More News December 23, 2016

Our Jay Kay and Doris Klein Librarian for Science Fiction, JJ Jacobson recently contributed a chapter to a book titled, Teaching and Learning in Virtual Environments: Archives, Museums, and Libraries.

JJ’s chapter, Crowdsourcing the Fictive Experience: Virtual-World Emergent Narrative from a Collections Perspective, is about the practice of Immersive Interactive Improvisatory Narrative, or IIIN.

“It’s a very common feature of virtual worlds of all kinds,” JJ explained. “IIIN is a modality of storytelling. There’s role-play, sometimes recreational, sometimes tied to history, as well as re-enactment and historical interpretation. It’s connected to speculative literature because many of these narrative interactions exist in a context that is speculative – alternate history, for instance – or occasions for this kind of narrative are in a context that is related to or is directly the speculative or fantastical imagination.”

IIIN can be traced to modern improvisatory theater forms, JJ explained, such as the Renaissance Faire; and it is often found in Civil War and similar reenactments, which exist to explore history and educate participants as well as audiences. “It’s an interesting question to compare those to the evolution of community theater, too” she continued. “All of these things exist in the real world, but with some specific entertainment or educational mission. One of the questions we barely touched on was: ‘When did IIIN start to become pure recreation?’”

JJ’s chapter is the result of three distinct discussions on the topic of IIIN. JJ spoke with an expert on living history in museums and places like Plimoth Plantation, a special collections librarian from a well-respected institution, and a professional historical interpreter who plays Mildred Cecil, Lady Burleigh, wife of Lord Burleigh, chief advisor to Queen Elizabeth I.

“These conversations opened up some questions worth thinking about, questions that nobody else seems to be writing about, but that people within the reenactment and historical recreation and virtual worlds talk about all the time,” JJ said. “We talked about the phenomenon and why someone might study it, what a research collection might look like.”

To date, JJ has not seen much scholarly writing on this topic, especially not with the same emphasis.

According to JJ, some questions that could inspire scholarly research on the subject of IIIN might include:

• What kind of activity is it, exactly?
• If we trace it back to various kinds of plays or theater, is that sufficient?
• What are we doing in an historical enactment, with its factual constraints?
• If a library were to collect examples of it, what kinds of research might that support?
• What kind of researchers might use them?
• What would a collection surround them with as secondary source material?

“The Eaton Collection is largely a collection of texts and other narrative forms, but stories that are already done and finished are not the only occasion for the fantastical imagination to work,” JJ explained. “So here is a very interesting way of creating something that could easily be subject matter in the Eaton Collection. If people have made up their own country and they act the story together and build it up as they go, that’s still the kind of thing we collect. Those kinds of worlds, those kinds of subjects are intensely interesting to me. Even though you won’t find those exact worlds in the Eaton Collection, you’ll find many like them in motivation, structure, and so on.”

The book was published by Libraries Unlimited in 2016 and is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers.

More News November 15, 2019

November is drawing to a close, and with it the end of fall quarter of the 2019-2020 academic year. Finals week is only days away.

The UCR Library is committed to creating a supportive atmosphere for our students, as final exams can breed a lot of stress. That is why we present our Finals Week Stress Relief (FWSR) event series at the end of every quarter.

These events give library employees an opportunity to get to know our students better, and for our students to let off steam together in a safe and fun way.

This quarter, we have crowd favorites returning to the line-up, such as the Therapy Fluffies, R'Finals Study Jam, and Surprise Snack Giveaway, as well as a few new activities.

