New TCA Archivist

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Polina Ilieva

David Krah

David Krah joins UCSF to work on processing collections in the Tobacco Control Archives. He will work alongside David Uhlich on processing state reports on tobacco control policy as well as the balance of unprocessed collections held in the Tobacco Control Archives.

David has a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University, with a concentration in Archival Studies. He has worked on archival projects with the California Historical Society, the San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Road & Track Magazine collection at Stanford University, and previously worked on the Ira Herskowitz papers and Lawrence Crooks Radiologic Imaging Laboratory records at UCSF.

He is a native Californian with interests in California history and transportation and livability issues. He enjoys composing and performing experimental and song-form music and cycling jauntily. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Nia and newborn daughter Thalia.

Tobacco Control Archive Processing Project

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Polina Ilieva

David Uhlich

The UCSF Archives recently received funding from the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education to catalog and process the Tobacco Control Archive collections and in particular the state reports materials that were compiled by Dr. Stanton Glantz’ research group while completing detailed histories of tobacco control policymaking and efforts by the tobacco industry to thwart these policies in 29 states.

Today I would like to introduce David Uhlich who just joined the archives team and will be working on the TCA processing project.

David holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University, and for the past 6 years has worked for the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. At the Bancroft, he was primarily responsible for processing political collections, and most recently led the project to process the papers of Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown.

Prior to this, David worked as an archivist at the Water Recourses Center Archives, the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, and the Tomales Regional History Center. He is a Certified Archivist and active member of the Society of California Archivists, where he currently serves as the Northern California chair of the Site Selection Committee.

David is a lifelong Californian, and for the past 8 years has lived in Marin County with his wife and two very large dogs.

New Volunteer in Archives

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Polina Ilieva

Please join me in welcoming our new volunteer, Henry Mac. He was born and still resides in San Francisco. Currently, he is in his last year of studies for the Master of Library and Information Science degree with concentration in Archival Science at San Jose State University, School of Library and Information Science. Henry holds a bachelor’s degree in History from San Francisco State University. Henry has a very busy work schedule: he is an Archives Intern (Pathways Program) at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at San Francisco and also an employee of several city libraries including San Francisco Public and San Mateo Public Library in the circulation department. In the last few years he conducted archival project work for the National Park Service at Yellowstone National Park and interned for the SFO Museum’s registration department.

His main objective for the UCSF volunteer internship is to gain on the job experience through project work and learn new techniques and processes from experienced archival staff. This position will allow him to gain exposure to the inner workings of an academic archive. In his application Henry mentioned that he “hopes to aid the staff in unearthing historical information that can be valuable to students, faculty and researchers at UCSF.”

When not at school or work, Henry likes to travel and collect antique furniture.

Henry will continue the project started by a previous intern and work on the inventory of biographical files. He will also process smaller collections and assist with digitization of images and documents chronicling the history of UCSF.

Preserving MRI Developments at UCSF

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Kelsi Evans

For the next year, I’ll be processing the records of the Radiologic Imaging Laboratory (RIL), 1969-2000. This laboratory pioneered advancements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and helped develop technology that’s now used in hospitals and clinics throughout the world. The collection showcases bioengineering in action and highlights the relationships among industry, research, and education at UCSF.

In process boxes from the RIL records.

RIL founder and electrical engineer Lawrence E. Crooks gifted the collection to the archives in the early 2000s. It includes over 80 cartons of material ranging from lab notebooks with early scan images to patient records and marketing presentations.

Lawrence Crooks lab notebook, 1979-1983. From the RIL records, MSS 2002-08

The material traces the RIL’s growth through different funding agencies and corporate affiliations, including Pfizer, Diasonics, and Toshiba. There are even some personal items, like photographs of lab members celebrating Mardi Gras during a conference in New Orleans!

In process marketing slides from the RIL records. The collection includes various image types, including slides, Polaroids of scan images, negatives, and photographs.

In process marketing slides from the RIL records. The collection includes slides, Polaroids of scan images, negatives, and photographs.

Currently, the collection is cataloged (MSS 2002-08) and has a preliminary inventory, though much of the material lacks intellectual control. My goals are to complete the collection’s processing, create a detailed online finding aid, and digitize a large portion of the material. I will also help curate an exhibit at the UCSF library and a companion online exhibit.

In process tapes from the RIL records. The collection includes various kinds of media, including tapes, floppy disks, and videotapes.

