Bruce Berger Papers
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2018
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Descriptive Summary
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Bruce Berger Papers
Creator:
Berger, Bruce
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0783
Physical Description:
2 Linear feet
(4 archives boxes, 1 card file box)
Physical Description:
.108 GB
of digital files
Date (inclusive): 1968-2015
Abstract: Papers of Bruce Berger, a nonfiction writer and poet, which document his travel and research in Baja, California from the
late 1960s through 2015.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Bruce Berger, a nonfiction writer and poet, which document his travel and research in Baja, California from the
late 1960s through 2015. The collection consists primarily of short works such as typewritten journal entries and essays,
supplemental research materials (clippings, reports and pamphlets), and a selection of manuscripts from Berger's books
Almost an Island (1998),
Sierra, Sea and Desert: El Vizcaíno (1998), and
La Giganta y Guadalupe (2010). The collection contains audiocassettes that record interviews conducted by Berger. Some of the material, particularly
the supplemental materials, are in Spanish.
Arranged in four series: 1) SHORT WORKS AND SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL, 2) BOOK EXCERPTS AND ESSAYS, 3) NOTEBOOKS and 4) AUDIOCASSETTES.
Biography
Bruce Nicolas Berger was born in 1938 in Evanston, Illinois. He earned his bachelor's degree in English from Yale in 1961.
Berger pursued graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, but did not receive a degree. Instead, he settled
in Francoist Spain from 1965 to 1967, learning Spanish and playing the piano to earn an income. In 1968, he made his first
journey to Baja California. Over the next fifty years, he would reside alternatively between Baja and his home in Aspen, Colorado.
Berger has published over a dozen books, many of which consider themes of "the intersections of nature and culture, usually
in desert settings" (bruceberger.net). His essays and poetry have appeared in publications such as
New Letters and
Orion Magazine. He was the recipient of the 1990 Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction, the 2006 Colorado Authors' League Award
for Specialty Writing, and the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award's Silver Medal for the Most Outstanding Nonfiction Book
of the Year (for
The End of the Sherry).
Preferred Citation
Bruce Berger Papers. MSS 783. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 2015, 2017.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Restrictions
Original audiocassette recordings are restricted for preservation. Researchers may request listening copies in advance of
their visit.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Baja California (Mexico : Peninsula) -- Description and travel
La Paz (Baja California Sur, Mexico) -- Social life and customs
Berger, Bruce -- Archives
Berger, Bruce -- Travel -- Mexico -- Baja California (Peninsula)
SHORT WORKS AND SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Scope and Content of Series
Series 1) SHORT WORKS AND SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Excerpted journal entries, short articles and/or essays, writing fragments,
correspondence, and secondary materials relating to events, people, and places in Baja. Topics include: La Paz, the capital
of Baja California Sur; natural phenomena specific to Baja; prominent locals like Salvador Garcia Pineda ("El Jeque"); and
environmental conservation. The titles of most folders are Berger's own.
Box 1, Folder 1
Baja California - Environmental concerns
ca. 1992-2009
General note
Includes pamphlets, reports, and writings.
Box 1, Folder 2
Baja California - Islands
1988-2004
General note
Includes Berger essay, "The Science of Desert Islands."
Box 1, Folder 3
Baja California - Presentations and talks
1997-2012
Box 1, Folder 4
Baja California missions
undated, 2002
Vertebrados de las islas del Pacífico de Baja California
2007
General note
Report by Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A. C.
Box 1, Folder 5
Copper industry report, Santa Rosalía
2008, 2011
Box 1, Folder 6
Desmadre
2001
General note
Includes newspaper clippings and information on the environmental debate of Escalera Nautica (Nautical Steps).
Box 1, Folder 7
Development, culture and roads
ca. 1994-2015
General note
Includes journals, Loreto development pitches.