Finals Week Stress Relief will kick off on Monday, December 2, 2019. The full event schedule will include:

Monday, December 2

• Get Tested Before Your Tests (free HIV testing, results in 1 minute) with The WELL & TruEvolution (Rivera) – 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, December 4

• Therapy Fluffies with The WELL & UCR Active Minds (Rivera & Orbach) – 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
• Cookie Break (Rivera) – 3:00 p.m. *while supplies last

Thursday, December 5

• Spin It to Win It (Orbach) – 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. *while supplies last
• Squish Away Your Stress: Make Your Own Stress Ball (Rivera) – 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. *while supplies last

Friday, December 6

• Mindfulness Jars (Orbach) – 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. *while supplies last
• Surprise Snack Giveaway (Rivera & Orbach) *while supplies last

Saturday, December 7

• If You Give a Brain a Brownie… (Orbach) – 3:00 p.m. *while supplies last
• Late Night Snacks with the WELL (Orbach) – 9:00 p.m. *while supplies last

Sunday, December 8

• VIP Study Rooms (Rivera & Orbach) – 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. (contest info below)
• R'Finals Study Jam  with the ARC (Academic Resource Center)  (Orbach) – 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
• Late Night Snacks with the WELL (Orbach) – 9:00 p.m. *while supplies last

Monday, December 9

• Breakfast Sandwiches with ASPB (Associated Students Program Board) (Rivera) - 2:00 p.m. *while supplies last
• Late Night Snacks with the WELL (Orbach) – 9:00 p.m. *while supplies last

Tuesday, December 10

• Elote Bowls / Esquite (Orbach) – 2:00 p.m. *while supplies last
• Late Night Snacks with the WELL (Orbach) – 9:00 p.m. *while supplies last

Wednesday, December 11

• Chicken Soup for the Soul (Orbach) – 2:00 p.m. *while supplies last
• Late Night Snacks with the WELL (Orbach) – 9:00 p.m. *while supplies last

Thursday, December 12

• Donut Worry, Be Happy (Rivera) – 2:00 p.m. *while supplies last
• Late Night Snacks with the WELL (Orbach) – 9:00 p.m. *while supplies last

​In addition, we will also have two “pop-up” events at unannounced times: Snack Wagon with ASUCR (Associated Students of UC Riverside), and Little Helpers with MESC (Middle Eastern Student Center).

***

Enter to win a VIP Study Room for Sunday, December 8 from 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm! Contest details are available on the UCR Library’s Instagram profile. The contest will begin on Wednesday, November 20.

Volunteers are always welcome to help run the FWSR events.

Any library staff that are interested in volunteering should contact Sahra Missaghieh Klawitter or Elisha Hankins to find out how to get involved.

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 March 21, 2023

Christopher Queen and Brandy Lewis were the first two SCUA graduate student interns and both of their experiences provide excellent examples of how these internships can benefit students and enhance their academic and professional goals.

More News April 30, 2021

The UCR Library wishes to congratulate Deputy University Librarian Ann Frenkel on her upcoming retirement in June 2021.

In 2006, Ann Frenkel joined the UCR Library as the Assistant University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services (later promoted to Associate University Librarian), along with her husband, Gwido Zlatkes, who became a librarian first in Special Collections and University Archives, and then in Metadata Services. Ann and Gwido met at Brandeis University outside of Boston, Massachusetts, where Ann worked as a reference librarian and Gwido worked as a graduate student employee at the library information desk.

In 2016, Ann was promoted to the role of Deputy University Librarian. Throughout the years, she has influenced instruction activities, programs, and services that support UC Riverside’s research, education, and service mission. She has also guided the creation of policies and communication strategies for the library. The lasting impact of Ann’s role and work with the UCR Library is extensive.

As her retirement date drew closer, we invited Ann to share some of her UCR memories with us.

What was your favorite part about working at the UCR Library?

Teamwork. Being able to work with staff in all different departments, divisions, units and create things we've never done before, new services, watch people come up with really creative solutions. And then, because of my particular position, I had the ability to give people the tools they needed, whether funding, or the ability to make a decision. I could help people be able to do things, give them what they needed to make things happen. It was fun and rewarding to see people develop and grow in their careers, and personally, as well.

