Specialized Libraries & Archival Collections History Page

History
The first gift of rare books to the USC University Libraries dates to 1911, making the University of Southern California the earliest institutional collection of rare books in Los Angeles. Gifts have continued to be received steadily over the years. Systematic buying and opportunity purchases have added to our holdings, which now number to 130,000 volumes, and include rare book collections formerly maintained at the Hoose Library of Philosophy, Villa Aurora, and the Hancock Library of Biology and Oceanography.

The USC Department of Special Collections was organized in 1963 in the Doheny Memorial Library, room 209, under the leadership of Dr. Robert Knutson, who served as head of the Department until 1987. Special Collections gathered up the rare book and manuscript collections that had previously resided throughout the Doheny Memorial Library. These collections included the large American Literature Collection, a Cinema collection (including screenplays), maps, World War posters, and an oral history collection. The stated function of Special collections was "to maintain, conserve, acquire and preserve materials of research value which cannot be served adequately or circulated, with full and firm control, through usual library routines."

Upon Dr. Knutson's retirement in 1987, the Department of Special Collections and the Cinema-TV Library were split administratively. Victoria Steele served as the Head of Special Collections from September 1988 through May 2000. In the latter year, Specialized Libraries & Archival Collections was formed with the melding of Boeckmann Center for Latin American and Iberian Studies, the East Asian Library and the Department of Special Collections. The current Director is Marje Schuetze-Coburn.

Headquartered on the second floor of the Doheny Memorial Library, Specialized Libraries and Archival Collections occupies a distinguished suite of rooms created in 1995 by the Los Angeles firm of Fields & Devereaux in collaboration with USC Campus Architects.

•    Lloyd Arvidson 1949 - 1966
•    Glenn Bunday     1966 - 1976
•    Heddy Richter     1976 - 1981
•    William Jankos     1981 - 1986
•    Loss Glazier     1986 - 1988
•    John Ahouse    1990 - 2005

The collecting philosophies of the various curators differed. Some favored a comprehensive approach, others more of a high-spot approach. Some favored only fine first editions; others favored any edition to no edition. Loss Glazier focused on the acquisition of poetry manuscripts and small press poetry books.

The Feuchtwanger Memorial Library was given to the University of Southern California by Marta Feuchtwanger, the widow of the German exile writer, Lion Feuchtwanger. In all, the Library contains nearly 30,000 volumes. Some 8,000 of the rarest books are housed on the USC campus, while 20,000 volumes remain on long-term loan at the Feuchtwanger's former residence, Villa Aurora, in Pacific Palisades.

Lion Feuchtwanger (1884-1958) fled Europe during World War II and lived in Los Angeles from 1941 until his death in 1958. He began his literary career as a theater critic and turned his talent to writing plays in the 1910s and 1920s. He first became internationally known, however, for his historical novel Jud S�ss published in 1925. During his seventeen years in Southern California, he wrote primarily historical fiction including: Waffen f�r Amerika also called Die F�chse im Weinberg (1947-48; Proud Destiny), Goya oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis (1951; This is the Hour, a Novel about Goya), Spanische Ballade also called Die J�din von Toledo (1955; Raquel, the Jewess of Toledo), and Jefta und seine Tochter (1957; Jephta and his Daughter). Feuchtwanger's library reflects his interests in different historical periods and contains several noteworthy smaller collections of primary and secondary sources focusing on such subjects as Greek and Latin classics, Jewish and biblical history, the Enlightenment, French Revolution, German literature, and exile literature.

Unique on the West Coast, the Boeckmann Center was established in 1985 with generous support from Mr. and Mrs. Herbert F. Boeckmann II and encouragement from faculty with related instructional and research interests. The Boeckmann Center serves as a link between the library's collections and services and the scholarly activities of faculty and students in the areas of Iberian, Latin American and Chicano/Latino studies. The Center's materials include an 80,000 volume donation from Mr. and Mrs. Boeckmann and several smaller distinguished collections, including the Luis Andres Murillo Cervantes Collection and the Radell and Lorente Cuban and Cuban Exiles Studies Collections.

The East Asian Library and Korean Heritage Library is based on the University’s Chinese and Japanese collections built over the last 60 years and that have grown largely along the lines of faculty research interests, supplemented by some signal donations over the years. Notable among these have been the Peter Suski “Oriental Culture Nucleus,” composed of more than 1,600 volumes of books on ancient forms of Chinese characters, and the Theodore H.E. Chen Collection. The Chen Collection grew out of Chen’s personal library of materials relating to Chinese education and politics gathered during his years (1938-1972) at USC as a professor of education and chairman of the department of Asian studies. In 1986, the Korean Heritage Library was formally established as a component of the East Asian Collection, signaling the university’s intent to build the preeminent library for the study of Korean culture and society in North America. The Library moved into its present home in 1999.

The Hancock Natural History Collection comprises approximately 78,000 volumes of books and periodicals published between 1525 and 1944. Most of the collection was acquired by Captain G. Allan Hancock with his purchase of the Boston Society of Natural History library in 1944. The Collection and the Hancock Foundation Archives were transferred to SLAC in 1997.

The Regional History Collection was created by Emeritus Professor of History Doyce Nunis in 1977 as the "Regional Cultural History Collection." Dr. Nunis wrote of his goals in establishing the collection as follows:

My first objective was to build a major archival holding in the field by recruiting the papers of outstanding USC alumni and southern [sic] Californians from various walks of life and professions. I particularly wanted to emphasize the collection of the papers of political figures...

A second objective was to fashion when time and money were opportune a center for Regional Cultural History Studies. This was to have been tied into the various disciplines, notably history and politica1 science, and would serve as a major attraction for graduate research as well as faculty research. The collections could also be used to help train budding archivists.

A third objective was to build an oral history program.

In sum, I was hoping to build a major depository on the history of southern California.

Dr. Nunis ceased to be actively involved in the collection in 1985. Curator Gary Bryson was appointed as his successor, and remained for approximately three years, leaving in 1989. The name of the collection was modified in 1989. Dace Taube has been in charge of the Collection since 1989.

The University Archives begun in the fall of 1938 by librarian Myrtle G. Hart in a caged area of the Doheny Memorial Library stacks. The first University Archivist, Paul Christopher, was appointed in 1977 and supervised the move of the Archives to its current location in the East Library Building in 1988.