The Heinlein Society presents…
A Guided Tour of the Heinlein Archive
guided by William H. Patterson, Jr.
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Introduction and Captions by William H. Patterson
Yours truly, William H. Patterson, Jr.
Only a few Heinleiners have had the opportunity to visit the Robert A. Heinlein Archive housed in the Special Collections of the University Library, U.C. Santa Cruz, so I thought I would give everybody an overview of the facilities, including some parts the public doesn’t get to see. The Archive is open to the public, so you should feel free to come for a visit call or e mail and speak to either Christine Bunting or Gretchen Dempewolf or Yr Humble & Obdt. Servant.
Christine Bunting took over as head of Special Collections and Archive when Rita Bottoms retired last year. Christine manages and maintains all of the university's collections -- her alternate title is "Head of Collections" for the University Library.
Gretchen Dempewolf is the chief assistant in Special Collections. Gretchen will be your hands-on coordinator if you visit the Archive.
Paul Prendez, a student assistant at Special Collections this year.
A student assistant helping me catalogue Heinlein's personal library so we can decide which to keep and which to de-accession.
My office. The space is very cramped, but it's more organized than it looks.
Looking from the main part of the library towards Special Collections.
My office is separated from Special Collections by a "bridge." These boards illustrate the various collections held there. (Notice Thomas Carlyle? They have a lock of his hair).
The manuscripts are stored in a special room in acid-free boxes specifically designed for papers. We are re-labeling the boxes now that manuscripts have been grouped together. The manuscripts were given in several lots and so the organization was not consistent until this year.
We got labels for some of the boxes!
And this is Boxes in the Wild -- part of the shelves in the manuscript room that, at the moment, contain the non-research and reference part of Heinlein's personal library which we are going to have to (at least partially) dispose of. Space is always at a premium.
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