Western Publishing & Novelty Co. University of California at Los
Angeles, Westwood Hills, California [color postcard]. Los Angeles, 1930s?
Number at head of title: 838; code: 5A - H367.
In: Collection of California
postcards, 1890 - . Collection 1351. Box 17
Lawrence Clark Powell, 1906 - . "The Function of Rare Books." A paper read before the College Sub-Section of the Association of College and Reference Librarians at the American Library Association Conference, San Francisco, June 1939. Typescript (carbon). 18 leaves [photo copy first leaf]. Published in: College and Research Libraries. v.1 no.1 (December 1939), 97 - 103. URL Z 671 C68
Powell was among the first librarians to theorize about rare books and special collections. In this article Powell makes a virtue out of the difficulties of collecting for a new institution such as UCLA: "Rather than competing vainly with the rich university library in amassing collections of ancient and expensive rarities, the college [or university] library might well concentrate on the contemporary field. They would find it both inexpensive and exciting."
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University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Photographic Service?
Lawrence Clark Powell at his desk. ca. 1950. Black and white photograph, printed from negative. University Archives |
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When Goodwin retired in 1943, Powell was appointed University Librarian and Director of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. In 1946 Powell hired Neal Harlow to work in Acquisitions and to plan Special Collections. Powell founded the Dept. in 1947. |
Lawrence Clark Powell, 1906 - . "Rare Books Code." In: College & Research Libraries. v.10 no.3 (1949 July ), 307 - 308 [photo copy, page 307]. "Rare Books in the University Library" issue. URL Z 671 C68
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Dedication of the Rare Book Rooms and Special Collections [invitation]. Los Angeles, 1950.
1 folded leaf. University Archives
The Dept. was not housed separately until rooms were built in the west wing of what is now the Powell Library Building in 1950. This invitation notes that "for the first time the Library possesses adequate facilities for the maintenance and public use of rare books, manuscripts, archives, and related materials."
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Dedication of the Rare Book Rooms [program of speakers giving papers]. Los Angeles, 1950. 1 leaf. University Archives
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Rare Books and Research. Addresses given at the dedication of the Department of Special Collections, July 28, 1950. Los Angeles, 1951. Designed by Ward Ritchie, Los Angeles. Contents: Introduction by L. C. Powell.-Remarks on rare books, by H. R. Wagner.-The collector of rare books, by G. L. Harding.-Rare books and research in history, by J. W. Caughey.-Rare books in a university library, by J. T. Babb.-The prevalence of riches, by Neal Harlow. University Archives. Cataloged copy URL Z987 C129r
The use of two terms - rare books / special collections - for the Department shows that there was no agreed upon term for such departments and that they were still meant to appeal to book collectors. But the title of the volume stresses research as the reason for such collecting alongside the other needs of a public institution of higher learning and its faculty and students.
Speakers were chosen to represent these diverse views, with Wagner perhaps the most distinguished collector of rare books in southern California at that time. Ewing and Caughey were each then younger faculty working with Powell to build the Library. Babb, librarian of Yale University, represented the east coast establishment. Neal Harlow gave details of collections recently donated and on display. Some of these collections were: the library of former Provost Ernest Carroll Moore, papers of Provost Clarence Dykstra, papers of Regent Edward A. Dickson, proofs given by Christopher Isherwood, papers of Franz Werfel given by Alma Mahler Werfel.
| University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Photographic Service? [Left to right]: Wilbur Smith, Majl Ewing, and Bradford Booth. 1950s. Black and white print, copied from negative. University Archives | |
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Bradford E. Booth, UCLA professor of English, had met Michael Sadleir, English collector of Victorian fiction, about 1945. Sadleir's collection was offered for sale in 1950. By 1952, Powell had obtained money from the UC Regents to purchase the collection for $65,000. Wilbur Smith and ensuing Dept. Heads and curators of books have added to the collection. The rooms named for Booth and Smith are sometimes opened for Dept. lectures and functions. |
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Guide to Special Collections in the Library of the University of California at Los Angeles. Los Angeles, 1958. UCLA Library occasional papers no. 7. Foreword signed: Lawrence Clark Powell. Special Collections Z733 C15 C12g. Copies in YRL and elsewhere
This project was begun by James V. Mink, later to head the Dept.
The foreword gives a concise history by Powell and his concise statement of purpose of the Dept.: "to conserve material and to serve scholars."
This guide attempted a complete list of collections, which shortly after this time became impossible. It was never again attempted. The Dept. has reported collections to NUCMC and has only recently converted manuscript records to MARC records, and in addition some manuscript collections finding aids appear on the California Digital Library on line. But these do not for the most part include the thousands of individual manuscripts and prints and photographs not appearing in the finding aids as part of larger collections.
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Dept. of Special Collections. Department of Special Collections [brochure / guide]. Los Angeles, Spring 1973. Written by Brooke Whiting and the staff. Designed by Marian Engelke. University Archives
This states "the Department has moved recently into new quarters on Floor A of the University Research Library. In this modern facility a spacious reading room ... is provided for the exclusive use of those using its collections." Also shown is this guide as reissued in 1981 with minor additions and redesigned by Engelke.
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Dept. of Special Collections [Brochure / guide]. Los Angeles, [1991]. Written by David S. Zeidberg and the staff. Designed by Ellen Watanabe. University Archives
The first significant revision of the description of the holdings and services since that done almost twenty years previously in 1973. Further collecting categories were designated.
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Dept. of Special Collections. Guide to the Department of Special Collections. Los Angeles, c1998. "The 50th aniversary of the Department 1950 - 2000." Revised from the previous guide by the staff under the general direction of Susan M. Allen. Designed by Stephen S. Kunishima. Available free of charge in the Dept.
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