Sharon Perry, Special Collections Librarian, spoke with Jennifer Otte and Jie Tian about some of the many things that make University Archives & Special Collections a special part of Pollak Library.
Jie Tian: Would you give us some background regarding the establishment and mission of the University Archives and Special Collections?
Sharon Perry: The Founding University Librarian, Mr. Ernest Toy, established the University Archives and Special Collections in 1967, and thereafter hired the first Special Collections librarian, Linda Herman. The vision then was to create a special collection, allowing for special interest and tying in with special groups and/or benefactors. For example, with the Freedom Center, the Special Collections librarian wrote to different organizations to elicit materials representing different points of view regarding political, social and religious issues.
JT: What are some of the treasures of the University Archives and Special Collections?
SP:There are approximately 56 different collections in the University Archives and Special Collections. They all have points of interest. A few noteworthy ones include the science fiction manuscripts which include the manuscripts, periodicals, published editions, ephemera and related papers of Philip K. Dick and Frank Herbert, among others.
A small selection of a large collection of fresh water angling
books
The American Trade Bindings Collection is a collection of 5,000-plus volumes of commercial fiction and non-fiction published from the late Nineteenth Century through circa 1940 in the United States. There are approximately 500 foreign bindings as well. The illustrated cloth covers are very beautiful. Their collective content reveals what Americans were reading for recreational and educational purposes during that time period.
The Archives of Popular Culture includes a potpourri of motion picture and television scripts, marketing ephemera, posters/lobby cards, antique greeting cards, comic books, and big/little books.
The Kerridge Angling Collection is one of the largest collections of books in the United States focusing on fresh water fly-fishing. It includes many rare volumes of Sir Izaak Walton's Complete Angler beginning with the third edition of 1661, periodicals, two stuffed trout (one mounted), and other angling implements. It also includes a facsimile edition of Dame Juliana Berners' The Book of Saint Albans written in 1496.
Jennifer Otte: Is there any particular collection that has elicited an exciting or interesting story? For example, how did it originate? How was it used?
SP: Most of the collections represent an individual person's passion for an intellectual or cultural subject or a type of work. Some of the collections represent the intellectual and cultural activities and life's work of an individual.
Lady in the Dark, part of the Dr.
Fairfax Proudfit Walkup Theatre
Collection
For example, The Dr. Fairfax Proudfit Walkup Theatre Collection represents the rich personal and professional life of Dr. Walkup. She was born in Tennessee, the granddaughter of President James K. Polk. She was a graduate of Vassar, class of 1909.
After World War I and the end of a marriage, she came to California and became active in the Pasadena Playhouse community theatre and their school, where she served as dean of instruction during World War II. Amazingly, she went back to school and received her doctorate from the University of Utah at age 65.
Her area of expertise was costume design and children's theater. She worked in regional theater during her summer vacations doing costumes for large outdoor pageants throughout the 1940s-1950s. She was also a college professor in Utah, Arizona, and at the end of her career at California State University, Fullerton. She died in 1976.
She was also an expert on customs and manners throughout the world throughout history. She published a well received book on the topic entitled Dressing the Part. She also wrote several plays.
Her collection includes books, periodicals, correspondence, playbills, and teaching papers, and manuscripts, scrapbooks of gorgeous fashion plates from Nineteenth Century periodicals, actual costumes, authentic World War II military uniforms and dolls. Among the correspondence are wonderful letters written to her during World War II from former students who were serving in the Armed Forces.
This is just one example but almost every collection has such a story.
JT: If we take a retrospective view of University Archives and Special Collections, how would you characterize some major changes and developments in the last two decades or so?
Focusing on just our unit, I would say a slow but growing awareness on and off campus of our collections and their worth; but at the same time fewer resources have been available to devote to the unit.
In libraries in general, technology has played an important and exciting role in making special collections more accessible off site through Web sites and various digital projects.
We have not been able to do this yet because of lack of staff and resources but we are cataloging our backlog on the online catalog and this increases access to our holdings tremendously. Also, the Patrons of the Library support group and the Library have recently supported a pilot project on digitizing the pre-1900 rare maps in the Roy V. Boswell Collection for the History of Cartography.
JT: What additional staff and resources would you like to have? And how is it going to enhance the services of the University Archives and Special Collections?
SP:Ideally, I would like to have a full-time cataloger and a full-time library assistant. It would enable us to provide longer hours and get more behind-the-scenes things done. It would also help with the backlogs. Currently, we have ten to twenty thousand books in various collections that are not fully cataloged.
JO: What is a typical day like in the life of a Special Collections Librarian/University Archivist?
There are some constants but many variations depending on the time of year or semester.
A bit of local history
After opening the doors of the section and putting my personal things away I check my calendar for the day's scheduled activities, check for voice-mails, and check my e-mail for urgent matters.
Three hours a day, Monday-Friday, is spent providing service for walk-in patrons during the unit's open hours. Sometimes advance notice is given of what is needed; but usually I conduct an on the spot reference interview, determine what the patron needs and retrieve the items. As needed, I refer them to other areas or resources in the Library or off-campus. When patrons are finished, I re-shelve or re-file the materials. Three days a week, I am also on duty at the Reference Desk for a total of six hours. Sometimes I do follow-up work for a patron that I have met at the Reference Desk.
Around these service hours and during lulls between them, I process new materials or work on backlogs or create finding aids. I prepare for individual research appointments for the classes I teach. I answer regular correspondence or e-mails and return any telephone calls that came in while I was on duty. Every spring I teach a one-unit credit course Libra 302, Library Research Methods, for five weeks.
As do all faculty and staff, I attend section, library, campus and off-campus meetings, including in-service training and professional activities.
