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More Past Exhibits March 23, 2023

The J. Lloyd Eaton collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Utopian Literature began under humble yet controversial auspices when University Librarian Donald Wilson acquired the collection in 1968. Wilson was alone in recognizing the research potential in the modest 7,500 volume personal library of Dr. J. Lloyd Eaton, but it quickly became a significant portion of the materials held here in Special Collections and University Archives. The collection grew in size and significance under the curatorship of George Slusser who began pursuing a wider range of materials including comic books as well as venturing into the world of fandom through the acquisition of fanzines and private collections related to fan groups, cons, and the broader science fiction community.

The Eaton collection has continued to grow in size and scope to include a wide range of materials from movie posters and authors’ papers to artwork and collectible items. The rest of the academic world has likewise caught up with the trailblazing of Donald Wilson and George Slusser and UC Riverside is no longer alone in believing that the realms of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and utopia have endless richness and depth to offer researchers. Indeed, we are witnessing a flourishing of the worlds of science fiction and fantasy during the early 21st century that rivals any other period since the genre emerged in the late 1800s.

This exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Eaton Collection at the Tomas Rivera Library of the University of California, Riverside. The objects on display here are but a small sample from the wide scale and scope of materials that comprise the collection. Please enjoy this curated journey through the realms of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and utopia.

More News October 03, 2018

Many UCR alumni enjoy visiting campus – but it’s not always possible for them to make the trip.

To remedy this, UC Riverside’s Office of Alumni Relations turned to the Creat’R Lab in the Orbach Library to help take a few campus landmarks on the road – specifically the Bell Tower, the UCR initials (by the HUB), and Scotty the Highlander bear.

“We requested 3D prints of these campus icons to take to regional alumni events around the country as part of a plan to bring the campus experience to our alumni and supporters in their communities,” said Development / Campaign Communications Manager Jennifer Merrett. Their first event this quarter was a “Living the Promise” reception at Petco Park in San Diego on Monday, Oct. 1.

Part of the Creat’R Lab’s mission is to foster such collaborations. “The initial meeting was very motivating, since the Alumni Relations team was pretty excited and energetic,” said Michele Potter, the Creat’R Lab’s 3D printing specialist. “They had a lot of ideas for bringing creativity to alumni events and giving attendees fun ways to be interactive and creative.”

Alumni Marketing and Communications Manager Kendall Burks worked closely with Potter during summer to refine the 3D-printed replicas. To increase alumni nostalgia, Burks suggested putting blue glow sticks inside the Bell Tower miniature so it would resemble UCR’s full-size Carillion tower when lit up at night.

Potter collaborated with a design partner and lecturer from UCR’s English department, Aaron Potter, to modify the 3D model so it could be lit from within. “Michele was meticulous about perfecting the holes in the bell tower, and it was so cool to see the blue light emanating from within!” Merrett said.

While not exactly to scale, Potter explained that the finished model of the Bell Tower is quite an achievement as it measures 30 centimeters tall, which is more than twice the build height of the Creat’R Lab’s Makerbot Replicator.

“I am pretty excited to have done this project and I hope the alums like the models,” she added. 

“Michele in the Creat’R Lab was such a pleasure to work with. She went above and beyond to bring our idea to life in better ways than we had planned, and she provided thoughtful suggestions for engaging our guests in new ways,” Merrett said. “Our team also enjoyed learning about the Lab and the work that Michele does to support students, faculty, and staff in pursuing creativity and innovation.”

The replicas have also been popular with students who have seen them in the Creat’R Lab over the summer. Potter said, “They have been really excited to see the various prototypes and many have asked if they can have much smaller copies for themselves.”

More News March 30, 2017

Professor Emeritus Ronald H. Chilcote has transformed art and natural beauty into political activism.

With a long-standing love of nature and landscape photography, Chilcote has combined the two passions into a project that has raised millions of dollars to preserve hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness.

“I’ve always been a photographer, but really started concentrating on it in the mid-90s,” Chilcote said. “I had several art shows, and finally got into the book production and the conservation cause.”

