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Guide to the Dick Smith collection SBHC Mss 56
SBHC Mss 56  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access Restrictions
  • Use Restrictions
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope and Content
  • Related Materials at UCSB
  • Related Materials Elsewhere

  • Title: Dick Smith collection
    Identifier/Call Number: SBHC Mss 56
    Contributing Institution: UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: .3 linear feet (1 flat oversize box)
    Creator: Smith, Dick
    Date (inclusive): 1963-1976
    Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library

    Access Restrictions

    The collection is open for research.

    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.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of Item], Dick Smith collection, SBHC Mss 56. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Acquisition Information

    Gift of Mrs. Dick [Olive] Smith, 1977, and undetermined.

    Biographical Note

    Richard J. [Dick] Smith was born in Minnesota on Aug. 29, 1920. He came to Santa Barbara County in 1948, got a job at the Santa Barbara News-Press as Promotion Manager and continued to work there part-time, spending the rest of his time hiking the backcountry. Over the years he came to be known as Santa Barbara County's foremost backwoodsman and a local wilderness area bears his name.
    In 1964 Smith co-authored California Condor: Vanishing American with Robert O. Easton. A posthumous work, Condor Journal: The History, Mythology, and Reality of the California Condor, was edited by his wife, Olive Kingston Smith, in 1978.
    Dick Smith died on Feb. 2, 1977.

    Scope and Content

    The collection contains more than 300 color slides, mainly of the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill and its aftermath. Included are images of oil rigs, shoreline, beaches, oil soaked birds and animals, clean-up efforts, and some aerialviews. There are duplicates of some images. Most were taken January-Feb. 1969, but some are as early as 1963 (mainly nature images) and others as late as 1976 (mainly oil spill aftermath). Some slides have a Dick Smith stamp.
    The slides are mainly Ektachrome, most with 'H" batch numbers. Some are labelled as DS and have other descriptions, so probably all in the same batch are by him, even if not so labelled. 'H' batches in general are probably by him, especially if in the same date ranges and with similar descriptions.
    Slides have been arranged by date, batch number, then by slide number within the batch. Unidentified slides, without batch numbers, may be duplicates and are filed after the others.

    Related Materials at UCSB

    Easton [Robert O.] Collection. Box 2, Folder 9 contains Sisquoc Ranch Photographic Essay, with photos probably by Dick Smith, ca. 1966. (SBHC Mss 6).
    GOO Collection. About 200 prints, many oversize, some matted, most by Dick Smith, relating to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. (SBHC Mss 10).

    Related Materials Elsewhere

    SBNH Museum Library. The library's webpage lists a Dick Smith Collection. Check with the library staff there for further details.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Oil spills -- California -- Santa Barbara Channel -- Photographs
    Oil spills and wildlife -- California -- Santa Barbara Channel -- Photographs
    Marine pollution -- California -- Santa Barbara Channel -- Photographs
    Color slides
    Color prints
    Smith, Dick