On my lunch hour, weather permitting, I usually walk around campus and while doing so I collect items for the University Archives such as the Daily Titan newspaper, posters, and other ephemera (whose expiration date has passed) or anything else that I can find that is distributed to the public pertaining to the campus and its activities.
I walk for exercise and health but it is also a way of finding material that would not be routinely sent or transferred to the University Archives. I do the same for the local history collection wherever/when life takes me off-campus.
JT: Who are the primary users of the University Archives and Special Collections? And how would you characterize some of the users or user groups?
We have a mixed clientele of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, and community members. The type of user varies depending on the collection being used. I would characterize the graduate students, faculty, staff, and community members as seasoned, sophisticated users who have some understanding of primary sources and the dedication to seek us out during our limited open hours. (Although I will make appointments outside of our open hours as my schedule permits).
The undergraduates tend to be somewhat inexperienced with the use of Special Collections. They are often referred to me by the Reference Desk, a teacher, or an entry in the card catalog. They are often disappointed that they cannot check material out of special collections. They always seem grateful for the assistance that I provide. I often find second copies or variants in the regular collection or electronic resources that will meet their needs and I always tell them to e-mail me if they have additional questions. We also have a Xerox machine in the unit.
JO: How does Special Collections/University Archives play a role in the Library and the larger campus community?
I think of the unit as a boutique library within a larger library serving the same variety of clientele and fulfilling the same mission.
The unit houses the institutional memory for the Library and the campus. The unit offers a margin of excellence through our unique collections, which was Founding University Librarian Ernest Toy's goal when he established Special Collections in 1967.
JT: In what ways have the social and cultural changes of the campus either aided or posed challenges for the emphasis and direction of University Archives and Special Collections?
I don't think that the social and cultural changes of the campus have posed challenges for the University Archives and Special Collections unit. Eventually, with proper funding for equipment and more trained personnel, the technological changes will help us greatly to reach out to a wider audience and allow us to share our special items with more people.
In terms of the diversity of the student, faculty and staff population on campus we have components in all of our collections that appeal to a broad spectrum.
Students with a variety of majors can use our collections for their own purposes. For example, last semester art students used an oversize volume in our cartography collection. This use was not for the atlas' maps and textual content about the history of a region but for its beautiful colored plates that illustrated native costumes of a particular place and time.
The Freedom Center of political propaganda is used by students researching political or social issues in other countries as well as the United States.
JT: The University is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Has the University Archives and Special Collections received special use on this occasion?
Yes, it has. This was also the situation during the 40th anniversary observance in 1999-2000. Many students and faculty/staff from different departments on campus worked on special projects for the 50th anniversary. They came over to see what the University Archives owned and arranged for copies of items that they wished to use. Sometimes they were checking factual information and I provided answers via e-mail or in-person. I also gave tours of the Archives to individuals and classes as requested. One history class worked on a building survey for the campus. I am serving on the historical sub-committee of the campus' 50th anniversary committee.
JT: The technological trend in information access and delivery has converted countless archival and special collection materials into digital format. What is your view regarding the digital conversion? What do you see as the value of "material culture" or "artifacts," say, as housed in a physical place vs. being accessed online?
A book in hand: An important part of the research
experience
I think both are important. I hope in time with more resources and expertise our unit can do more to enhance a digital environment. Patrons off-site often do not have the funds to travel to Fullerton for their research needs. At the very least, we can provide them with detailed inventories of manuscript holdings or comprehensive online library catalog entries for all of our collections.
Also, many special collections have wonderful photographs, posters, bindings, artifacts, and documents on their Web sites and I hope we can do that someday also.
But I also think having the physical book in hand is a very important part of the research experience. I remember vividly a blind student who came in to visit one day without a specific request. He just "wanted to touch history" or words to that effect and asked if I could bring out a rare book and just briefly describe it to him. It was a very moving experience and it reinforced what I believe about the importance of saving our collective culture in a physical as well as a virtual place.
JT: Is this trend going to "endanger" the Archives and Special Collections as a place, or the Library as a place?
Not necessarily. Digital access to these collections and information resources may introduce them to or make them available to people who would not have known about them or been able to access them in person.
JO: We are also interested in your personal story. Would you share with us your beginning as a librarian? And how did you get involved with University Archives and Special Collections?
I moved with my parents to Fullerton in time for my eighth birthday in 1954. I worked in my high school library (Sunny Hills class of 1964) before and after school and I decided to become a librarian. I attended California State University, Fullerton from 1964-1968 and studied history. After I graduated from library school at U.C.L.A. in 1969, I was hired as a full-time reference librarian (with the rank of junior librarian) by Founding University Librarian Mr. Ernest Toy.
I came home on the week-ends to do my laundry and see my parents and on the way back to U.C.L.A. on a Monday in March 1969 I stopped in at the library to fill out an application for employment. Things were simpler then. Mr. Toy rounded up the recruitment committee and they interviewed me on the spot and I went on my way. On the Friday of that week I received a written offer of employment upon my graduation. I accepted and started work here in July 1969.
In 1985 I was transferred to the University Archives and Special Collections unit by a different administrator who was at the University for about two years but made a lot of changes during that short time. I was sent for special archival training, also at U.C.L.A., and also learned a lot on the job.
JT: If you'd predict the crystal ball, what do you see as the expertise key to the next generation of archivists?
Knowledge of information technology will probably be one of the most important areas of expertise. They will need to know how to build Web sites, how to use the latest equipment on digitizing the collection; but I think they will also need the traditional skills as well. They need to have knowledge of conservation and know how to properly prepare and care for materials.
Jennifer Otte
Interlibrary Loan
Jie Tian
Associate Librarian