City of Wood: San Francisco and the Architecture of the Redwood Lumber Industry
California’s 1849 gold rush triggered creation of the “instant city” of San Francisco as a base to exploit the rich natural resources of the American West. City of Wood examines how capitalists and workers logged the state’s vast redwood forests to create the financial capital and construction materials needed to build the regional metropolis of […]
A Journey in Bookplates: The Art and Life of California Designer Beulah Mitchell Clute
Come along on a collector’s journey as Claudia Smukler takes you through the fascinating world of bookplates, also known as ex-libris. The term ex-libris refers to all marks of provenance in a book, including stamps, labels, and names written on the inside cover. Book owners have been doing this for centuries. The bookplate is a […]
Golden Slumbers: California’s Dormant Fine Press Scene
Building on themes from his book, Dreaming on the Edge: Poets & Book Artists in California, Alastair Johnston explores overlooked figures in the history of printing in the Golden State. Johnston’s work was the first in 80 years to assess the impact of small and fine presses on the culture of California, challenging the long-held […]
Bowlarama: The Architecture of Mid-Century Bowling
Bowlarama: The Architecture of Mid-Century Bowling takes aim at the obsession that swept the post-war nation: bowling! More than just a sport or a hobby, bowling became the ultimate modern lifestyle for Americans savoring the boom years that followed World War II. Bowling alleys were modern palaces; companies constantly aimed to outdo each other, whether competing for the […]
Encrypted Books – Mysteries that Fill Hundreds of Pages
The lecturers have studied about 120 books that are entirely or partially encrypted. In this talk, they introduce the most fascinating ones. This includes the famous Voynich Manuscript, a 15th century tome that has never been deciphered, and the Rohonc Codex, a 17th century creation that was recently solved by Hungarian scientists. It also includes […]
Acquisition Notes: Building Rare Book and Manuscript Collections at the UC Davis Library
Dr. Kevin Miller, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the UC Davis Library, discusses the library’s approach to building rare book and manuscript collections that support its educational mission and meet the needs of the researching public. Taking actual acquisitions as examples, this talk presents a tour through the library’s major collecting areas by […]
Tribute to Truman Capote / Breakfast at Tiffany’s Bookplate Competition
2024 marked the centenary celebration of Truman Capote (1924-1984) — the famed American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have become literary classics, including his 1958 novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Selections from the American Society of Bookplate Collectors & Designers’ International Bookplate Competition to honor Truman Capote and […]
Refusing Settler Domesticity: Native Women’s Labor and Resistance in the Bay Area Outing Program
In the early twentieth century, the Bay Area Outing Program coercively recruited over a thousand Native girls and women from boarding schools to labor as live-in domestic workers across the San Francisco Bay Area. In exchange for room, board, and meager pay, Native women and girls as young as twelve cooked, cleaned, and lived in […]
Excavating and Reckoning with California’s Sorrowful Past
Two publications, both published by Heyday, bookend and frame Tony Platt’s talk. One book begins in a remote area of northwest California, the other in the Bay Area’s metropolis. In Grave Matters: The Controversy over Excavating California’s Buried Indigenous Past (2011, 202) Platt investigated the global trade in everything Indian that during the late nineteenth […]
Elements of Los Angeles: Earth, Water, Air, Fire
Using the four classical elements as his structure, Waldie delves into the complex essence of Los Angeles—a city of natural beauty and environmental precarity, of dreams pursued and illusions faded. In Elements of Los Angeles, Waldie has assembled a panorama of a city both tragic and intensely moving. With his signature clarity and compassion, he […]