Establishing a Sierra Nevada-Central Valley Research Archive at University of California, Merced

FAIN: CHA-286628-23

University of California, Merced (Merced, CA 95344-0039)
Haipeng Li (Project Director: September 2021 to present)
Emily Lin (Co Project Director: June 2022 to present)

Renovations in the Kolligian Library at the University of California, Merced, to create a regional archive focused on the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada in California. 

The University of California, Merced, seeks $750,000 from NEH to establish a research archive documenting the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada. This capital project will retrofit space in the Kolligian Library. The collections will include the papers of the “Okie Folk poet” Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel; Ernest Lowe’s photographs documenting farmworker communities and labor activism; UC Cooperative Extension records chronicling the development of rural communities across California; and a significant private collection of rare books, maps, audiovisual, and other archival material related to the Central and Southern Sierra Nevada, including studies of, by, and about land management agencies. The retrofitting of these facilities is foundational in our ability to expand such collections, to preserve our region’s history, and to train humanities students in archival methods. This grant requires commitment to a 1:1 fundraising match.