UC History Journal Debuts
Marking the anniversary of the ’06 earthquake, a new campus publication made its debut April 18 at Cal Day: Chronicle of the University of California - A Journal of University History.
Appropriately, the first issue’s theme is “Alarums and Diversions: Disasters at Cal.” It includes an article on South Hall and seismic safety in 1870 by Stephen Tobriner, professor of architectural history; eyewitness reports of the ’06 earthquake by the dean of women and the 1923 fire by physics professor Raymond Birge; and articles on Jack London’s and George Stewart’s choice of the campus as a setting for science fiction.
The Agriculture Building burning on April 16, 1897, from Chronicle of the University of California,
|
The debut of this semi-annual journal also marks the centennial and carries on the traditions of The University of California Chronicle, published from 1898 to 1933, which included articles on faculty research and campus events, original writing, and plenty of photos and illustrations.
The new Chronicle, born in a Townsend Center for the Humanities working group — “The Life and Times of UC Berkeley” — was the brainchild of Carroll Brentano, coordinator of the university history project at the Center for Studies in Higher Education. She was joined by others devoted to preserving and passing on Cal’s history, including university archivist emeritus Jim Kantor, current archivist Bill Roberts, and Germaine LaBerge and Ann Lage from Bancroft’s Regional Oral History Office.
The first issue of the reborn Chronicle runs an impressive 136 pages with plenty of illustrations. Chancellor Berdahl picked one up at Cal Day, promising to use it in his UC history freshman seminar fall semester.
Says managing editor Brentano: “We actually wanted a UC history museum, but we couldn’t get the space or the money. Meanwhile, we have this publication to promote research in university history and encourage preservation of the university’s past.”
Even though the first issue covers only Berkeley, “we want to cover the entire UC system,” says Brentano. “We’re looking for writers on other campuses.”
The theme of the second issue, due out this fall, will probably be women.
The Chronicle of the University of California was published with the support of The Bancroft Library, the Townsend Center, the Center for Studies in Higher Education, and the Graduate Assembly. Copies are $12 each or $24 for a subscription.
For more information, contact Carroll Brentano at 643-9210 or e-mail cbrentan@socrates.berkeley.edu
Jean Stone Honored at Annual Meeting
 Jean Stone received the Hubert Howe Bancroft Award on April 18. |
On Cal Day, which also saw the 51st annual meeting of the Friends of The Bancroft Library, Jean Stone, widow of author Irving Stone, ’23, LLD ’68, was awarded Bancroft’s highest honor: the Hubert Howe Bancroft Award. Jean Stone collaborated with her husband as researcher and editor on 18 seminal biographical novels, which repeatedly brought the Stones to Bancroft. Irving Stone dedicated every one of his books to Jean Stone, and in 1982 she was honored by P.E.N. with the Maxwell Perkins Award for editing. A devoted Cal alumnus, Irving Stone edited There Was Light (1970), a collection of essays about Berkeley by notable alumni, including one of his own. It was republished in 1996, updated and edited by Jean Stone. |
In 1996 Jean Stone funded creation of the Jean and Irving Stone Seminar Room in Bancroft — a marvelous and now heavily-booked study space.
There students are in the presence of The Stone Wall — Jean Stone’s collection of the many editions and translations of Irving Stone’s work from all over the world, complemented by part of his remarkable research library. Jean Stone has also established an endowment at Bancroft to support the collecting of biography and history.
New Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting
Thanks to the generosity of Kenneth Hill of San Diego and Albert Shumate of San Francisco, starting this fall Bancroft will offer an annual prize for the best book collection by an undergraduate.
Both Hill and Shumate are long-time members of the Friends of The Bancroft Library and consummate collectors. Hill has built four world-class collections in fields ranging from Pacific voyages to meteorology. Shumate, who still lives in the San Francisco house in which he was born in 1905, has one of the finest private collections of Californiana in the world.
The Hill-Shumate prize will be awarded to a Cal undergraduate whose collection (of books and other printed materials, ephemera, manuscripts, etc.) best exemplifies the breadth of vision, ingenuity, and contribution to intellectual and cultural history that characterize the collections of Hill and Shumate.
Volume 113
Fall 1998
Table of Contents
"Sinners & Pilgrims" Colonel Denny’s Journal and Photo Album
From the Director: Students in Bancroft?
Ovid’s Metamorphoses Metamorphosed
Bonnie Hardwick Follows Her Passions
Rube Goldberg: An American Genius
William P. Barlow, Jr.—A Friend Indeed
Plumbing the Depths of the Spring Valley Water Company
Basketball? At Bancroft? The Oral History of Pete Newell
Jean Stone Honored at Annual Meeting
New Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting
