Guide to the Philip L. Boyd collection on University of California, Irvine site selection AS.067
Finding aid prepared by Leland Smith.
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
(cc) 2003
The UCI Libraries
P.O. Box 19557
University of California, Irvine
Irvine 92623-9557
spcoll@uci.edu
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Title: Philip L. Boyd collection on University of California, Irvine site selection
Creator:
Boyd, Philip L.
Identifier/Call Number: AS.067
Physical Description:
0.2 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1958-1964
Abstract: This collection contains materials related to the selection of the campus site for the University of California, Irvine. The
collection primarily consists of correspondence between former University of California Regent, Philip L. Boyd and parties
interested in or participating in the selection of the Irvine campus site. Correspondence spans the initial search for a site
in 1958 to the development of specific buildings and the development of a curriculum for the new campus in 1964. Correspondents
include members of the California legislature, local business community leaders, University Regents, members of the Irvine
Company, and California Governor Edmund Brown. Also included are photographs documenting the signing of the site selection
agreement and aerial photographs of the proposed site. This collection also contains a site selection status report published
in 1958 that details campus site searches for the Southern California Metropolitan Center Section (Irvine) and the Southern
Cross Section (San Diego).
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open for research.
Property rights and copyright reside with the University of California. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please
contact the University Archivist.
Philip L. Boyd collection on University of California, Irvine site selection. AS-067. Special Collections and Archives, The
UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this
collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Acquired, 1978.
Processed by Leland Smith in 2003.
A rapidly growing California population in the late 1950s prompted the Regents of the University of California to explore
the possibility of adding new campuses in an attempt to meet the state's escalating need for higher education. Enrollment
projections suggested that the University would require three new campuses by 1970 to meet the rising demand. After selecting
Santa Cruz and San Diego as new outposts for the University, the Regents undertook a search to discover a campus site in the
Southeast Los Angeles-Orange County area. The Regents selected twenty-three sites in the region based on size, shape, physical
setting, availability, accessibility, their relationship to the center of population and potential for planned community development.
Additional criteria for selecting a campus site included finding an area with a large and increasing population, and a strategic
site that would relieve pressure from existing campuses, namely Los Angeles and Riverside.
Because the new Irvine campus did not previously exist as a University satellite campus, developers were able to carefully
select a site and its development that met the criteria of their conceptualized model. After narrowing their selection to
the three highest-ranking sites, site #9 situated inland from Newport Beach and located on the Irvine Ranch was tentatively
selected. The Irvine Ranch site was perceived as having the greatest long-term potential for development, despite its relative
remoteness. Planners envisioned a campus surrounded by a burgeoning planned community that naturally facilitated a relationship
between "town and gown." The Irvine Ranch site was also attractive because ownership of the land resided with a single owner,
The Irvine Company.
Once the campus site was chosen, the University undertook to appropriate the necessary land for the new campus. In 1960 the
Irvine Company reached an agreement with the University of California to deed as a gift one thousand acres of land for a new
campus in Orange County. The Regents were convinced that an additional plot of land would be necessary to meet the new campus's
ancillary needs. Over the course of the next four years, The Irvine Company and UC negotiated the terms of sale for an Inclusion
Area, intended primarily for faculty, staff, and student housing, as well as commercial development adjacent to the campus.
In 1963, the two parties reached an agreement in which UC purchased 510 additional acres at a price of $6,500 per acre.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection contains materials related to the selection of the campus site for the University of California, Irvine. The
collection primarily consists of correspondence between former University of California Regent, Philip L. Boyd and parties
interested in or participating in the selection of the Irvine campus site. Correspondence spans the initial search for a site
in 1958 to the development of specific buildings and the development of a curriculum for the new campus in 1964. Correspondents
include members of the California legislature, local business community leaders, University Regents, members of the Irvine
Company, and California Governor Edmund Brown. Also included are photographs documenting the signing of the site selection
agreement and aerial photographs of the proposed site. This collection also contains a site selection status report published
in 1958 that details campus site searches for the Southern California Metropolitan Center Section (Irvine) and the Southern
Cross Section (San Diego).
This collection is arranged into three categories: correspondence, photos, and reports. Correspondence is arranged chronologically.
Related materials can be found in the following collections:
· As-089 · Land Agreements between the University of California and the Irvine Company, AS-090
See also: Luckman (Charles) Associates. University of California Site Selection Study; a Report [to the Board of Regents]
on the Search for New Campus Sites, Southern California Metropolitan Center Section [and] South Cross Section. Los Angeles
: Charles Luckman Associates, [1959].
box 1, folder 1-7
Correspondence 1958-1964
Photographs
box 1, folder 8
Signing of agreement for Irvine Ranch site 1960
box 1, folder 8
Aerial photographs of proposed campus site 1960
Physical Description: 5 items.
Reports
box 1, folder 9
Site Selection Status Report: Southern California Metropolitan Center Section and the Southern Cross Section 1958