Exhibitions & News
Join us on April 9th from 12-2 pm for the opening of our newest exhibition:
Gary Young, A Retrospective: Books, Broadsides, Prints & Ephemera at UCSC Special Collections and Archives
Gary will treat us to an artist talk and a tour of the exhibition.
Can't make the event? Stop by Special Collections and Archives during our open hours to view the exhibition!
Gary Young: A Retrospective Books, Broadsides, Prints & Ephemera
LOCATION: McHenry Library Special Collections & Archives
Showcasing the 50-year legacy of celebrated Santa Cruz poet, printer, and UCSC teacher Gary Young, this comprehensive retrospective shows Young’s masterful pairing of poetry and letterpress printing. For the last fifteen years, he has served as the director of the Cowell Press at UCSC, teaching printmaking and book arts to undergraduate and graduate students, guiding them to experiment with image and text as he himself has done for half a century. Young began printing in 1975, just after receiving his MFA in poetry from UC Irvine. That year, he started the Greenhouse Review Press, and as editor and publisher, he has designed, illustrated, and printed limited edition books, letterpress broadsides, and poetry trade book publications. A well-known book designer and illustrator, Young has done work for such publishers as the Princeton University Press, the University of Chicago Press, Stephen F. Austin State University Press, and many others. This exhibition features the full spectrum of print and bookmaking, from commercial trade books and handmade artist books to funny postcards with a goat—the Greenhouse Review Press mascot. His writing bears witness to the beauty within each passing day, whether it be in raising children, being out in nature, or even when longing for loved ones who have passed on. Gary Young is a poet and printer who believes that every poem is a prayer, every book of poems a sacred text, and printing is a sacramental trust. Yet, despite the elevated status of Poetry and Printing in his artistic vision, he says no one poem or woodcut is too precious not to cut or change if necessary. This stance comes from years of working with the letterpress, which not only transforms the poem into a tangible art object but also produces multiples of them. For the past fifty years, Gary Young has dedicated his life to poetry and printing, pairing text and image in artist books, posters, broadsides, cards, and invitations. Long overdue, this retrospective is a celebration of his lifelong devotion and advocacy of these two intimately conjoined art forms.
LOCATION: McHenry Library 3rd floor
Visit the 3rd floor of McHenry to view Cruzando Fronteras: De Dónde Venimos y Dónde Vamos, a new exhibition in Special Collections and Archives curated by UCSC student Benyamin Alfaro.
The word "borders" has come to dominate discussions about Latine people. In political discourse and personal narratives alike, this term is often an oversimplification, grouping all Latine individuals into a single, homogeneous identity. This does a great disservice to the diverse cultures, histories, and countries from which many of us and our families have journeyed. Cruzando Fronteras: De Dónde Venimos y Dónde Vamos (Crossing Borders: Where We Come From and Where We Are Going) seeks to correct this misconception by highlighting the unique stories and shared struggles of Latin American and Latinx communities as represented in UCSC Special Collections and Archives.
Through art, literature, and photography, the exhibit presents a rich tapestry of experiences that define Latin America and the Latinx diaspora. The items on display tell tales of independence and revolution, of creativity and community, and of hardship and hope. They honor the ways Latine individuals preserve traditions, challenge injustices, and carve out new paths while embracing their distinct identities.
As you explore the exhibit, reflect on how these stories connect to current conversations about immigration, cultural preservation, and social justice. What do the experiences displayed reveal about our collective past and our potential futures? How can we move forward together while celebrating the unique cultures that define us?
Cruzando Fronteras invites you to engage with these enduring narratives of resilience, creativity, and connection—stories that transcend borders and inspire us to move forward together.
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La palabra "fronteras" ha llegado a dominar las discusiones sobre las personas Latine. En el discurso político y las narrativas personales, este término se utiliza de manera simplista, agrupando a todos los individuos latinos en una identidad homogénea. Esto desmerece las diversas culturas, historias y países de los que muchos de nosotros y nuestras familias hemos venido. Cruzando Fronteras: De Dónde Venimos y Dónde Vamos busca corregir este concepto engañoso al destacar las historias únicas y las luchas compartidas de las comunidades Latinoamericanas y Latine representadas en las Colecciones Especiales y Archivos de UCSC.
A través del arte, la literatura y la fotografía, la exhibición presenta un rico tapiz de experiencias que definen América Latina y la diáspora Latine. Los objetos expuestos narran historias de independencia y revolución, creatividad y comunidad, dificultades y esperanza. Honran las formas en que las personas Latinas preservan tradiciones, desafían las injusticias y trazan nuevos caminos mientras abrazan sus identidades únicas.
Al explorar la exhibición, reflexiona sobre cómo estas historias se conectan con las conversaciones actuales sobre inmigración, preservación cultural y justicia social. ¿Qué revelan las experiencias expuestas sobre nuestro pasado colectivo y nuestros futuros potenciales? ¿Cómo podemos avanzar juntos mientras celebramos las culturas únicas que nos definen?
