News from the University Librarian
Unlocking History: Graduate Students Process Collections in CART's Inaugural Workshop
From Cuneiform to Common Press: Students Explore the Art and History of the Book
A Life of Activism and Peacemaking: Special Collections Publishes Oral History of Professor John Brown Childs
Special Collections Features Student-Curated Look at Feminist Studies
Slime is on Their Side: Celebrating 40 Years of the UCSC Banana Slug
UC Santa Cruz Library publishes vast photo archive from iconic ‘Death of a Valley’
The Spring Give is live through June 15!
Creating Cowell: Reflections from the archives of UCSC’s founding college.
In Memoriam Robert “Bob” Dodge (Stevenson ’69)
News from the University Librarian
It is my pleasure to write to you for the first time as the interim University Librarian for UC Santa Cruz. In January, I stepped into this role with a deep appreciation for the vision of the leaders who preceded me and the work all of you have done with them to build a strong and supportive community. Your generosity toward the library has been a key component of our success in expanding our support of the teaching, research, and learning goals of the campus community. I am joining you at a particularly challenging moment. Like many universities, we are navigating a demanding budget landscape. While fiscal challenges require us to be especially strategic in our planning, we are viewing our circumstances as an opportunity to focus on our core work of prioritizing student success and supporting the research needs of the campus.
Even as we adapt to evolving circumstances, the Library remains a place of innovation. Thanks to your ongoing support, we are making investments in areas that define the modern research library. We aim to:
Increase the range and depth of experiential learning opportunities for students: We aim to create spaces and provide materials and staff support so that every UCSC student can pursue learning outside the classroom, contribute to scholarly or scientific knowledge, and prepare for their chosen career path.
Expand access to tools for digital scholarship: In partnership with faculty and staff, the Library will further research and teaching that incorporates 3D data, tapping into a wide range of global educational resources and keeping our labs adaptable for changing technologies. We will remove financial barriers for students by raising money for course materials and licenses, prioritizing student success through no-cost access to materials.
Create inclusive spaces for students: We continue to evolve our physical environments into versatile, technology-rich spaces that foster collaboration, creativity, and deep focus.
As we look toward a more sustainable future, we want to ensure that our communication with you is as impactful as your contributions. To that end, we are transitioning our traditional newsletter into a comprehensive Annual Impact Report. This yearly report will offer a transparent view of our successes, our strategic pivots, and the tangible ways your gifts are transforming the lives of our students and faculty.
Your belief in the centrality of the Library in student and faculty success is what allows us to remain focused on our core mission. I am eager to meet many of you in the coming months and to work together to ensure this library remains a key campus partner in years to come.
With gratitude,
Kerry Scott
Interim, Richard L. Press University Librarian, Presidential Chair
Unlocking History: Graduate Students Process Collections in CART's Inaugural Workshop
In Summer 2025, the Center for Archival Research and Training (CART) hosted its first intensive, weeklong archives workshop, welcoming five graduate students from the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts divisions at UC Santa Cruz for hands-on training in archival theory and practice in Special Collections & Archives. We’re excited to host this workshop for a second time this September, extending it over two weeks due to the success of last year’s inaugural run—read on to learn more!
Last summer, after reviewing over 40 applications from across all five academic divisions, CART Archivist Alix Norton and former CART Fellow Meleia Simon-Reynolds (PhD, History) selected 5 graduate students for the inaugural workshop: Stefania Cotei (History of Consciousness), Alaura Hopper (Anthropology), Kim Kölle Valentine (Film and Digital Media), Melissa Mack (Literature), and Jacob Sirhan (Visual Studies). Alix and Meleia designed a week of discussions, readings, hands-on time with special collections materials, staff presentations, and training in arrangement, description, and preservation of archival collections. Before the cohort arrived in the library, they read articles introducing them to archives studies and wrote reflections on how the readings tied in with their own experiences, as well as any questions that arose that they’d like to explore further. The week provided that chance for exploration, as the cohort learned about the principles of archival processing and then put those principles into practice with hands-on processing experience. The arrangement and description work they completed made two collections available for research, with completed collection guides on the Online Archive of California: the Ruth Solomon Papers and the Vajrapani Institute for Wisdom Culture Records.
During the week, the cohort met with staff members from Special Collections and Archives, which enriched their time learning about different career areas in archives. Kelsey Knox shared her experience as University Archivist (and UCSC alum!) and ways she is capturing student life on campus for future researchers and future generations of banana slugs. Sam Regal, Instruction & Exhibitions Librarian, led the cohort through an exploration of our collection of artists’ books before teaching us how to create our own bound book using a pamphlet stitch! Meleia Simon-Reynolds, who was awarded the 2023-2024 CART Fellowship and recently earned her PhD in History, discussed her role as director of Watsonville is in the Heart’s Community Digital Archive and educational programs, sharing insights into the unique benefits and challenges of community-engaged research and archive building.