In 2003, Chilcote founded The Laguna Wilderness Press (LWP) with another photographer, Jerry Burchfield. “Our idea was to use photography as a means to raise awareness to protect and preserve natural areas,” Chilcote explained. Their books facilitated this cause. His original goal with the Laguna Wilderness Press was to preserve the Laguna Greenbelt, approximately 22,000 acres of open green space bordering Laguna Beach and its five neighboring cities.

Plans existed to develop these lands, once part of Spanish and Mexican land grants, but Chilcote and his colleagues felt the land should be protected as a nature preserve. Chilcote helped organize a Committee for the Preservation of the Laguna Legacy whose documentation and photography on the history, art, and culture of the region has recently been recognized as a Historic American Landscape (HALS) by the National Parks Service and the Library of Congress.

Chilcote explained that the committee has just published a book, Laguna Beach and the Greenbelt to celebrate this honor. “To have that quantity of undeveloped land, it’s something that’s very unusual in a highly urbanized region of the country,” he said.

Under LWP Chilcote initially published a photography book on the greenbelt, titled, Nature’s Laguna Wilderness (2003). It appeared as the formerly private lands opened to the public. The Los Angeles Times published a six-page spread with photos on Chilcote and his book.  A substantially revised edition, The Laguna Wilderness, appeared in 2014.

Chilcote has published other books devoted to a similar purpose, yet with even higher stakes, including Wind River Wilderness (2006) and The Wild Wyoming Range (2013). Chilcote edited these books which featured the work of a dozen renowned photographers and essays by at least eight different writers, all associated with the state of Wyoming, where he and his wife, Frances, reside during summers.

Speaking of Wind River Wilderness, Chilcote said, “It was a photographic and written portrayal of a segment of the Rocky Mountains that is one of the most beautiful and important along the whole range.”

He collaborated with Susan Marsh on The Wild Wyoming Range, which was one of Chilcote’s most impactful endeavors in publishing. “We spent five years working on that book,” he reflected. “It focuses on another mountain range which is south of the Snake River, extending about 150 miles and reaching over to the Idaho border.”

He added that, until recently, there were 100,000 acres of leased land held via oil and gas companies. “They were determined to go in and drill, radically impacting the upper regions of the Hoback River, which flows into the Snake River,” Chilcote said. "Drilling would have altered the beautiful landscape and it would have affected the western waters.”

Chilcote’s book came out just before The Trust for Public Land in Washington reached an agreement with the oil companies to buy back the leases, at a cost of approximately $8.4 million. “The book was used for awareness and to raise some of the funds for that purpose, and finding a resolution,” Chilcote explained. “There were three large donors, and all of them were excited about the book. The book raised several hundred thousand dollars in other areas, too. Booksellers sold it and donated all funds toward that cause.”

It’s not often that we have a happily-ever-after conclusion to a real life story, but Chilcote’s tale is a wonderful exception. “Now all the leases have been bought back,” he said of the acres in Wyoming. “The area will hopefully endure and remain the same for future generations to enjoy.”

More News March 11, 2019

Special Collections & University Archives employees are constantly working to process recently acquired collections and make those materials ready for use by students, faculty, and researchers.

Each quarter, we will provide a list of the UCR Library's newly processed archival and primary source collections. Check out this list to see if there are any items that fit your research area, or share with a friend!

Below you'll find brief descriptions and links to the finding aids or collection guides for each new collection. To use any of these materials, simply click the "Request Items" button at the top to submit a request, and log in with our Special Collections Request System. For more on conducting research in Special Collections, see this page.

SCUA is open to the public on weekdays from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm. Check here for closures or other changes to our regular hours.

For questions, email specialcollections@ucr.edu.

Newly Processed Collections - Spring 2019

Catherine Clark papers (MS 384)

The Catherine Clark papers are a collection of materials pertaining to Clark’s pen pal relationship with Igor A. Toloconnicov, a citizen of the USSR. They began corresponding shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 until 1993. Igor’s correspondence primarily touches on topics of science fiction in Russia as well as the political and economic life during the transition of power from the Soviet system to the Russian Federation. This collection contains correspondence, publications, and other material related to the world of Russian Science Fiction and Fantasy.

