Special Collections and Archives houses the UC Irvine Libraries' collections of rare books, manuscripts, archives, photographs, and other rare and special materials. Major collections include the Critical Theory Archive, the Southeast Asian Archive, and the University Archives, as well as in-depth collections on Orange County and California history, dance and performing arts, 20th-century…

The UCLA Geography Air Photo Archives houses two of the most extensive collections of historic oblique aerial photography available to the pubic anywhere. Oblique aerials are taken at an angle and are easily understood. The Fairchild National Collection contains most cities in the United States and many towns circa 1922 through 1965. The Spence Collection contains coverage of the Western Region of…

UCSB professor David Gebhard (1927-1996) founded the Architecture and Design Collection in 1963. Today it is one of the largest architectural archives in North America with more than 1,000,000 drawings, as well as papers, photographs, scrapbooks, models, decorative objects, and furniture. The focus of the collection is the design and architecture of southern California from the late 19th through…