At the end of the week, the cohort brainstormed ideas for activating the archival collections they worked on with various user communities, including UCSC students. Each cohort member created collages that were compiled into a creative zine, reflecting the cohort’s experience engaging with archival theory, the collections they processed, and one another.
Due to the success of this inaugural workshop and because of generous donor funding, CART is excited to host the Summer Archives Workshop for a second year in
September 2026. We will hire 5 new graduate students from across academic disciplines to work together on two archival collections: the papers of Fred Chamberlain, a Watsonville-based photographer and agricultural historian; and the records of the Friday Shakespeare Club of Santa Cruz, a local women’s club founded in 1903 to study the works of Shakespeare. This year, we’re extending the workshop to 8 days, giving the students more time to immerse themselves in the work of Special Collections & Archives, in response to enthusiastic feedback from last year’s participants. Workshop applications will be accepted until June 16, and interested grad students can learn more and apply on the CART website.
A warm thank you to the UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board Opportunity Fund for funding the inaugural Summer Archives Workshop in the Center for Archival Research and Training, and special thanks to Jim Gunderson and Peter Coha for their ongoing support. We’re grateful to be able to offer this workshop experience in the future, providing important experiential opportunities for graduate students to hone their research skills in the archives and immerse themselves in the field of archival studies with colleagues across academic departments.
From Cuneiform to Common Press: Students Explore the Art and History of the Book
This winter, Special Collections and Archives hosted The Art and History of the Book, a new class led by Instruction and Exhibitions Librarian Sam Regal. Each week, collections representative of global book history were activated through readings, discussions, hands-on engagement, and thematically relevant creative-making activities. Undergraduate and graduate students alike molded cuneiform tablets, experimented with medieval calligraphic styles using iron gall ink, made paper, printed on a miniaturized Gutenberg-style common press, and bound books in a variety of formats. Students’ final projects interrogated the book-as-concept from a variety of innovative perspectives.
A Life of Activism and Peacemaking: Special Collections Publishes Oral History of Professor John Brown Childs
In April, Special Collections and Archives celebrated the newly published oral history of John Brown Childs, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology. Over months of in-depth interviews with oral historian Cameron Vanderscoff (Cowell ’11), Childs reflected on a life shaped by his heritage, his work on the front lines of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and his career centered on scholarship and community work around peacemaking and “transcommunal cooperation.”
Special Collections Features Student-Curated Look at Feminist Studies
This month, Special Collections opened a new student-curated exhibition highlighting the critical importance and legacy of the Feminist Studies department, which closed in 2025. Titled “Improvising in Fields of Constraint: How Feminist Studies at UCSC Was Made, Changed, and Unmade,” the exhibition sets the department’s visionary curriculum and evolution in stark relief against its designation as “low-value” by the U.S. Department of Education.
Slime is on Their Side: Celebrating 40 Years of the UCSC Banana Slug
If you visit the third floor of McHenry Library, you’ll find an exhibit dedicated to a local icon that is yellow, shell-less, and surprisingly resilient. "Slime is on Their Side: Celebrating 40 (official) years of the UCSC Banana Slug Mascot" takes a deep dive into the archives to tell the definitive story of how a forest floor dweller became a global symbol of campus identity.
While the Banana Slug has been associated with UC Santa Cruz since its earliest days in the 1960s, its path to official recognition was anything but slow and steady. The new exhibit explores the legendary "mascot wars" of the 1980s, a period of campus upheaval sparked by Chancellor Robert Sinsheimer's attempt to pivot the university’s image toward a more "traditional" athletic identity.
In 1981, as the university joined the NCAA Division III, Sinsheimer unilaterally designated the Sea Lion as the official mascot. He argued that the slug lacked the "dignity" required for competitive sports. However, the student body disagreed. To many, the Banana Slug represented the very ethos of UCSC: non-aggressive, unique, and deeply rooted in the local environment.
The archival sources on display trace the five-year battle that followed. Visitors can see historical documents and photos detailing the student-led "pro-slug" movement, which culminated in a landslide campus-wide vote in early 1986. Students voted overwhelmingly, by roughly a 15-to-1 margin, to reject the Sea Lion and reinstate the Slug. Facing such undeniable student resolve, the Chancellor finally relented, and on June 11, 1986, the Banana Slug was officially named the mascot of UC Santa Cruz.
"Slime is on Their Side" goes beyond the headlines, offering a rare look at early campus ephemera, sketches, and stories that predate the 1980s controversy. It is a celebration of student agency and the enduring power of a mascot that reflects the unconventional spirit of our community.
