Author: Lisa Weber

Over 140 years of Cal history are now available online, and browsable and searchable in the form of the “General Catalogue” (as it was known from 1961-2014), and the “Register of the University of California” (as it was known from 1870 – 1960).

This will be an invaluable resource to campus staff, faculty, students and the many alumni who need to transfer credits, demonstrate equivalency, or simply refresh their memories.

Or: it might turn you into an instant historian.  Casual browsers will find the 1871 edition listing all eleven faculty members, a page and a half of alumni, and all 153 students, along with their home towns.  Students were required to be at least 16 years old and to provide “satisfactory testimonials of good moral character.”  “Young ladies are admitted into the University on equal terms, in all respects, with young men.”

Tuition, of course was free.  Students were advised that they could obtain board and lodging with private families at $5 – $8 per week.  “No student is allowed to be a boarder in any hotel or house of public entertainment.,”  presumably in order to maintain the good moral character they had when they arrived.

A little searching will turn up such tidbits as the first mention of the “Southern Branch” (Los Angeles) or the “University Farm” (in “Davisville”); or such by-gone units as the Home Economics department or the College of Commerce.

Anyone interested in other resources about UC Berkeley history should peruse this guide to some basic resources about the campus.

Post submitted by Corliss Lee, Librarian