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8zw1s8n/

 

John Franceschina papers addition (MS 411)

More materials were recently added to the collection of author and theater history scholar John Franceschina. These new materials are primarily musical and theatrical compositions by Franceschina or similar materials used in productions he participated in. The collection consists of materials from author and theater history scholar John Franceschina relating to two of his publications, Incidental and Dance Music in the American Theatre from 1786 to 1923, and Hermes Pan: The Man Who Danced with Fred Astaire. His personal musical compositions and plays as well as those of other composers and musicians are also included. Items in the collection include research files, musical scores, programs, photographs, news clippings, edited and unedited play scripts, publications, and videos.

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c89z9b83/

 

Harry Lawton papers (MS 122)

The Harry W. Lawton papers document the life and career of American writer, journalist, editor, and historian Harry Lawton. Lawton’s life and career were centered in the Riverside area where he worked as a journalist with The Press Enterprise and was a faculty member with CNAS at UC Riverside. He also founded the UCR Writers Week in 1977. Lawton’s works relate to the citrus industry, Native American groups indigenous to southern California, and the Riverside Chinatown, among other interests.

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt900041k7/

 

Corridos of the Mexican Revolution, and other songs (MS 042)

This is a small collection of corridos, folk songs and popular ballads recounting the events of the Mexican Revolution, printed on broadsides. They primarily document various events that occurred during the revolution as well as the subsequent decade. Printed on low quality newsprint, these ephemeral documents are a grassroots snapshot of the 1910s and 1920s in Mexico.

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8gh9qp3

More News July 24, 2024

The UCR Library’s Special Collections & University Archives is thrilled to present a digital collection of fanzines, an exciting online resource for researchers of science fiction at UCR.

This digital archive features over 1,000 items from 12 different publications, offering a glimpse into the vibrant world of fan magazines.

This fanzine collection is a subset of the much larger collection of fanzines housed in Special Collections. Our comprehensive collection includes more than 68,000 fanzines, primarily from the 20th century, covering topics such as science fiction, fantasy, animation, and related genres. This extensive archive was created by integrating several individual fanzine collections from prominent members of the fan community, including the Bruce Pelz and Fred Patten fanzine collections.

Please note that the content on this site is for use by individual UCR-affiliated researchers only and you will need to log in with your UCR credentials for access. Specific written permission is required for public display or publication of these resources. To request reproductions of materials from the fanzine collections at UCR, please visit our SCUA Reproductions Policy.

To find out more about the fanzine collections at UCR, visit our LibGuide, Fandom Materials in the Eaton Collection: Fanzines. 

More News April 28, 2026

Nearly 2,000 new photographs of science fiction fandom history are now available to the public. They come from the photograph collection of Jay Kay Klein, a fixture of mid-twentieth century sci-fi fandom. 

Klein Librarian for Science Fiction and Fantasy Dr. Phoenix Alexander describes Klein as "a visual chronicler of the community." Rarely seen without a camera, Klein donated a vast collection of photographs from science fiction and fantasy conventions and related events to the UCR Library’s Special Collections and University Archives, along with an endowment that supports the collection.

Digitization began in 2017 — five years before Phoenix joined the library — with just under 6,000 images published to Calisphere. A comprehensive review by Special Collections staff, including Processing Archivist Andrew Lippert, took place from 2019 to 2021, then incorporated community feedback into updated descriptions for that entire first batch. Now Phoenix and Andrew are announcing the next milestone: the digital publication of the first of eleven boxes of photographs, comprising nearly 2,000 images from 47 conventions and events. Digitization of this new batch was led by UCR Library Digitization Services Specialist Mark Buchholz. 

Among Phoenix’s personal favorites in the collection are the Star Trek costumes seen in early cosplay competitions. "The longer I'm in this job, the more I realize just how inspirational Star Trek was," Phoenix said, noting the franchise’s profound impact as a series that took science seriously, presented women and people of color in leadership roles, and inspired generations of engineers, writers, and pilots.

About 57,000 images remain to be digitized, a project that will take years. To speed up access, some photos are being released now with minimal descriptions of events and people depicted, while others have been fully annotated. This decision to publish before everything is perfect is deliberate.

"We don't want materials to be sitting in a repository for decades without anybody being able to see them," Phoenix said. "We'd rather have folks be able to view them and make identifications themselves."

