Use Restrictions
Access Restrictions
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biographical Note
Arrangement
Scope and Content
Separated Material
Title: Paul Relis journals
Identifier/Call Number: SBHC Mss 110
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
2.92 linear feet
(7 document boxes)
Creator:
Relis, Paul
Date (inclusive): 1971-2015
Date (bulk): 1980-2015
Abstract: This collection consists primarily of personal journals, as well as manuscripts, booklets, correspondence, and articles documenting
the environmental community outreach activities and personal reflections of author and environmentalist Paul Relis of Santa
Barbara, California.
Physical Location: UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Use Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Paul Relis journals, SBHC Mss 110. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara
Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Paul Relis, 2016.
Biographical Note
Paul Relis got his start in the environmental movement in the wake of the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969, while an undergraduate
in English at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). In the aftermath of the spill, public interest and activism
spurred the founding of several groups whose purpose was solely to protect the environment. Relis became the first executive
director of one of these groups, the Community Environmental Council (CEC), when he was 23, working closely with Marc McGinnes,
who would also become an important figure in the West Coast environmentalist movement. The CEC focused on ideas to help the
environment, establishing several public gardens experimenting in organic horticulture, as well as solar power, large scale
composting, and biogas. Relis spearheaded grassroots efforts to start recycling programs, Santa Barbara Earth Day, and community
gardens in the early 1970s. Relis is currently Senior Vice President of CR & R Incorporated, an environmental services company
focusing on providing recycling and waste services. Relis has also served as a lecturer at UCSB.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into two series:
Series I. Environmentalism and
Series II. Journals.
Scope and Content
This collection primarily consists of Paul Relis's personal journals. The journals span from 1971 to 2014, and not only recount
his activities in the environmental movement, but also his personal reflections on politics, poetry, and life.
The collection contains original copies of
The Santa Barbara Survival Times from the 1970s, as well as clippings, notes and correspondence to and from Relis, documenting the response to projects undertaken
by the Community Environmental Council, especially community gardens activities.
Additionally, there is a manuscript of his book,
Tracks: a Personal Journey on the Environmental Frontier, eventually retitled as
Out of the Wasteland: Stories from the Environmental Frontier.
Separated Material
Published literature listed below has been separated out from the collection for cataloging, and will be accessible through
the UCSB Library Catalog.
Merrill, Richard, ed.
Radical Agriculture. New York: New York University Press, 1976.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Environmentalism -- California -- Santa Barbara
Environmentalists -- California -- Santa Barbara
Articles
Booklets
Correspondence
Journals (accounts)
Manuscripts (documents)
Relis, Paul -- Archives
McGinnes, J. Marc, 1941-
Community Environmental Council