In process tapes from the RIL records. The collection includes tapes, floppy disks, and videotapes.

I’m really excited about the project and hope that it will help users better access the material. The collection is rich in research potential and I can’t wait to see the unique projects it inspires.

2014 Winter Holiday Closure

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Polina Ilieva

The Archives and Special Collections will be closed from Wednesday, December 23, 2014 through Thursday, January 1st, 2015. We will reopen on Friday, January 2nd.

Gingerbread version of The Anatomy of Human Body: Illustrated in One Hundred & Fifty Eight Plates by the UCSF Library 5th floor staff.

For our entry into the UCSF Library staff gingerbread house contest we used the pieces of the house to create a rare book in a cradle, specifically, we made a tastier version of Andrew Fyfe’s The Anatomy of the Human Body: Illustrated in One Hundred and Fifty Eight Plates, 1830, that we showed you earlier this fall on the blog

Happy holidays again! See you in the new year!

Got questions? October 30 Is #AskAnArchivist Day!

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Polina Ilieva

On October 30, archivists around the country will take to Twitter to answer your questions about any and all things archives! This day-long event, sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, will give you the opportunity to connect directly with archivists in your community—and around the country—to ask questions, get information, or just satisfy your curiosity.

Postcard depicting the Affiliated Colleges, San Francisco, California, ca. 1900s

We are eager to respond to diverse questions you have about archives and archival work. Not sure what to ask? Here are a few sample questions we commonly get…

•   Who was the first chancellor of UCSF?
•   When the university was officially named UCSF?
•   How to archive a website?
•   What’s the most unusual thing you’ve come across in your collections?
•   How can I see you collections?
•   How can I volunteer in the archives?
•   Can you help me digitize VHS tapes?
•   I have old dental school yearbooks, can I donate them to archives?

#AskAnArchivist is open to everyone—all you need is a Twitter account! To participate, just tweet a question and include the hashtag #AskAnArchivist in your tweet. Your question will be seen instantly by archivists around the country who are standing by to respond directly to you.
If your questions are specifically for the UCSF archives, be sure to tweet them to @ucsf_archives using the hashtag #AskAnArchivist on October 30th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
We may not know every answer right away, but we will get back to you after we’ve had the chance to do some digging.
The archives team will be on-hand to answer your questions. Click here to tweet.

The Anatomy of the Human Body: Illustrated by One Hundred & Fifty Eight Plates

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Maggie Hughes

We bring you some images from the rare book collection to kick off your October:

Fyfe, Andrew, The Anatomy of the Human Body… 1830, Tab. I.

I like to think of it as “Dancing Skeletons.” Doesn’t it look as though they’re mid-twirl?

Andrew Fyfe (1754-1824) was a Scottish anatomy professor at Edinburgh University where he lectured and performed dissections. He later went on to create anatomy textbooks and engravings. The above volume, The Anatomy of the Human Body: Illustrated in One Hundred & Fifty Eight Plates, was published after Fyfe’s death in 1830. It’s comprised solely of detailed engravings of human anatomy.

This book, along with 1,316 others, were digitized during the UCSF Google Books Project and is now available in full on HathtiTrust.

A few more– the thoracic cavity,

Fyfe, Andrew, The Anatomy of the Human Body… 1830, Tab. XVII.

teeth and jaw,

Fyfe, Andrew, The anatomy of the human body... 1830, teeth.

Fyfe, Andrew, The Anatomy of the Human Body… 1830, Tab. LXXII.

nerves and muscles on the neck and head,

Fyfe, Andrew, The anatomy of the human body... 1830, nerves.

Fyfe, Andrew, The Anatomy of the Human Body… 1830, Tab. CV.

the brain,

Fyfe, Andrew, The Anatomy of the Human Body… 1830, Tab. LII.

and last but not least, a child skeleton and skulls on books. Now, who is ready for Halloween?

Fyfe, Andrew, The anatomy of the human body... 1830, child skeleton.

Fyfe, Andrew, The Anatomy of the Human Body… 1830, Tab. XXVII.

Fyfe, Andrew, The Anatomy of the Human Body… 1830, Tab. IX.

100+ Years of UCSF Yearbooks Accessible Online: UCSF Partners with Google Books for Digitization Project

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Polina Ilieva

The UCSF library is an important UC contributor to the Google Books digitization project. Through the collaboration with the California Digital Library (CDL) digitization team 1,317 volumes from the general and rare book collections were scanned and uploaded to Google Books and HathiTrust, a central repository for digital books.