One downside is that I've had several people leave and go on to other positions, bigger positions. But that also is part of the joy of working, even though it's always hard to lose people. It's been a delight for me to see people grow, and I feel like, “Oh, I had a tiny little hand in that!”

What are the biggest “wins” from your time working at UCR?

The reorganization with Research Services and Teaching and Learning is a big win in that I was able to do it together with the directors of the two departments and with the department staff. We worked as collaboratively as we possibly could. It was never perfect, it's always going to be a work in progress, and there are different ways and places for it to go now that I am leaving. We gave ourselves the freedom to imagine what it could look like, and we came up with a plan and we tried it out. Yeah, things changed a lot, but it was really rewarding work.

I think that the furniture and collaborative working space projects in both Rivera and Orbach were also big wins. In my memory it was so much fun because it involved so many people and we definitely had to come up with compromises, especially around colors, I remember! I think, in the end, everybody was satisfied. But we worked together and really envisioned using those spaces in new ways. What's exciting now is that it's going on to phase two or phase three with a new focus, and we'll see where it goes.

The Creat’R Lab is definitely a big win, from its beginnings with a couple librarians creating some Maker Boxes, to saying, “Hey, let's get a 3D printer and see what we can do with it!” and then finally developing a dedicated space that the students took over as their own. That has been really exciting.

There's one more big win from the early days that I remember -- something that seemed like a revelation at the time, and now it's old hat. When I first arrived, we had very rigid policies about what you could do in the libraries. You were supposed to sit in your seat and study and not talk very much, and that was about it. You couldn't eat or drink, and there weren’t places to work collaboratively with others, and the library wasn't seen as a “comfortable” space. I wanted it to be a space where people wanted to be -- and it needed to include all the things that one needs to have to make yourself comfortable, including food and drink. Within the first year I was here, I said to the then-University Librarian, “I think we should revise the food and drink policy to allow it.” She let me come up with a way to do that, and we moved on from there.

I also have a philosophy about rules: that you only should have rules in libraries when you really, really need them. And you shouldn't have rules just for the sake of them. That has always felt very oppressive to me, so I'm always thinking, “How would this make me feel?” and I make decisions accordingly.

What are you going to miss the most?

I know it sounds pat, but the people. I'll really miss the teamwork. I've always been able to work well with my colleagues and form really good working relationships. We truly have enjoyed working together. We've had a special connection. Those relationships are really important.

It's odd retiring when we're still in a remote, Zoom environment. I still see people on Zoom and I'll miss that, as well. I also have missed over this past year the casual contact with people in the office. It's fun, working together with people. That's a huge part of the job. It's why things work. When things work well, it's because you've been doing things together with others.

What's next for you?

I will be, probably the majority of the time, living in Warsaw, Poland with my husband Gwido. We won't be in a long-distance relationship finally, which we're really looking forward to.

Gwido and I have a huge number of translation projects. We translate under several pseudonyms -- Frank L. Vigoda (Polish to English) and Franek Wygoda (English to Polish). We have a book that's coming out in May, a translation to English from Polish of a memoir of one of the most famous Polish dissidents, Karol Modzelewski. It was supposed to come out last year, but got delayed during the pandemic.

One other thing that is coming out soon is a translation from English to Polish of Float by the Canadian poet, Anne Carson. Gwido translated it, but I helped at the very end of the project significantly, and I feel very connected to it. We've always translated from Polish to English together, and he does English to Polish, usually on his own. But working on this project together made us realize how I can be effective as a partner in that process, as well. So we're looking forward to that when we live in Warsaw.

We also hope to travel more. I think being cooped up with the pandemic has made us a little bit more impatient, like, “Oh, we want to go to Rome! Oh, we want to see Paris again! Oh, we want to go here and there.” Our base in the United States will be Portland, Oregon. I have family up there and grew up in Oregon, so I feel quite connected to that region.

What’s your funniest memory from your time at the library?

