrated cover of Ralph Barton’s Science in Rhyme without Reason (1924)
Items are headlined:
- Collecting all sides of an issue
- Everyone’s first book must be a book of verse
- Failed separation of monozygotic (cow) twins
- History of toilets
- It’s a book … it was a book … it’s an artist’s book
- Vaccination armband
This exhibit is part of an occasional series, “This Just In: Recently Acquired Gifts and Purchases.”
Women Printers Through Five Centuries
Blog post by Lori Dedeyan, CFPRT Scholar
Within the European tradition, women have been participants in the printing trade since its inception. The nature of their participation was shaped by a collective structure meant to enforce the general ascendancy of men, who, in the words of Virginia Woolf, “with the exception of the fog seemed to control everything.” Still, the number and distribution across Europe of presses run by women speaks to their abilities as printers and businesspeople. Though navigating complex legal and social restrictions, they managed to leave their mark (in this case, their colophons) on the cultural production of their times.
Printer's ornaments, a composing stick with type and spacers, and string used for tying blocks of type. These items were borrowed from the Information Studies department's letterpress lab.
The Library Special Collections houses the work of a variety of women printers, of which this exhibit was intended to be a small survey, broadly covering the period between the sixteenth and early twentieth centuries. After doing research and compiling a list of titles, finding the corresponding physical copies in our collections brought with it, each time, a little thrill. These volumes would arrive at my desk in their protective casings, often custom made, and often strangely complementary to the items in their aesthetic, utilitarian appeal. Each had a different story to tell.
A much worn and mended copy of T.S. Eliot’s Poems, published by the Hogarth Press in 1919.
This leather-bound 1527 edition by Elisabetta Rusconi, of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, was the source of some whimsical speculation.
Women often entered the trade through marriage, as either a printer’s wife or daughter. Due to the common age disparities between printers and their wives, women would often inherit a shop after the death of their husbands, continuing the business until remarrying or being supplanted, at least in title, by their sons. Indexes of women printers from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries are populated by widows. Elisabetta Rusconi and Girolama Cartolari, in Italy, and Marguerite Van Anderat, in France, were products of this culture. This exhibit sought to separate them from these conditional associations and provide a glimpse, through their work, of their own professional practice.
The title page of the Metamorphoses.
The Woman Question, or the Querelle Des Femmes, which occupied the discourse of their contemporaries, continued through the ages and found another manifestation on Langham Place in London, where a group of women took it up within the context of their own experience. They came from positions of relative economic privilege and advocated for the ‘elevation’ of the status of women in society, though the amendment of employment and marriage laws. One of this group, Emily Faithfull, founded a printing press for the training and employment of women, the Victoria Press. The Victoria Press had good business and prospered for a time, with Faithfull being named “Printer and Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.” The Victoria Regia, included here, was printed in dedication to Queen Victoria, in 1861.
Binding fit for a queen: The Victoria Regia.
In 1917, at Hogarth House in Richmond, Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard took up the tools of the trade in order to establish a small, independent publishing house. The tasks of typesetting and composition fell to Virginia, who absorbed the lessons of the press and whose own productive process was informed by her role in this transmutation of thought to the printed word. Included in the exhibit, and a source of particular excitement to me, was an original printer’s proof of Woolf’s 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway, complete with the author’s annotations and revisions (in purple ink, no less).
Mrs. Dalloway (Collection 170/554)
The exhibit also included a copy of the first publication issued by the press in 1917, Two Stories, which includes woodcut illustrations by the artist Dora Carrington.
Two Stories
The issues of roles in cultural production occupied Woolf, who wrote in A Room of One’s Own that “it seemed a pure waste of time to consult all those gentlemen who specialize in woman and her effect on whatever it may be- politics, children, wages, morality- numerous and learned as they are. One might as well leave their books unopened.” By instead opening these particular books, this exhibit invited the viewer to look at them and, by extension, at the women printers of whose labor they are the product.
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