Featured: Black Deaf Life in California
The Library is collaborating with Deaf Studies Professor Lissa Ramirez-Stapleton to bring the project Black Deaf Life in California online. Black Deaf Life in California is a collection of oral histories conducted in American Sign Language (ASL) with Black Deaf community members. The interviews were developed and conducted by CSUN students. We talked to Dr. Ramirez-Stapleton to find out more about it.
What’s New: Bradley Center Black Power Archives Oral History Project
Dynamically produced by the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center at California State University, Northridge, the Black Power Archives Oral History Project documents the experiences of Black Power activists in Los Angeles through candid, revealing interviews.
With a dedicated Black Power Archives web page and YouTube channel, oral history interviews conducted by CSUN Africana Studies Dr. Karin Stanford and University Library archivist/historian Keith Rice are a purpose-driven showcase of personal experiences from passionate activists and freedom fighters in the Black Power movement.
Library Spotlight: An Update on the Documenting COVID-19 Project at CSUN
As previously reported in the Fall 2020 Library eNews, the University Archives, part of the Special Collections and Archives department in the University Library, launched the Documenting COVID-19 project in spring 2021, which, like many academic libraries, endeavors to capture CSUN Matadors’ experiences during this crisis and preserve them for future generations. As the prevalence of COVID-19 appears to be waning, Archivist April Feldman provided the following project update.
Thanks & Recognition: The Robert and Maureen Gohstand Special Collections & Archives Endowment
Professor Gohstand’s father was the proprietor of a pharmacy in the Shanghai International Settlement—a special zone in China for immigrants controlled by the U.S. and U.K. The family lived above the pharmacy. Bob was 13 years old when he and his family sailed to San Francisco from China. For many of the Old China Hands, the trip to America was the happy ending to a frightful series of exoduses across Eurasia.
The Gohstand Endowment will also support exhibits, internships, fellowships, special speakers, and other types of programs, as well as providing support through the acquisition of rare books and archival collections related to the history of foreigners in China in the first half of the 20th century.
We Would Like you to Meet: Marta Valier, Researcher at the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center
Meet Marta Valier, Researcher at the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center who is working on a graphic novel, which pays tribute to the community of San Basilio de Palenque and tell a story of resistance. As well as raise awareness in the CSUN community, and beyond, about the vitality of the Bradley Center's archived material.
In Memoriam: David Trutt
Last December David Trutt passed away unexpectedly. David’s son, Michael, is a graduate of CSUN, and David was considered an honorary Matador, thanks to his dedication to the University.
David had a lifelong passion for Gilbert & Sullivan, prompting his gift to the University Library of the Gilbert & Sullivan Collection. David and his wife, Sandra, also donated the two exhibit cases bearing the ceramic figurines along with annual cash gifts. In addition, upon his death the Trutt family made a generous donation to CSUN to honor David’s legacy.
Message from the Dean: The More Things Change... The More They Really Change!
The French have a saying: “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.” The more things change, the more they stay the same. This is a maxim that we can all resonate with, in many facets of our lives. As time goes by, and as the world seems to transform in so many ways, certain themes tend to repeat themselves, generation after generation. But in this edition of the CSUN Library eNews, I would like to slightly revise that old French adage to something that is perhaps slightly less paradoxical: “The more things change … the more they really change!” What I mean by this new axiom is that sometimes the transitions we experience in life and work are so radical that it seems as though we have entered a new dimension of reality. In many ways, this is how I feel as I write this column in late March 2022.