It’s not really funny, but it is interesting -- we now have a fairly elaborate process that we go through when a student asks to shoot a student film in the library. We ask, “Do you have any fake blood or fake weapons?” That's because there was an incident several years ago when we had a supposed active shooter, and the entire library evacuated, and we were hiding behind bushes for like three hours. What happened was that a student was doing a film in one of the group study rooms and was using an imitation gun. Somebody saw it and reported it, and the rest was history.

So, talking about not having rules for rules sake -- it’s kind of unusual that we ask those questions, but there's a reason why we have to ask those things!

I wish I had something as good as that time in the 50s or 60s when somebody let a flock of chickens loose in Rivera. I don’t have anything as good as that. There is a picture of that somewhere in Special Collections, I believe.

Do you have any parting gems or wisdom to share with your colleagues and community?

One is that I think a key to working in libraries, probably working in general, is to always stay flexible. To not have very rigid ideas. And I say this as somebody who's very opinionated and bossy, at times! But I know that, despite all that, my opinions can be pushed and changed. I think that's important. The second thing… As a leader or as a manager, it’s important to err on the side of giving people more responsibility than you might even think they're ready for because that's how people grow. It’s sometimes hard to find that fine line between delegating and giving someone responsibility, or over-managing / micromanaging them. There's a tension between those two, and I think it's always more rewarding and it's better for you and better for others to err on the side of a more laissez-faire approach because it gives people the freedom and space to develop. It's scary to do this, and sometimes it feels like you're ceding responsibility. But I have had the chance to really see this work, and it’s so rewarding!

***

We at the UCR Library are grateful to have known Ann as a leader, colleague, and friend for the past 15 years. We celebrate and deeply appreciate her many years of excellent service, and we wish both Ann and Gwido all the best in their next adventure. Congratulations, and we will miss you!

More News July 30, 2018

If you’ve visited Rivera Library in the past three years, you’ve likely seen Mohamed Jawara’s smiling face behind the front desk.

What you might never have guessed is that Jawara took the job at the Circulation / Reserves Desk to help him conquer shyness and to improve his communication and interpersonal skills.

“I saw how the staff at the front desk would help patrons, and I thought it would be a great way for me to get out of my comfort zone,” Jawara explained. “Working at the library, it’s a really positive environment. Everyone is very caring and supportive and they’ve played a great role in me improving myself and becoming a better person. We treat each other as a family.”

“Mohamed is a true servant leader at heart,” said Leslie Settle, Rivera Library's Access Services desk coordinator. “As a student supervisor, he sets the tone for the front desk and is an exemplary example of phenomenal customer service. When I think of training others in leadership and customer service, the things I have seen Mohamed do come to mind -- from how to greet patrons to making everyone feel like they belong.”

Born in the Republic of Sierra Leone in West Africa, Jawara immigrated to the United States in 2008 with his mother, a certified nurse assistant. At first, they stayed with his uncle’s family in Torrance, CA, but eventually settled in Loma Linda.

In 2016, Jawara’s younger brother and two sisters arrived from Sierra Leone. His father, formerly an accountant for the Sierra Leone Ministry of Defense, finally joined his family in May 2018, more than a decade after his wife and eldest son first came to the U.S.

“I felt like my mother did a great job trying to substitute whatever support my father would have given me, had he been here,” he said. “Even though it was difficult, she made the process a bit easier.”

He chose to attend UC Riverside because of its proximity to home. “It’s easy to commute here, and it would have been very expensive to live in the dorms,” he said.

Once he arrived, he was pleased to discover that UCR lived up to its reputation as a diverse campus. “It’s been great to meet people with different backgrounds of different races and develop friendships with them. That has enhanced my education here at UCR.”

Jawara graduated with the Class of 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science with a focus on law and society. He hopes to pursue graduate study and work in the field of public health, an interest that stemmed from tragedies he witnessed in his homeland.

