Special Collections - Anteater Antics

Early UCI Campus

Jerry Brown at UCI in 1974

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Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown, Jr. started his third (non-consecutive) term as Governor of California this month. Jerry Brown has been on the UCI campus several times, including his first visit on April 3, 1974 when he gave a speech in Humanities Hall 161 (below). Brown was California’s Secretary of State then. The primary elections for California governor took place on June 4, 1974, with Brown winning the Democratic nomination. The California gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1974. Brown won with 50.11% of the vote, over Houston Flournoy with 47.25%. He was only 36 years old when he became California’s 34th Governor on January 7, 1975. He was 72 when he started his third term on January 3, 2011.

AS-061. University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, the U.C. Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company

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Big Brother & the Holding Company played for a dance in Campus Hall (now Crawford Hall) on Friday, September 27, 1968. Morning Glory was the opening band and lights were by Thomas Edison & Castle Lighting. Tickets were $3.50.  The New University called Big Brother “San Francisco’s only true heavies.”

AS-061.  University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, the U.C. Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

F. Sherwood Rowland, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995

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F. Sherwood Rowland (UCI), Mario J. Molina (MIT) and Paul J. Crutzen (Max-Planck-Institute) were awarded jointly the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone.” In his Nobel lecture on December 8, 1995, Professor Rowland said: “When Mario Molina joined my research group [at UCI] as a postdoctoral research associate later in 1973, he elected the chloroflourocarbon problem among several offered to him, and we began the scientific search for the ultimate fate of such molecules. At the time neither of us had any significant experience treating chemical problems of the atmosphere, and each of us was now operating well away from our previous areas of expertise.”  Mario Molina has said of that period, “Three months after I arrived at Irvine, Sherry and I developed the ‘CFC-ozone depletion theory.’ At first the research did not seem to be particularly interesting….” 

Over twenty years later, in the Press Release from the Nobel Foundation announcing the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Nobel Foundation stated: “Thanks to our good scientific understanding of the ozone problem — and very largely to Crutzen, Molina and Rowland — it has been possible to make far-reaching decisions on prohibiting the release of gases that destroy ozone.” 

The photograph below is of Rowland (left) and Molina (right) in Rowland’s lab at UCI in the mid-1970s.  The photograph is from the F. Sherwood Rowland Papers (MS-F029), which is being processed now and will be available for research in 2011.



MS-F029. F. Sherwood Rowland Papers. Special Collections and Archives, the UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

First UCI Bookstore

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Ever feel frustrated standing in line to buy new books and supplies in the UCI Bookstore in the first few weeks of a new year? Imagine what it was like in 1965 at the first UCI Bookstore:

AS-061.  University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Chancellor Aldrich and Joyce Nash, who lived at the Bonita camp before the campus was built

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Note: We occasionally make an error in our analysis of a historical photograph. Yes, it’s rare, but it does happen! The original story we posted identified the young woman in this picture as Joan Irvine Smith. The original image was from a slide in our archives, and the slide frame included a hand written note which read “Chancellor Aldrich and Joan Irvine Smith. February 14, 1964.” Our original story was posted on August 16, 2010. The blog post stayed as it was for almost four years, without any feedback indicating that an error had been made. In 2014, two things happened that help clarify who really was in this photograph: 1) we gave a copy of the photograph to Joan Irvine Smith, to which she responded: “That’s not me. I have no idea who that is, but it’s not me.” How embarrassing was that! Then on September 27, 2014, we received the following comment on our blog: “The lady in the picture is my mother Joyce Nash. The horse is our horse Ginger and the dog was our German Shepard Lady. Mom was not an Irvine sister. We lived on the ranch and when the college was built we had to move. We lived in the house at Bonita camp.” Our mystery was finally solved! Although we remain very grateful for our anonymous respondent, we would very much like to talk to Joyce Nash’s daughter about life at Bonita camp. This piece of UCI history would be very interesting to know more about. Please contact us at spcoll@uci.edu and thanks again for helping us solve this mystery. So, below is the story stated accurately.