Cruzando Fronteras te invita a involucrarte con estas narrativas perdurables de resiliencia, creatividad y conexión: historias que trascienden fronteras e inspiran a avanzar juntos.
CART Fellow Jazmin Benton (Visual Studies) created this exhibition showcasing the many experiences of Black students at UC Santa Cruz from its establishment in 1965 through the present day. Benton spent dozens of hours leafing through archival collections including the J. Herman Blake papers, Merrill College records, and unprocessed university archives and ephemera, finding flyers, reports, photographs, and firsthand accounts of how Black students have experienced the campus and how the campus has responded (or not responded) to their needs.
In Benton's own words:
As this exhibition shows, official reports and initiatives from UCSC crop up repeatedly. Recruitment and retention efforts cycle through, failing to address the daily realities of Black life on UCSC’s campus. Black students throughout the years have faced similar barriers since the first handful of us were admitted. The narratives and documents listed here will show how students were subjected to conditions such as being the only Black student in their classes, not having the resources available to center their work around Blackness, and no recourse available when faced with racist behavior.
More than their Labor: Sites of Manong Labor and Leisure in the Pajaro ValleyCART Fellow Christina Ayson Plank (Visual Studies) is part of the project team for Watsonville is in the Heart, a public history initiative led by Dioscoro Recio, Jr. from The Tobera Project and UCSC faculty and students, including professors Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez and Steve McKay. Christina's exhibit highlights audio recordings and photographs documenting the plight, struggles, vitality, and resilience of the manong generation of Filipino migrants who first settled in the Pajaro Valley in the early twentieth century. More than their Labor offers a glimpse into the full lives of these families and identifies geographical spots they often frequented around the Pajaro Valley.
Viva los Libros: Latinx Artist Books in UCSC Special CollectionsKatie Ligmond (Visual Studies) created this digital exhibit to showcase, analyze, and compare a selection of artists' books within UCSC's Special Collections & Archives that are created by Latinx artists, authors, publishers, and communities.
The five books featured are The Book of Sand/El Libro de Arena, Everything I Kept/Todo lo que Guardé, Codex Espangliensis: from Columbus to the Border Patrol, Incantations by Mayan Women, and El Alfabeto Animado/The Lively Alphabet/Uywakunawan Qelqasqa.
seeds and whispers: a glimpse into the Karen Tei Yamashita Papers Anny L. Mogollón (Literature PhD student and Fellow in the Center for Archival Research and Training) utilized the papers of Karen Tei Yamashita (MS 465) to create an exhibit exploring "the question of how...how did the author write this? And perhaps too, how long did these stories haunt them before they were set down on paper." Yamashita is an author, playwright, and UCSC professor known for her works of Asian American literature and magic realism, including I Hotel (2010) and Tropic of Orange (1997), both of which Mogollón explores in this exhibit through early drafts, photographs, and research materials from Yamashita's papers.
Another Renga Eric Sneathen (Literature PhD student and Fellow in the Center for Archival Research and Training) wrote this essay reflecting on his time using archival materials, and the distance felt during the COVID-19 pandemic. He used Out in the Redwoods, a collection of oral histories documenting the LGBTQ experience at UC Santa Cruz from 1965-2003, as a starting point in his reflections. Sneathen also wrote a poem during his fellowship, which will be printed and bound, and available in the Special Collections reading room.
"If I had to live my life over again, I would be a botanist": John Cage's Mycology CollectionJoseph Finkel (Musicology PhD student and Fellow in the Center for Archival Research and Training) tells the story of John Cage's interest in mushrooms and its connections with his career as a composer and artist. Finkel also recounts the history of how the John Cage Mycology collection (MS 74) at UC Santa Cruz came to be part of Special Collections & Archives. He used archival materials and books from this collection, among other sources, to complete this multimedia project
Curated by Brock Stuessi (musicology graduate student and Fellow in the Center for Archival Research and Training), Echoes of Seema is a creative rearrangement of the Sara Halprin interviews of Seema Weatherwax collection. The multi-media exhibit includes original musical compositions by Brock Stuessi which he collaged with selections of audio recordings of interviews with Seema. These audio compositions are arranged alongside examples of Seema's own photographic work, as well as photos taken of Seema and her friends and family.
Michael Conlee, a senior majoring in Sociology and Art History at UCSC, has completed his HAVC service-learning practicum with the Library's Special Collections & Archives.
For his practicum, he chose to create a digital scholarship project on the theme of prison abolition and Bay Area histories of related activism. He worked with Bettina Aptheker's archive, photography by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones, and other visual collections from Special Collections & Archives.