As Phoenix suggested, Special Collections and University Archives is asking for the sci-fi community’s help to identify unnamed people in the photographs — particularly the everyday fans and lesser-known figures who built the sci-fi fandom community from the ground up — which primarily span the late 1950s through the 1980s. We have created a web page with guidance on commenting practices to explain how comments are moderated and the types of descriptions that will be the most helpful.

You can view the full collection on Calisphere. To participate in the identification process, select an image and scroll to the bottom and click Join the Discussion.

• Read more about Gregory Benford Papers

More News October 16, 2017

As the first person in his entire family to attend college, Carlos Rodriguez ’90 was a true pioneer when he arrived at UC Riverside for orientation in 1985.

“Since then everyone has followed me,” Rodriguez said. After he blazed the trail, both of his sisters went to college and graduate school. “All my cousins have gone on to college, as well, all the younger ones.”

As his career clearly demonstrates, there’s no wonder that forging new paths in uncharted territory comes so naturally to Rodriguez. From pioneering work with early internet databases and ejournals in the mid-1990s at UCR, to reimagining library learning environments for an enhanced student experience at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, to his current role as the Dean of the University Library at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), Rodriguez continues to chase the horizon.

Originally a pre-engineering major, Rodriguez came to UCR planning to transfer after two years to either UCLA or UC Santa Barbara.

He began working in the library as a student employee shelving books. “Back in the 80s, people checked out books,” he laughed.

Having developed a strong peer network and relationships with faculty and staff, Rodriguez ended up changing his major and staying at UCR instead of transferring. It wasn’t until an internship with a credit union that he realized he preferred a culture of learning and service-based organization over a traditional corporate environment, and so his career in higher education and libraries was born. “I wasn’t in it for the money. I was in it to help other people,” he said.

As he approached graduation, Rodriguez realized he might enjoy a permanent career in the library. During his senior year, he transitioned from a student employee position into a part-time staff role, which is when he met two influential mentors, librarians Nancy Huling and the late John Tanno.

In Rodriguez’s first year as a science librarian, Tanno nominated him for a leadership and career development program for underrepresented racial and ethnic minority librarians with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). “John was really supportive of diversity. There wasn’t a lot of diversity back then,” Rodriguez said. “He saw leadership potential in me early on.”

Rodriguez credits the small, tight-knit community at UCR for advancement opportunities like this. “If I had been a student assistant at UCLA, I probably wouldn’t have had the same opportunities that I had at UCR,” he said.

Ultimately, Rodriguez went on to get his Masters in Library and Information Science from UCLA. He came back to UCR as a Science Librarian before advancing through a variety of library positions, including the Associate Dean of Technology and Information Services at Grand Valley State.

Rodriguez helped the library at Grand Valley State shift from being library-centric and collection-centric to learner-centric. “Every decision we made, we asked ourselves, ‘Does this benefit the learner?’ The reason we’re here is for our students. We need to meet their needs.”

From Grand Valley State, Rodriguez returned to California to serve as the Dean of the University Library at Cal State LA. One of his goals at CSULA has been to transform the library’s physical space to make it less intimidating for their diverse, predominantly first-generation student population. “We’re changing the perception from ‘you’re visiting the library’ to ‘this is your library, and you own this space,’” Rodriguez explained.

In Rodriguez’s opinion, the library plays an active role in student success, research, faculty partnerships, and community engagement. “Libraries can provide opportunities for people to learn, grow, discover, create, and really transform how they see the world,” he said. “Libraries are probably one of the most important institutions at universities to do that.”

Another vision turned reality is the creation of an Academic Success Center, which is the cornerstone of Rodriguez’s capital improvement strategy for the Cal State LA Library. He plans to design a physical space around a suite of student services with a central student-led concierge to direct users toward the best solution for their needs.

What’s next for this innovative thinker? “I’m happy where I’m at now, but UCR is the only other place that I’d want to work at because of the students and what they’re doing. It’s a place I’d like to return to one day.”

The UCR Library is committed to enhancing the student learning experience, which includes supporting the professional development and advancement of our student employees. This article is the first in a series of stories following the success of former UCR Library student employees. We are incredibly proud of the alumni talent that was cultivated here, at the UCR Library. 

Phoenix Alexander Staff Profile

Jay Kay and Doris Klein Science Fiction Librarian