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A photograph of Chancellor Aldrich and Joyce Nash, her horse Ginger and her German Shepard Lady. Joyce Nash lived with her family in the house at Bonita Camp, the only structure on the campus property at that time. The photograph was taken on February 15, 1964 on the land where construction would soon start on the new UCI campus.

AS-061.  University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

All-University Alumni Picnic

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The All-University Alumni Picnic was held at UCI on June 5, 1966. A favorite pastime at early campus gatherings was the sack race, and this picnic included many sack races. If you look closely at the photo below you will see Jean Aldrich, the wife of Chancellor Dan Aldrich (just to the right of center, in red), making a gallant effort to try and win this race!

AS-061.  University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Schwinn Bicycle Catalogs feature UCI in 1972

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Some of you may remember when the UCI population was small enough that bicycling was a relatively safe means of transportation around campus. Below are a number of images from Schwinn Bicycle Catalogs from the early 1970s showing bike paths at UCI, some of which now restrict bikes. Do you recognize where these photos were taken?

  

  

 

Images from Schwinn catalogs are from this site: http://www.trfindley.com/pg_schwinn_cats.htm (last viewed 7/30/2010)

Lotte Lenya in Brecht’s “Mother Courage”

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Lotte Lenya, the world renowned German actress, came to UCI to perform in the title role of Bertolt Brecht’s play Mother Courage in November 1971. She did the play, with a cast of UCI students, under the direction of her long-time friend, New York director Herbert Machiz (below left, with Lenya and a student actor). This was the first time that she had done the play in America in English. While she was here, Lenya, who was 73 at the time, lived in an apartment near the ocean in Laguna Beach. Early in her career, she married the German composer and song writer Kurt Weil, in 1926. He was best known for his collaborations with playwright Bertold Brecht. Lenya was an overnight sensation in the role of Jenny in the premier of the Brecht-Weil play the Threepenny Opera in 1928. Lenya and Weil moved from Germany to Paris in 1933 and then to New York. All of Weil’s and Brecht’s work was banned in Germany by the Nazis. Lotte Lenya had great success as an actress on the stage and in film throughout her life, but she may have been best known for her performances of Kurt Weil songs, e.g.  “Mack the Knife” and “Pirate Jenny” from the Threepenny Opera and “Alabama Song” from Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.  Lotte Leyna died in New York in 1981. She is buried next to Kurt Weill in Haverstraw, New York.

AS-051. Beth Koch photographs of the University of California, Irvine, 1963-1984 . Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Marcel Duchamp Festival 1971

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The UCI School of Fine Arts organized DUCHAMP IS…, the Marcel Duchamp Festival, consisting of a variety of events, lectures, panel discussions, films, happenings, performances, chess games, and magic, held  on campus throughout November 1971. The schedule for the festival is below, as printed in the New University. The event was organized by Barbara Rose and Moira Roth, both on the faculty at that time. Among those participating were Richard Hamilton, Robert Hughes, Walter Hopps, Barbara Rose, Moira Roth, Robert Pincus Witten, Alison Knowles, Allen Kaprow, Tony DeLap, Susi Bloch, Annette Michelson and David Antin. An exhibition of some of Duchamp’s work and work from others influenced by Duchamp was held in the UCI Art Gallery.  Many other unannounced and unscheduled events occurred as well. Anne d’Harnoncourt (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and Kynaston McShine (Museum of Modern Art), who were working together on the major 1973 Duchamp retrospective, were in the audience. Charlemagne Palestine and Simone Forti collaborated on a performance piece. Tony DeLap (sculptor, faculty member and magician) created a levitation piece titled “A Spatial Occurence.” The invitation for the festival stated: “You are invited to attend the opening of ‘DUCHAMP IS…’ on November the sixth. There will be a 6pm celebration on the grass at the Art Gallery. Perhaps you could bring bread and cheese to share. Opening ceremonies 8pm, Concert Hall.” According to the few first-person accounts available, the festival was a tremendous success.

New University. Vol. 4/No. 11. November 5, 1971. page 7.