Guide to the Charles Muscatine Papers
Marjorie Bryer
The Bancroft Library
2023
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
bancref@library.berkeley.edu
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Charles Muscatine papers
Creator:
Muscatine, Charles
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 2015/202
Physical Description:
6.65 linear feet
(5 cartons, 2 boxes)
Physical Description:
2 3.5" floppy disks
Physical Description:
1 sound disc (CD)
Physical Description:
20 sound tape reels
Physical Description:
44 sound cassettes
Physical Description:
3 film reels
8 mm.
Date (inclusive): 1937-2007
Date (bulk): 1949-1987
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection open for research. Physical audiovisual and digital media may not be used in the reading room. Enquire with Bancroft
Public Services about the creation of access surrogates of these materials.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Lissa and Jeffrey Muscatine in 2015..
Biographical sketch
Charles Muscatine (1920-2010) was an influential Chaucer scholar and an educational reformer. After serving in the Navy during
World War II, he received his Ph.D. in English from Yale in 1948 and joined Berkeley's English department. In 1949 Muscatine
and 30 other professors refused to sign the anti-communist loyalty oath required by the state. He was fired, but returned
to Berkeley in 1954 after the California Supreme Court ruled the oath was unconstitutional. Sympathetic to student demands
about free speech issues, Muscatine mediated between them and the university administration during the Free Speech Movement.
Subsequently, he led a faculty committee charged with proposing educational reforms at the university. Their publication"Education
at Berkeley" (1966) was widely known as "Muscatine Report"; it promoted nontraditional and interdisciplinary courses. In the
1970s, Muscatine helped found and directed the Collegiate Seminar Program, better known as Strawberry Creek College. The program
influenced community colleges and experimental universities across the country. Muscatine retired in 1991 but continued to
advocate for reform in undergraduate education. Charles wife, Doris Muscatine (nee Corn), was a food, wine, and travel writer,
and a historian of the Bay Area culinary scene. She died in 2006 at the age of 80.
Preferred Citation
Charles Muscatine papers, BANC MSS 2015/202, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley..
Processing Information
Processed by Marjorie Bryer in 2023.
Related Archival Materials
Related item: The loyalty oath, the Free Speech Movement, and education reforms at University of California, Berkeley : oral
history transcript (BANC MSS 2005/170 c).
Doris Muscatine papers (BANC MSS 85/100 c).
Scope and Contents
The Charles Muscatine papers include materials related to the Loyalty Oath controversy, his involvement with the Free Speech
Movement (FSM), the Collegiate Seminar Program (Strawberry Creek College), and undergraduate education reform more generally.
There are administrative files, conference materials, correspondence, course materials, legal documents, meeting minutes,
newspaper clippings, program files, publications, and reports. Materials concerning the FSM also pertain to the New Left and
the Vietnam War. The collection also contains Muscatine's writings about medieval literature. These files include conference
materials, correspondence, essays and lectures, reprints, and typescripts. A small amount of personalia includes newspaper
clippings about Muscatine, materials from his years at Yale and his naval service, some eulogies, and correspondence. There
are audiovisual materials, the bulk of which consist of oral histories from the Collegiate Seminar Program, and interviews
from "A Cook's Tour of San Francisco" which were conducted by Charles' wife, Doris Muscatine.
Conditions Governing Use
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Muscatine, Charles -- : Archives.
Muscatine, Doris -- Archives
University of California, Berkeley. Collegiate Seminar Program
University of California, Berkeley. Strawberry Creek College
University of California, Berkeley. Department of English
Free Speech Movement (Berkeley, Calif.)
Loyalty oaths -- California -- Berkeley.
Restaurants -- California -- San Francisco.
Cooking -- California -- San Francisco.
International cooking.
Archives.
Carton 1
Loyalty Oath
1974-1999
1947-1956
Carton 1
Free Speech Movement
1963-1967
Carton 2
Free Speech Movement
1964-1992
Carton 2
Educational reform
1965-1987
Carton 2
Strawberry Creek College
1973-1980
2001-2002
Carton 3
Strawberry Creek College
1975-1981
Carton 4
"A Cook's Tour of San Francisco" interviews (open reel audiotapes and 8 mm film reels)
approximately 1976
Carton 4
Joe Muscatine, and Medicine Ball interview (audiocassette tapes)
approximately 1976
Carton 5
Manuscript materials related to audiovisual materials
1963-1966
1987
Box 1
Doris Muscatine interviews
1975-1987
Box 1
Collegiate Seminar Program (Strawberry Creek College) oral histories (audiocassette tapes).
1979
Box 2
Lectures and conferences on higher education, curricula reform, and Chaucer (Charles Muscatine)
1967-1989
Box 2
Doris Muscatine's "Old San Francisco Book" (audiocassettes).
1975