Before Jawara came to California at age 12, he saw many horrors in the midst of Sierra Leone’s civil war, which only compounded challenges the country already had with meeting basic healthcare needs.

“I was born in the middle of that upheaval,” he said. “Growing up, I got to see those casualties of war, people who had limbs amputated. It was common to see close friends that I grew up with dying from malaria. I also had an uncle who suffered from a liver condition. The right professionals weren’t even available, so he relied heavily on native healing. Unfortunately, it just got worse and he ended up passing away.”

His father and siblings were still in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis of 2014. “It was really excruciating to hear their calls and how frightened they were,” he said. As a result of these experiences, Jawara has devoted his studies to learning how to improve healthcare so that he can someday make a difference in Sierra Leone by building more hospitals staffed with trained medical professionals.

Settle commented, “Mohamed was born to understand and love all people in sincerity without judgment. Not only is he talented, but he has a purity about him that is unexplainable.”

How can someone who has seen firsthand so many gruesome tragedies still have such optimism? In a word: travel. “It plays a big role in me having a more positive outlook on life because I’ve had the opportunity to see the difference between having to struggle for basic things,” Jawara said.

“See how the rest of the world lives. By traveling, you get to compare and contrast and have a much deeper appreciation for what you have, no matter how little,” he added. “For you, it might seem like it’s nothing, but to someone else out there, it’s the whole world.”

In June 2018, Jawara was hired as a Research Assistant at UC Riverside's School of Medicine's Center for Healthy Communities. Additionally, he continued at an internship with the Riverside County Department of Public Health.

While interning and working, Jawara will begin applying for a variety of graduate programs in social science and healthcare.

More News March 21, 2023

Every year, UCR’s Chicano Student Programs (CSP) coordinates Semana de la Mujer, a week-long series of events that celebrate Chicanas/Latinas and coincides with Women’s History Month. Semana de la Mujer 2023 included an exhibit at the Rivera Library that will be on display till the end of March. 

More News October 24, 2023

This year’s MSC Training Symposium took place April 4-7, 2023, and included the UCR Library’s Brendon Wheeler and Alvaro Alvarez.

The annual Measurement Science Conference (MSC) Training Symposium offers attendees a unique opportunity to delve into the world of metrology and explore the latest advancements in measurement technologies through seminars, workshops, training tutorials, and more.  

Brendon Wheeler, our Maker Services Coordinator, and Alvaro Alvarez, our Innovative Media Librarian, took center stage as the keynote speakers, captivating attendees with their insights about the world of 3D printing. 

Brendon and Alvaro work regularly with 3D printers in UCR’s Makerspace, the Creat’R Lab, and were contacted by conference organizers to highlight the importance of precise measurements when employing 3D printing technology. 

Their speech, titled 3D Printing Revolution, showcased examples like Wilson Sporting Goods employing 3D printing to create basketballs and 3D printing being used to create homes — groundbreaking applications that underscore the importance of precision in 3D printing. 

Following their talk, Alvaro remarked, "Right after the speech, people came up to us from different areas of manufacturing to tell us how much they liked our presentation."  

Brendon reflected on the experience, saying, "It was great to tell people in other fields how people are using this technology." Alvaro agreed and added, "I loved talking about 3D printing and how this technology can impact the world" 

Curious to explore the world of 3D printing on UCR's campus? Look no further than the Creat’R Lab. You can dive deeper into this transformative technology and witness innovation in action right here on campus in the Orbach Library. Learn more at library.ucr.edu/creatr-lab. 

More News November 22, 2017

Digitization Project Coordinator Charlotte Dominguez grew up hearing her father exclaim, “There’s Sherman!” whenever they drove past the Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, CA.

Little did she know that one day, she would be part of a monumental, two-year collaborative project between the Sherman Indian Museum and UCR Library’s Inland Empire Memories initiative,  that was made possible by a grant received from the Council on Library and Information Resources’ Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Enabling New Scholarship through Increasing Access to Unique Materials program.  