As part of this project, we also digitized the university publications (yearbooks, announcements, departmental newsletters). These materials are among the most heavily used in archives and requested not only by university departments, but also by people doing genealogical research and alumni. As a result, 460 of these volumes are now full-text accessible on Google Books and HathiTrust sites.

Chaff’98, v.2, yearbook of the College of Dentistry, University of California. College of Dentistry baseball team, 1897-98.

With hundreds of volumes digitized proper organization assures quick and efficient discoverability of these treasures by diverse users. With the help of HathiTrust colleagues at CDL and the University of Michigan, we set up two collections:

University of California, San Francisco collection

This collection contains books, pamphlets, UCSF University Publications, and yearbooks dating back from 16th century through 2000s held at the University of California, San Francisco Library and Special Collections.

UCSF University publications

This collection contains materials published by UCSF schools, programs, and research institutes (course catalogs, announcements, student publications, annual reports, newsletters, etc.) as well as yearbooks dating back from 1864 held at the UCSF Archives. Among them is “The Introductory address delivered by Professor H. H.Toland at the Toland Medical College, San Francisco on Monday, October 24, 1864.”

Please read the full story on the UC Libraries web site and CDL blog.

UCSF Library Google Books Team. Front row: Andy Panado, Polina Ilieva, Bea Mallek, Karen Butter. Back row: Eric Peterson, Art Townsend, Alberto Luna, Tyrone McCloskey, Don Ciccone, Bazil Menezes, David Campbell, Anneliese Taylor. Not pictured: Margaret Hughes, Julia Kochi, Bertha Hall, Lucy Friedland, Mark Zanandrea, David MacFarland, Alan Daniel, Jubeda Azam, Deborah Freeze, Susan Boone and Kirk Hudson.

About CDL
The CDL was founded by the University of California in 1997 to take advantage of emerging technologies that were transforming the way digital information was being published and accessed. Since then, in collaboration with the UC libraries and other partners, CDL assembled one of the world’s largest digital research libraries and changed the ways that faculty, students, and researchers discover and access information. In 2006, CDL and the University of California libraries partnered with Google on a project to digitize millions of books from the campus collections.

About HathiTrust
HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. It provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in copyright content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house partner institution initiatives. Launched in 2008, HathiTrust has a growing membership, currently comprising more than 90 partner libraries. Over the last six years, the partners have contributed more than 11 million volumes to the digital library. More than 3.7 million of the contributed volumes are in the public domain and freely available on the Web. For more information, visit the HathiTrust About page.

New Faces in Archives

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Polina Ilieva

Kelsi Evans

Kelsi Evans
Our new Assistant Research Archivist, Kelsi Evans who joined the archives team a month ago, will help with research and organization for several onsite and online exhibits, as well as processing, cataloging, digitization, and social media projects related to the University sesquicentennial. She will respond to reference requests relating to UCSF History and 150th anniversary, research and provide historical information for UCSF schools and departments. Kelsi will be contributing to the Archives blog and support Archives outreach programs.
She will also spend half of her time completing processing of the Lawrence Crooks Radiologic Imaging Laboratory Records and establishing the Lawrence Crooks Radiologic Imaging Technology Digital Collection.
Dr. Crooks’ collection provides insights into the history of the development and testing of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology. The material donated by Dr. Crooks is a major addition to the archives holdings and is treasured for its high scholarly value and ability to broaden research perspective. Some of these treasures are lacking intellectual control and have no or minimal descriptive data. The goal of this project is to create a detailed finding aid and digitize a sizable and significant part of this material to build a comprehensive on-line collection. The archives will produce an exhibit at the UCSF library showcasing the key documents and artifacts. Subsequently, an online companion exhibit will be built and will be accessible through the UCSF library site.
Kelsi holds a master’s degree in Archives and Public History from New York University and completed graduate coursework in American History at UC Santa Cruz. She has worked as an archivist in the Fales Library and Special Collections at NYU, the Foundation for Landscape Studies in NYC, and the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami. Additionally, she has planned events and coordinated volunteers for non-profit organizations, including Old Spanish Days Fiesta in Santa Barbara. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Kelsi has lived in the Bay Area for the past several years and enjoys California’s farmers’ markets and beaches.

