Hardin (Garrett) oral history, 1983

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Title:
Garrett Hardin oral history
Dates:
1983
Creators:
Hardin, Garrett James, 1915-2003 and Russell, David (David E.)
Abstract:
The collection contains background material, audiocassettes, and transcripts of interviews conducted by David E. Russell with Garrett Hardin, in 1983.
Extent:
3 linear feet (3 document boxes, 18 audiocassettes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Garrett Hardin oral history, OH 46. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains background material, audiocassettes, and transcripts of interviews conducted by David E. Russell, with Garrett Hardin, in 1983. The interviews cover Garrett Hardin's life, from early childhood through his academic career, concluding at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The finished version of the oral history is entitled Loitering with Intent: The Life and Times of Garrett Hardin. Oral history conducted by David E. Russell, Santa Barbara: Davidson Library, Oral History Program, 1983. 526 pages.

Biographical / historical:

Garrett Hardin was a professor of Human Ecology at the University of California Santa Barbara. He was a writer and lecturer concerned with the problems of overpopulation, and was best known for his essay The Tragedy of the Commons (Science, 1968).

Born in Dallas, Texas, in 1915, Hardin contracted polio at the age of four, which left him with a crippled right leg. Nonetheless, he excelled in swimming, as well as theater and academics. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Chicago in 1936, and a Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University in 1941. He worked at Stanford until 1946, when he became an assistant professor at UCSB. He remained at UCSB until he retired with the title of professor emeritus in 1978.

Hardin's publications began with a textbook entitled Biology: Its Human Implications (1949-1978). His best known writings on overpopulation include: Nature and Man's Fate (1959), Population, Evolution and Birth Control (1964), and Managing the Commons (1977). Hardin also wrote about the ethics of birth control and abortion in books such as: Birth Control (1970), Exploring New Ethics for Survival (1972), Stalking the Wild Taboo (1973), Mandatory Motherhood: The True Meaning of "Right to Life" (1974), The Limits of Altruism (1977), and Promethean Ethics: Living with Death, Competition and Triage (1980). His more recent books include: Filters against Folly (1985), Living within Limits (1993), The Immigration Dilemma (1995), and The Ostrich Factor (1999).

Garrett Hardin's many awards include the UCSB Faculty Research Lectureship (1968), and numerous honorary degrees. He was a visiting professor at several universities across the country, including the University of California Berkeley, Cornell University, and the University of Notre Dame.

Garrett Hardin died at age 88 in Santa Barbara, California, in 2003.

Acquisition information:
UCSB Oral History Program, 1983.
Processing information:

Preliminary arrangement and description by Special Collections staff; latest version, D. Tambo, Aug. 10, 2015.

Physical location:
Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Zachary Liebhaber, 2015.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2018-02-12 09:54:27 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Garrett Hardin oral history, OH 46. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
Website