Author: Lee Anne Titangos

March 1 – September 1, 2010
Rowell Cases (2nd floor corridor between Doe Library and Bancroft Library)

Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918) was a “literary industrialist” — bookseller, publisher, historian, author, and editor — who built the collection that is at the heart of our great library. This exhibition, together with the “Bancroft to the Core” exhibition in the Bancroft Gallery and a symposium in March 2010, celebrates the sesquicentennial of the library Bancroft began in 1860.

The documents, images, and other materials displayed here are drawn from the records of the Regents and presidents of the university, the departmental records of the University Libraries, and the papers and publications of Bancroft and others. They first recount the story of Bancroft’s early life, his relocation to California, and the development of his San Francisco business. They further trace the establishment and growth of his library, the negotiations that brought the landmark collection to the University of California in 1906, its subsequent expansion, and its move into newly renovated quarters in 2008.

The exhibit is open during the operating hours of The Doe Library.

March 5 – May 21, 2010
The Bancroft Corridor Gallery

Drawn primarily from library materials in the Gardner (Main) Stacks’ extraordinary collection of books, journals and official publications, the exhibit celebrates Portugal’s first centennial as a republic – Europe’s third oldest only to France and Switzerland. As is true of most national histories, much of the scholarship surrounding such an achievement remains accessible only through the vernacular languages of the respective countries, in this case Portuguese, the sixth most spoken language in the world.

In June, most of the exhibit will travel to the Portuguese Historical Museum in San José, California. See: http://www.portuguesemuseum.org/

The exhibit is open during the operating hours of The Bancroft Library.

October 4 – March 31, 2011
Rowell Cases, 2nd floor corridor between Doe & Bancroft Libraries
Open during the operating hours of the Doe Library.

In 1860, two seminal events in the history of the University of California occurred. In April of that year the trustees of the College of California, our predecessor, dedicated 124 acres for a new campus in a remote area north of Oakland (now Berkeley), and a modest formal ceremony was conducted at Founders’ Rock in what is now the northeast corner of the central campus. In June of the same year the faculty offered college-level courses to the college’s first freshman class on the existing campus in downtown Oakland. This exhibition, drawn from documents, manuscripts, diaries, maps, images and other resources of the University Archives and the University History Museum Project, celebrates the 150th anniversary of our origins through these key events.

March 1 – July 1, 2011
The Bancroft Rotunda Gallery
Open from 10am – 4pm, Monday through Friday.

This inaugural exhibition draws on art, artifacts, books, and archival materials from The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft Library, and the Levi-Strauss Archives to stretch the historical and geographic boundaries of San Francisco Jewish history, connecting the history of the Jews in Germany before 1849 to the establishment of the Jewish community in the San Francisco Bay in the second half of the 19th century.

The focal point of the exhibition is the renowned painting by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Lavater and Lessing Visit Moses Mendelssohn (1856), one of the most reproduced works in the Magnes Collection, often used to illustrate the cultural dialogue framing the social and cultural emancipation of the Jews in Germany. The decade in which this work appeared was pivotal for German Jews: their hopes for emancipation were challenged by the failed revolution of 1848-49, which also spurred emigration to the United States, including to San Francisco, where the Gold Rush provided new opportunities of social success and civic engagement.

April 8 – September 30, 2011
Rowell Cases (2nd floor corridor between the Doe and Bancroft Libraries)
Open during the operating hours of The Doe Library

For more than one hundred years images and symbols of the university have been represented in souvenirs and memorabilia created by the administration, alumni and student groups, intercollegiate athletics, the media, and marketing and commercial interests. Such objects — ranging from Wedgwood dinner plates and demitasse cups and saucers to watch fobs and charms, from commemorative pins and buttons to postcards and other pictorial images — have served to satisfy the nostalgia and devotion of the university’s alumni and to promote and build the Cal brand. This exhibition presents dozens of such items drawn from the University Archives and private collections.

April 15 – August 31, 2011
The Brown Gallery, Doe Library
Open during the operating hours of The Doe Library

Mrs. Hearst’s first gifts to the University in 1891 toward scholarships for women served to establish an enduring philanthropic relationship with the University that would lead to its transformation into the great educational institution that it is today. The Phoebe Apperson Hearst Plan provided not only for the construction of Berkeley’s core campus, but also for generous support toward its academic programs and departments. Materials from The Bancroft Library, including the University Archives and the Center for the Tebtunis Papyri, and from the Hearst Museum of Anthropology celebrate the legacy of one of California’s preeminent citizens and philanthropists.