Saturday, April 26 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Special Collections, McHenry Library

Steadily and quietly for the past 50 years, a major treasure has been assembled in a corner of UC Santa Cruz’s McHenry Library. The library’s Regional Oral History Project has gathered several hundred oral histories, which capture the stories of the campus and the surrounding community. Many more are planned for the future. Please join us for an exploration of campus history and an opportunity to meet some of your favorite faculty and staff members who have been our narrators.

Founded by Chancellor Dean McHenry who, even before the campus opened its doors, understood how important it was to record the evolving story of this innovative campus and the unique area in which it is situated, the oral history program connects the campus with the community. We have published books such as Cultivating a Movement, which demonstrated the campus’s national impact in shaping sustainable agriculture, and Out in the Redwoods, which documented 40 years of UCSC’s GLBT history. We have interviewed dedicated, inspiring, and innovative faculty and staff, who have founded and nourished interdisciplinary majors such as history of consciousness, environmental studies, feminist studies, ocean sciences, Latin American and Latino studies, and community studies.

This event will include a panel discussion with oral history narrators Professor Michael Cowan, Professor Pedro Castillo, Professor Donna Haraway, retired Library Staff Member David Kirk, and Director of Regional Oral History Irene Reti. Nikki Silva, a UCSC alum and host of NPR's The Kitchen Sisters, will moderate the discussion. Also on exhibit at Special Collections is A Long Listen: Fifty Years of Oral History from the UCSC Library's Regional Oral History Project.

We hope you will join us to sample UC Santa Cruz’s oral histories and hear about our plans for the future. Check our website to learn more about the Regional Oral History Project.

For more information, please contact Ethan Henderson, senior director of library development.

Banner Photo: The Newell Creek Mill, Circa 1910. From Michael Bergazzi: Santa Cruz County Lumbering: An Interview Conducted by Elizabeth Spedding Calciano (Regional History Project, UCSC Library, 1964). Photo: Courtesy of Special Collections, UCSC Library