Current and former UCI students come into the reading room every day here at Special Collections, but it’s not very often we meet someone who was here as part of the first class!
Susan attended UCI as a freshman in the first year it opened in 1965, and came for a first visit back with her friend, Penelope. They spent the earlier part of the day walking around the campus, with Susan fascinated by the new buildings and campus changes. It was by chance that Susan and Penelope happened upon the Special Collections Reading Room. After looking at the Ed Ruscha exhibit outside the Reading Room on the 5th floor of Langson, a curious Penelope peeked inside, explaining that she was here to tour the campus with one of UCI’s first alumni, Susan.
They were thrilled to see our Early Campus Photograph Albums (AS-056) collection, which contains photos of UCI starting with the beginning stages of construction in 1959, through the first Commencement in 1969. Penelope was able to see that Susan wasn’t kidding about the changes – UCI has significantly grown and evolved in just under 50 years!
They were also very excited to find that our collection of yearbooks go all the way back to 1965. They flipped through the pages one by one, and sure enough, found Susan’s freshman year portrait inside!
Thanks for coming in, ladies!