Box 1, Folder 8
Flora and fauna
1979-2002
General note
Includes clippings, reports, and Berger writings
Box 1, Folder 9
Presentations and talks
1997-2012
General note
Includes Berger essay, "On Translating Estela Davis."
Box 1, Folder 10
Problems and criticism
2000-2008
General note
Original title included following terms: Exploration, dispossession/despojo, privatization salt project in Laguna San Ignacio
Aerocalifornia, charcoal/carbon, officials eating Caguama.
Box 1, Folder 13
Balandra
2005-2008
General note
Includes clippings, writings, correspondence.
Box 1, Folder 14
Carbon Ironwood/Palo Fierro
ca. 1993-2011
Box 1, Folder 15
El Vizcaino - Peninsular pronghorn and osprey
1984-1995
General note
Includes Berger essays, "Ex Portadora de Sal" and "Guerrero Negro."
Box 1, Folder 16
Estela Davis translation
ca. 2000
Box 1, Folder 17
Evaporation (salt) plant and gray whales, San Ignacio Lagoon
1995-1999
Box 1, Folder 18
"La Virgen de El Coyote" and "Burning Eye" - Unpublished short essays
undated
Box 2, Folder 1
The Sheik of La Paz
ca. 1995
General note
Unpublished essay.
Box 2, Folder 8
Castorena Davis, Lorella - Presentación del Avance de Investigación de "Palabras e Imagenes de la Ciudad de La Paz, 1900-1959"
undated
Box 2, Folder 7
Writings
1990-2015
General note
Includes journal entries.
Box 2, Folder 6
Piano concert - "La Paz Intermezzo"
1973
Box 2, Folder 5
Drug violence
2014-2015
General note
Includes translation of letter from Fernando Aceves Garcia.
Box 2, Folder 4
Journal entries - Bahia Magdalena travel
1987 January-February
Box 2, Folder 3
Journal entries - Art and music
1992-1997
Box 2, Folder 2
Short clippings and writings
1976-2004
Box 2, Folder 9
Means, Tim and Nora White - Conversation
1991-1993
General note
Operators of Baja Expeditions. Includes descriptive writings and correspondence.
Box 2, Folder 11
Niparajá - Socieda de Historia Natural Niparajá AC financial report
2003 March
Niparajá
2003-2007
General
Assorted files in a variety of format (PDF, Word, Excel, JPEG), primarily documenting environmental and conservation activities.
Includes 2003 San Diego Natural History Museum Binational Multidisciplinary Expedition conservation report, and other reports
on the Corredor San Cosme-Punta Mechudo, in Spanish.
Box 2, Folder 12
Pineda, Salvador Garcia - "El Jeque, Distiller of Damiana"
1992
General note
A well-known La Paz distiller and winemaker. Includes photos. Related audiocassettes in Box 5.
Box 2, Folder 13
Planeta Peninsula - Miguel Angel de la Cueva
2003
Box 2, Folder 14
Problems of carbon in flora and fauna
ca. 2004
Box 2, Folder 15-16
San Cosme-Punta Mechudo corridor
1993-2003
General note
Various environmental studies and reports; correspondence with Tim Means.
Box 2, Folder 17
San Ignacio
1975-2005
General note
Includes journal entries, writings, clippings, and a reproduction photograph.
Box 2, Folder 18
San Ignacio - "Night of the Gueras"
1988
General note
Includes journal entries.
Box 3, Folder 1
Santa Rosalía church
1992-1997
General note
Includes clippings and notes.
Box 3, Folder 2
Whales and whale watching
ca. 1983-1995
Box 1, Folder 19
Winemaking in the Comondus / The winemaking tradition in Los Comondú - Profile by Francisco López Gutiérrez on the Murrillo
Pérpuli family and mission-style wines
BOOKS AND ESSAYS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 2) BOOKS AND ESSAYS: Drafts of a selection of Berger's major published works, including the books
Almost an Island (1998),
La Giganta y Guadalupe (2010), and
Sierra, Sea and Desert: El Vizcaíno (1998).