Armani Fontanilla

Armani Fontanilla

This fall semester the UCSF Archives & Special Collections is hosting an intern from the University of San Francisco (USF) public history program. Armani is currently a senior at the USF majoring in History with an emphasis on European and Asian Studies. He is originally from San Jose, and has lived in California his entire life. After he graduates from USF, he hopes to be able to earn a teaching position at his old high school, Bellarmine College Preparatory, and eventually pursue a Masters. In choosing the UCSF archives through the USF internship program, he hopes to not only practice skills that can only be found through working at an established institution but to also enhance his ability to do archival work and explore history of Western medicine at the archives.
Armani is working on organizing and creating an inventory of biographical files. This frequently consulted collection includes CVs, newspaper clippings, obituaries, bio sketches of hundreds of UCSF researchers, clinicians, staff, and alumni. Armani will also assist with digitizing images and documents for the University sesquicentennial events.

Eric L. Berne exhibit marks the conclusion of the first phase of Eric Berne Papers Processing Project

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Polina Ilieva

The UCSF Archives & Special Collections would like to announce the opening of the new exhibit, “Eric L. Berne Archive: The Birth of Transactional Analysis.” This exhibit marks the conclusion of the first phase of the Eric Berne Archive Processing project.
Eric L. Berne (1910-1970) was a practicing psychiatrist, lecturer and author. Best known for his development of the theory of Transactional Analysis, Berne published dozens of scholarly articles in the field of psychoanalysis and was the author of eight major books, including the bestseller Games People Play.

Advertisements for Games People Play, the New York Times Book Review, August 14, 1966. Eric L. Berne papers, MSS 2005-08, box 4, folder 21 UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

The materials in the Archive were created by Dr. Berne (1910-1970) and by the organizations he founded: the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars (SFSPS) and the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA). The Archive holds Berne’s personal and professional papers, including correspondence, writings, notes, conference programs, administrative records, photographs, and audio-visual recordings.

In the past nine months (September 2013-May 2014) project archivist, Kate Tasker has been working diligently to process six existing collections and two recently added accessions. As a result of this effort six detailed finding aids for the Eric Bern Archive consisting of 77 boxes or 41.8 linear feet were added to the Online Archive of California. Kate also organized and compiled an inventory for the Eric L. Berne Rare Book collection that includes over 300 books from Berne’s personal library and copies of his published works. With the help of our cataloger, Bea Mallek, these volumes were added to the UCSF Library catalog and can be consulted in the Archives & Special Collections reading room.

Costume party, August 1959.Eric L. Berne papers, MSS 82-0, box 2, folder 10 UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

Another important achievement was the digitization of more than 400 unique documents, containing Eric Berne correspondence (including letters from significant figures such as Alfred C. Kinsey, Paul Federn, and Karl Menninger), writings, educational records, lecture drafts, announcements and publications from the SFSPS and the ITAA as well as photographs. The Eric L. Berne digital collection, an educational portal containing information about Eric Berne, his studies and writings is now accessible to researchers and general public worldwide.

Announcement card for the opening of Berne’s San Francisco office, undated. Eric L. Berne papers, MSS 2003-12, box 3, folder 4, UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

The exhibit highlights selected artifacts, photos and documents from the Eric L. Berne Archive at UCSF.
The visitors will be able to view Berne’s correspondence concerning the design and promotion of the board game “Games People Play” and a fully intact game set, edited typescript of his first book The Mind in Action, his glasses, an announcement about the opening of his practice in San Francisco, a selection of English and foreign language
editions of his book Games People Play and numerous photographs.

mss2005-08_4_20_gamespeopleplaygame_ca1967

Photograph of the components of the Games People Play board game, based on Eric Berne’s best-selling book of the same title. Eric L. Berne Papers, 1929-1970, MSS 2005-08, box 4, folder 20, UCSF Archives & Special Collections.

The Eric L. Berne Archive is housed in the UCSF Archives and Special Collections. Detailed processing and digitization for these materials were made possible by generous support from 23 TA Associations worldwide and many individual donors through the ITAA. The UCSF Archives will continue working with the ITAA and its supporters to secure funding for the digitization of additional items.
Please view the online companion for this exhibit on the UCSF library website.
The exhibit will be on view on the 5th floor of the Parnassus Campus Library, beginning August 8th, 2014.

Brought to Light

Stories from UCSF Archives & Special Collections

Category Archives: Projects