The Community Archives Program at UCSC

November 26, 2025

I am writing today to let you know that due to the current campus budget crisis the University Library will be discontinuing the Community Archiving Program (CAP) in early 2026. Although we remain committed to community partnerships and ensuring that our students understand the import of their own lived history we no longer have the resources to devote a full time position to this work.

Launched in 2022 to seek out partnerships with community organizations and leaders to support the preservation of community history, with a particular focus on reaching out to traditionally underrepresented communities, the CAP has been a point of pride for both the Library and Special Collections & Archives at UCSC. Rebecca Hernandez, the first dedicated Community Archivist in the UC System, developed a well respected program, offering her expertise to community partners and working to strengthen relationships throughout the county in order to convey our belief that everybody’s story matters. We remain dedicated to those collections that have been donated to Special Collections under the auspices of the CAP and we will continue to care for them and make them available to the community. Although our presence within the community will change, Special Collections & Archives will continue to be a resource to our community partners and I remain dedicated to ensuring your stories are preserved and to engage our students in understanding their own impact on history.

Sincerely,
Teresa Mora
Head, Special Collections & Archives

Listening Tour Report

The 2022 Listening Tour Report summarizes the results of a listening tour conducted in Spring 2022 as the first step in planning for the new Community Archiving Program. The responses we heard as part of the listening tour will be used in developing and scoping a forthcoming 1-3 year plan for the program.

Download the full PDF at the link listed below.