Box 3, Folder 3
"Islomania" - Alternative introduction
undated
Box 3, Folder 4
Chapter 2 - Annotated draft
undated
Box 3, Folder 5
Chapter 4 - Annotated draft
1977
Box 3, Folder 6
The Curse of the Chingadero
undated
General note
Unpublished manuscript. Material within informs Chapter 4, pages 58-67.
Box 3, Folder 7-8
Son of the River Journal Meets Baja
1968
General note
Two versions of a chronicle of the first trip to Baja. Evolved into first chapter of
Almost an Island.
Box 3, Folder 9-10
Baja California Precludes
undated
Box 3, Folder 11
First Trip to Baja California with Katie Lee
1968
Box 4, Folder 3
Interviews and background material
2008-2009
Box 4, Folder 4
Original and final texts with bios and captions
2008-2009
Box 4, Folder 5
Lico (Federico Savín Talamantes)/Sierra Le Gigante
2001-2012
General note
Uncompleted manuscript and journals: "Rancho San Juan, Santa Martha/San Carlos."
Box 4, Folder 7
Sierra, Sea and Desert: El Vizcaíno - Typescript
1998
Box 4, Folder 8
Sierra, Sea and Desert: El Vizcaíno - Interviews and background material
1995-1998
Box 4, Folder 9
Miscellaneous unpublished manuscripts
undated
NOTEBOOKS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 3) NOTEBOOKS: Berger's notebooks, which include observations on topics ranging from the total solar eclipse of 1991,
to cave paintings in Baja. Titles are Berger's own.
Box 4, Folder 10
Cueva Pentada
1977 October
Box 4, Folder 11
Total solar eclipse
1991-1992
General note
Includes background materials and research.
Box 4, Folder 12
Cave paintings, Sierra San Francisco, Santa Rosalía and San Ignacio
1995
Box 4, Folder 13
El Vizcaíno, Guadalajara, Puerto Chale, misc.
ca. 1990-1999
Box 4, Folder 14
Isla Cedros, la Reforma, notes on habitat
2003
Box 4, Folder 15
Miscellaneous Baja notebooks
undated, 1991
AUDIOCASSETTES
Scope and Content of Series
Series 4) AUDIOCASSETTES: Sound recordings of Berger's interviews with Bajan locals, including personalities featured in Berger's
writings, such as El Jeque. Identifying notes from the original cassettes were transcribed for the finding aid description.
Box 5, Folder 1
DR at Eclipse, Robert Fadal
1992 April 2
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Restrictions Apply
Box 5, Folder 2-3
El Jeque
1992 May 15
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Box 5, Folder 4
Ruben
1993 March 23
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Box 5, Folder 5
Alev and Rina
1993 May 5
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Box 5, Folder 6
Mary and Mac - El Meson
1993 May 15
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Box 5, Folder 7
Bertine
1993 May
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Box 5, Folder 8
Victor Sanchez Sotomayor
undated
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Box 5, Folder 9
Consuelo (entrevista y trando Puerto de Ilusion)
1994 April
Access
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Box 5, Folder 10
Consuelo (Hymno de las Mujeres Profesionistas)
undated
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Box 5, Folder 11
Paul Lorem (7/10) Walter (7/11) Abrams family
undated
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Box 5, Folder 12
Jose Luis Leon
2009 March 30
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Box 5, Folder 13
Fermin
2009 April 3
General note
Possibly defective tape.
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Box 5, Folder 14
Fermin
2009 April 3
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Box 5, Folder 15
Organico Alevanra Nieto - Gari Bay
undated
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Box 5, Folder 16
Carmen Vazquez
2009 May 1
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Box 5, Folder 17
Fco DLMOS
2009 May 6
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Box 5, Folder 18
Aaron
2009 May 7
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Box 5, Folder 19
Paty Galino/Sergio Alvarez
2009 May 8
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