Dominguez joined the library team in mid-July 2017. Since September, she and her three Sherman Indian High School student workers Kassie, Marisa, and Koby have been busy digitizing Sherman’s archival materials and preparing them for online publication via Calisphere.

“It's kind of like a treasure hunt because you never know what you're going to see,” Dominguez said. “I really like seeing the pictures of the younger kids. After you see the same face four or five times, you start to get attached.”

The photographs and archival documents that Dominguez and her team are digitizing depict a cultural odyssey that spans many decades, rich with the history of local Native American people as well as those who have come to study at Sherman from all over the continental United States. They chronicle the early days of the Sherman Institute, years when it served as a vocational school, and the era after 1970, when it became Sherman Indian High School. “The school has a really solid cultural program, and that's a really big draw for a lot of the kids,” Dominguez explained.

The project aims to not only preserve and increase access to these materials online, but also to help Sherman Indian High School students gain valuable, hands-on work experience with handling, digitizing, and creating descriptive metadata for cultural heritage materials.

Work experience can be hard to come by for boarding school students, who aren't allowed to leave campus without supervision from their parents or school staff. Dominguez explained, “One of the main goals of this project is to give the Sherman students a chance to learn skills that they can use in the future and allow them to be less financially dependent on their families. For all of them, it's their first real job.”

Koby said that he enjoys learning about Sherman’s history while working with the photos and seeing how fashion trends and hairstyles changed over the decades. Kassie enjoys the digitization process. “It’s fun to enlarge the scans to see the hidden details,” she said.

Their goal is to digitize an estimated 10,000 items and complete descriptions for each so that they can be indexed by search engines when made available online. To date, they have digitized over 2,000 items and finished the accompanying metadata for 1,200 of those files. That puts them on target to complete the project on-time by the summer of 2019.

These three students will work with Dominguez until the end of this semester, and then she will train four new students over the next term. “I made the decision to rotate the kids in conjunction with the museum curator, Lori (Lorene Sisquoc),” Dominguez explained. “We wanted to make sure as many kids as possible had the experience, if they wanted it.”

Once published online, this collection will be a valuable resource to researchers worldwide, as well as to Sherman Indian High School alumni. “A lot of the researchers who come here are doing genealogy, or they're alumni looking for things to show their kids or grandkids, and a lot of them can't travel like they used to,” Dominguez said. “So having things published online will be so useful to them.”

They are also hoping to crowd-source captions and other identifying details for the photographs. “Lori is hoping that, once these get published, family members or maybe even the alumni themselves will come forward and say, ‘Hey, that's me!’ or, ‘Hey, that's my aunt!’ and help us put names to these faces.”

Dominguez said that the Sherman Indian Museum and the UCR Library project team plan to share information about what the project has accomplished, how they plan to use it, and why they did it within both the Native American and academic communities.

More News February 04, 2020

On Wednesday, Feb. 5, the L.A. County Department of Military & Veterans Affairs (MVA) hosted a reception to kick off Black History Month, featuring a special art exhibit of the WWII flying group, the Tuskegee Airmen, on loan courtesy of the UCR Library.

The display will be open to the public during regular business hours at the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in Los Angeles from Feb. 5 - 27, 2020. This venue is a historical building dedicated to assisting and memorializing US Veterans, so the exhibit supports their mission.

During the opening reception, special guest and American hero Lt. Col. Theodore “Ted” Lumpkin, a documented original Tuskegee Airman, discussed his experience during the second World War and answered questions.

Commissioned by the UCR Library in 2016, Ann Marshall and Shar Huston of Annex Design Services originally created the concept for the exhibition materials.

Since 2016, the traveling exhibit has been featured at various venues, including the Association of African American Museums Annual Conference, the University of California, San Diego, and the San Bernardino County Museum, among others.