Seeds of Something DifferentCreated as a companion for Seeds of Something Different: An Oral History of the University of California, Santa Cruz, edited and published by the UCSC Library's Regional History Project, this exhibit features an array of photographs, oral history clips, posters, and other archival objects that reveal the richness of UCSC's archival collections. Do you have stories and documents to add to the history? Please visit the exhibit and submit your materials for curation. Curated by Alessia Cecchet (graduate student, Film & Digital Media).
Songs of Labor & Transcendence: The Trianon Press ArchiveExplores the breadth of a renowned Paris-based press’s publications and the painstaking processes used to make them. Their books include astonishing facsimiles of work by artists such as William Blake and Marcel Duchamp, as well as books documenting prehistoric rock paintings of sub-Saharan Africa and early European art and architecture. Curated by Jessica Calvanico, Morgan Gates, Hannah Newburn, and Nicholas Whittington, 2018-2019 Fellows in the Elisabeth Remak-Honnef Center for Archival Research and Training.
Inquiring Into Other Minds: The Cultivation of Experimental Music in the Bay Area and BeyondChronicles the evolution of Other Minds (OM), a Bay Area music non-profit devoted to promoting new and experimental music from around the world. Using the organization’s archives, the exhibit traces early activities of co-founders Charles Amirkhanian and Jim Newman to establishment of the OM Festivals, high-profile productions, audio recording preservation efforts, and significant contributions to Pacifica Radio’s KPFA 94.1 FM. Curated by Madison Heying and Jay Arms, 2017-2018 Fellows in the Elisabeth Remak-Honnef Center for Archival Research and Training.
Celebrating Innovation and Public Engagement at UC Santa CruzHighlights the ways that four distinctive collections from the University Archives -- Prof. Raymond F. Dasmann’s papers as well as the records of Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the Feminist Studies Department, and the Women of Color Research Cluster -- each reveal facets of UCSC’s identity as a public university with connects within the university community, with the city of Santa Cruz and state of California, and across the globe. Curated by Alina Ivette Fernandez, Megan Martenyi, LuLing Osofsky, Alex Ullman, and Maggie Wander, 2016-2017 Fellows in the Elisabeth Remak-Honnef Center for Archival Research and Training.
Pictures and Progress: the Black Panther 1966-2016Featuring posters by Emory Douglas, photographs by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones, and over forty comic books, this exhibit considers the role of women in the Black Panther Party alongside portrayals of the Black Panther character and of African Americans in the second half of the twentieth century. Curated by crystal am nelson, Cathy Thomas, and Kiran Garcha, PhD students at UCSC.
Reading Nature, Observing ScienceExamines the Lick Observatory Records and the Kenneth S. Norris Papers through the historical construct of the "book of nature,” and questions how science has treated nature as a text. Curated by Danielle Crawford, Alex Moore, and Christine Turk, 2015-2016 Fellows in the Elisabeth Remak-Honnef Center for Archival Research and Training.
Activism in the Archives: Radical Imaginaries of the 1960s and 1970sDrawing on the papers of Ruth-Marion Baruch, John Thorne, and Karen Tei Yamashita, three key cultural figures with roots in northern California who are united by their dedication to cultural and political activism and their involvement in and/or relationship to the social justice movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s: the Black Power, Flower Power, Red Power, and Yellow Power movements. Curated by crystal am nelson, Melissa Eriko Poulsen, and Samantha Williams, 2014-2015 Fellows in the Elisabeth Remak-Honnef Center for Archival Research and Training.
Chancellor Dean McHenry, the Political Mastermind behind UC Santa CruzExplores how founding UCSC Chancellor Dean McHenry's experience in California politics from the 1930s to the 1950s, including his participation in Upton Sinclair's 1934 End Poverty in California (EPIC) gubernatorial campaign and his key role in authoring the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, helped him develop the savvy and political acumen to create and lead a boldly experimental campus of the University of California.
Love on Haight: The Grateful Dead and San Francisco in 1967Virtual Tour of the Exhibit
Digital Exhibit
Examines the different modes of representation -- press, literary happenings and publications, photography, and music -- that translated and transformed the Summer of Love from a hippie movement in San Francisco to a nation-wide spectacle with the Grateful Dead as the house band. Curated by Mary deVries, Kate Dundon, Janet Young, and Elizabeth Remak-Honnef.
Put Your Gold Money Where Your Love Is, Baby: Counterculture, Capitalism, & the Grateful DeadVirtual Tour of the Exhibit
Explores how the band invented, improvised, redefined, and pioneered business practices that revealed new ways of thinking about work, about being in business, and about the relationship between creators and their communities. It draws on the newly processed business records of the band. Curated by Jessica Pigza, Alix Norton, and Gabriel Saloman Mindel (2017-2018 Fellow in the Elisabeth Remak-Honnef Center for Archival Research and Training).
The land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.
The land acknowledgement used at UC Santa Cruz was developed in partnership with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band Chairman and the Amah Mutsun Relearning Program at the UCSC Arboretum.
Santa Cruz, CA