Visit the Exhibit:
Location: McHenry Library, 3rd Floor
Duration: On display through the summer of 2026
Admission: Free and open to the public during library hours
“Students Vote for the Banana Slug", a podcast episode by Daniel Story and Kelsey Knox, is available for listening on the library website here.
UC Santa Cruz Library publishes vast photo archive from iconic ‘Death of a Valley’
UC Santa Cruz Library has digitized and made publicly available 3,200 images taken by Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones from their photo project that captured the final year of Monticello.
Seventy years ago, residents of Monticello gathered to mark their last Memorial Day in their small, agricultural town. The spring gathering was always a chance for families and old friends to gather in community.
By the time rains came the following year, 1957, Monticello was gone. Farms abandoned. Trees uprooted. Businesses closed. Houses torn down. Coffins unearthed and reburied. The land itself ultimately flooded beneath 1.6 million acre feet of water. Putah Creek, which ran just west of the town, was dammed to help quench the thirst of a rapidly growing state.
The number of Californians more than doubled from 1930 to 1950, and the state’s plans to increase the water supply included creating Lake Berryessa by capturing the water rolling down the Coastal Range.
Struck by the environmental and societal cost of the project, photographers Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones turned their lenses to document and demonstrate to the public what progress looked like. Their project, Death of a Valley, was commissioned and then rejected by Life magazine, an outlet with a paid circulation over 5 million and estimates of a weekly readership greater than 20 million.
Despite this, the series went on to garner critical acclaim for its powerful portrayal of the rapid shift from a thriving community to a human-made lake. Lange and Jones published 30 of the photos in 1960 in the journal Aperture, and exhibited the photos at the San Francisco Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Now, for the first time, the UC Santa Cruz Library has digitized and made publicly available all the images—more than 3,200—taken by Lange and Jones for this project.
“The photos themselves are extraordinarily evocative because they clearly convey this was a community and a strong one at that,” said Head of Special Collections Teresa Mora. Continue reading the full article by Scott Hernandez-Jason
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Spring Give is live through June 15!
Expand access to course materials for students and show your Slug pride!
The UCSC Library remains dedicated to broadening access to the essential course materials students require for academic success. With costs for required textbooks,
homework platforms, and other critical resources often exceeding $1,200 annually, financial barriers frequently force students to make difficult compromises—such as reducing their course loads, withdrawing from classes, or delaying their graduation. Your generosity plays a vital role in removing these obstacles.
By contributing to the Library's Acquisition Fund, you will help us expand access to textbooks, literature, and other essential course materials for UCSC students.
Creating Cowell: Reflections from the archives of UCSC’s founding college.
The 2025-2026 exhibit in the University Library’s Center for Archival Research and Training, curated by CART Fellow Anna Ijiri Oehlkers, is open from June 11, 2026, through December 11, 2026
In 1965, Cowell College opened as the first residential college at the new UC Santa Cruz campus, envisioned as an “ideal becoming real.” More than sixty years later, this exhibit draws on Cowell’s archives to explore the college's ongoing creation, asking: What was Cowell? What is Cowell? What might Cowell become?
Opening Thursday June 11th, 4-6pm
Special Collections & Archives, McHenry Library Third Floor, UC Santa Cruz
IN MEMORIAM
Robert “Bob” Dodge (Stevenson ’69)
The UCSC Library community mourns the passing of Robert “Bob” Dodge, who died peacefully at his home in Oregon in late November. A proud member of UCSC’s inaugural graduating class, Bob was a "Pioneer" in every sense of the word, helping to shape the spirit of Stevenson College and the campus at large.
A U.S. Air Force veteran and lifelong advocate for public service, Bob often described his years at UCSC as the most transformative of his life. He famously recalled the early days of living in trailers while the campus was still under construction and working at McHenry Library before its doors even officially opened.
Bob’s deep gratitude for his education fueled a legacy of generosity. Along with his wife, he established the Robert Dodge Student Service Award, which supports Stevenson students who partner with community organizations—a reflection of his own 27-year career with the Oregon Department of Family Services and his extensive volunteer work with public libraries.
"I felt that I needed to give back and make sure that others had the opportunities I had," Bob once shared. Through his support of McHenry Library and Stevenson College, he ensured that future generations of Banana Slugs would find the same inspiration and community that he discovered in 1965.
Bob’s kindness, dedication to service, and pioneering spirit will be deeply missed. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
Credits
Contributors: Kerry Scott, Alix Norton, Liz White, Sam Regal, Kelsey Know, Scott Hernandez-Jason, and Linda Hunt
Production: Linda Hunt
Photography: Alix Norton, Sam Regal, Elena Zhukova, Carolyn Lagattuta, Kevin Sully, Carol Dodge, and UCSC Campus Archives
Santa Cruz, CA
