UC Merced Magazine | Commemorative Chronicle

Preserving & Expanding Access to Unique Resources

Known as “ e Okie Poet,” McDaniel moved to the San Joaquin Valley in the 1930s. She was a proli c writer who captured the migrant experience and the everyday lives of working people through her poetry. In 2008, through the advocacy of founding faculty member Jan Goggans, the UC Merced Library acquired McDaniel’s papers. Another notable initiative has been the establishment of the UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Archive. e archive hosts historical materials from many UC Cooperative Extension County o ces, some of which were established over 100 years ago. With support from UC Agriculture and National Resources (UCANR) and grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the UC Merced Library has led this systematic e ort to process and digitize UCCE materials. e Library’s Archives and Special Collections also preserve materials documenting the history of campus and work of faculty. Distinguished Professor of Art and founding faculty member Dunya Ramicova donated her collection of costume design illustrations to the library in 2014. McDaniel’s papers, UCCE records, and Ramicova’s designs are freely available for viewing via Calisphere.

In addition to building its general collection, the library has been a leader in expanding access to unique collections. is work started in 2002 when the UC Merced Library partnered with the Clark Center in Hanford, Calif., to digitize Japanese art and make the works available on the California Digital Library’s Calisphere digital platform. Funded by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), this groundbreaking collaboration between an academic library and a local museum pushed innovative approaches to image and present large format works and three-dimensional objects as a digital collection. e project set the stage for the library to digitize other complex collections. e Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture collection goes live on Calisphere with an opening event hosted at the Library on June 22, 2007. “ is is the kind of power that the collaboration between a museum and a cutting-edge institution such as UC Merced can wield,” said Bill Clark, the center’s founder. Additional digitization e orts have focused on preserving and advancing the region’s cultural, social, and environmental histories. Digitized materials include the personal and professional correspondence of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel.

Emperor Minghuang, Yang Gueifei and attendants. Image of six-fold folder screen c. 1600.

Journal page. Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel Papers, UC Merced Library Archives & Special Collections.

Merced County 4-H Campus in Yosemite, 1953. UC Cooperative Extension Records, UC Merced Library Archives and Special Collections.