It is through the support of our generous donors that the UCI Libraries can support the educational and research goals of the entire UCI community. Your support ignites student success, invigorates learning spaces, advances world-class research, inspires creativity and innovation, sparks imagination, and helps us explore our legacy.
Your generosity also allows us to present new and exciting educational exhibits and events such as the traveling exhibit Americans and the Holocaust, created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, which will be on display in Langson Library beginning February 2, 2022, and the related programs highlighting themes from the exhibit.
Your Support Preserves Our Legacy
Gifts of any amount play a vital role in our efforts to document and preserve our local history. Here are a few areas within the UCI Libraries that you can support in connection with this special exhibition.
Orange County Regional History Collection
Special Collections and Archives preserves and provides access to the UCI Libraries’ collections of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and other rare and special materials. The Orange County Regional History Collection houses materials that detail the cultural, social, political, religious, economic, racial, and environmental history of Orange County from the mission period through the present. We seek to document and acknowledge the complex and diverse histories of the region in a way that highlights its many communities.
Your support of Special Collections and Archives helps us in our goal to uncover and provide access to the historical records and cultural heritage of Orange County for research — providing scholars and community members with access to the broadest range of materials.
Digitization of Oral Histories of Orange County Holocaust Survivors and Liberators
From 1993 to 1995, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of Orange County recorded over 120 oral histories of Holocaust survivors and liberators living in Orange County, California. The project was led by Holocaust educator and survivor Jack Pariser, along with a team of 40 trained volunteers. VHS copies of these oral histories were donated to our Special Collections and Archives in 1995, but the interviews have never been digitized and made available for public viewing in their entirety.
In conjunction with the special traveling library exhibition, Americans and the Holocaust, the Libraries have prioritized the digitization of this remarkable collection of primary source oral histories unique to the Orange County region.
With your support of this project, the UCI Libraries will:
- Convert the oral history VHS video cassettes into an updated digital video accessible by researchers.
- Create and publish complete, full-text transcripts of the interviews.
- Catalogue the electronic records with keywords and descriptive metadata to make it easily discoverable by researchers around the world.
- Develop a finding aid, a document that researchers use to discover information, including detailed information on the collection’s provenance, scope, audio transcription, organization notes, and an outline of the collection’s content.
January 27 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and has been designated by the UN as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In 2022, the special traveling exhibit will open at the UCI Libraries just a few days after this annual day of remembrance.
In commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, you can honor someone special with a gift to our Honor with Books program. This program provides critical support for the acquisition of new print or electronic books to expand our collections in support of our role as a vital information resource for teaching and research on campus and throughout the community. In recognition of your gift, the Libraries will add a digital bookplate and recognition note bearing the name of your honoree to the catalog record of a book in the broad subject area of your choosing. A printed commemorative copy of the bookplate, along with the title and author of the book, will be mailed to you and your honoree.
To learn more about the UCI Libraries Honor with Books program, please visit lib.uci.edu/hwb.
The UCI Libraries Gateway Society is a generous group of people who value the Libraries’ role in inspiring members of UCI and the community to discover and create new knowledge. Support from the Gateway Society ensures the Libraries continued excellence and growth as a world-class institution serving the academic needs of the UCI campus and community.
Your support of the Gateway Society allows us to present engaging events and programs, like the upcoming series of events in connection with the traveling exhibit.
To learn more about the UCI Libraries Gateway Society and its benefits, please visit lib.uci.edu/gateway
For more information about special sponsorship opportunities, or to make a transformational gift to support special projects related to the exhibit, please contact Associate Director of Development, Angelica Simmons, at acsimmo1@uci.edu or (949) 824-3080.