Descriptive Summary
Access Restrictions
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Related Materials in UCSB Special Collections
Descriptive Summary
Title: Oil Spill Information Center (OSIC) Collection
Dates: ca. 1923-1973
Bulk Dates: 1969-1972
Collection Number: SBHC Mss 11
Creator:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Oil Spill Information Center
Extent:
45 linear feet
(20 document boxes, 1 half-size document box, 31 record containers, 2 oversize boxes, 19 film reels, 1 drawer of slides, and
5 open-reel tapes).
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical Location: Series I-IX (Boxes 1-51, SRLF; Series X (Box 52, Del Sur); Series XI, XIII (Film and Audiotape sections, Annex 2); Series
XII (Cab. 1:4, Vault); Series XIV (Boxes, 53-54, Del Sur Oversize).
Language:
English.
Access Restrictions
None.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special 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. Film footage KEYT-TV may be viewed and copies made for non-commercial,
educational use, but for commercial use, permission to copy must be obtained from KEYT-TV.
Preferred Citation
Oil Spill Information Center (OSIC) Collection. SBHC Mss 11. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University
of California, Santa Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Transfer from UCSB Science and Engineering Library (SEL), 1983.
History
The following information was taken from a 1971 printed pamphlet about the Oil Information Center (OSIC):
The Oil Spill Information Center was established in March, 1969, in order to answer an immediate need for information on the
causes, effects, and subsequent implications of the Santa Barbara Channel oil spill of January 28, 1969. Initial collection
efforts centered around material which was available at the time only locally.
Within a few months, however, it became apparent that documentation of the Santa Barbara incident was but part of much larger
and more urgent need for a comprehensive documentation program on all offshore oil pollution phenomena, particularly in relation
to consequences and effective abatement measures. In view of the fact that no facility existed in the United States that offered
a readily available, comprehensive, and organized collection of relevant material on the subject, the Center began to develop
a systematic program of bibliographic searching, acquiring, indexing, and disseminating all information pertaining to offshore
oil spill events on a global scale, whether of natural, technological, intentional or accidental origin. As a result, the
Center has expanded into an international documentation network covering all offshore oil spills and related aspects, with
a literature survey and collection effort dating to the Submerged Lands Act of 1953 (Submerged Lands Act, May 22, 1953 [67
Stat. 29], also called Public Law 83-31).
At present the Center's information resources contain more than 10,000 items represented in a wide variety of source material,
including newspaper and journal articles; local, state, and federal legislative hearings; technical and government contract
reports; maps and aerial photographs; slides; video tapes and films; monographs, symposia, and conference proceedings; patents
and theses. More than two hundred tanker incidents and major drilling accidents are documented in this collection, including
the
Torrey Canyon spill off the Cornwall Coast of England, the
Ocean Eagle off Puerto Rico, and the
Arrow off Nova Scotia. The Santa Barbara Channel spill is comprehensively documented."
The Oil Spill Information Center was closed June 30, 1972, due to lack of ongoing financial support. The collection was transferred
to Special Collections in 1983.
Scope and Content of Collection
The four-volume publication
Oil Pollution: An Index-Catalog to the Collection of the Oil Spill Information Center (Santa Barbara: University Library, UCSB, 1972) serves as a guide to specific items in the collection. Copies of the index
are located in Special Collections and the Sciences and Engineering Library (SEL) [Z7173.W3 C3)].
Citations in the index include locations (OSIC, SEL, Map Room, GP, etc.) and reference numbers. The OSIC citations refer to
the material now housed in Special Collections as SBHC Mss 11. Additional oil spill material is housed in other parts of the
library. Many of these items have been cataloged separately and can be searched on Pegasus, the UCSB Libraries online catalog.
The following is a key to the Oil Pollution references:
- AP = Aerial Photograph (in Map and Imagery Lab [MIL])
- F = Film
- GP = Government Publication
- JO = Journal
- LE = Letter
- ML = Miscellaneous
- MO = Monograph
- NE = Newspaper
- PA = Pamphlet
- PH = Photograph
- PO = Poster
- PT = Patent
- SL = Slide
- TA = Tape
- TR = Technical Report
- UN = Unpublished Research, Speeches
- VT = Videotape
Arrangement
The collection contains the following series, which are listed in roughly the same order as originally received:
Series I: Newspapers (Boxes 1-15: 55 binders), 1967-1972. Primarily clippings of articles, letters to the editor, and cartoons from the
Santa Barbara News-Press and other California newspapers. Contains several sections, the binders for each being numbered separately. These are; Miscellaneous
Newspapers, 1969-1970 (12 binders), Collected Cartoons, ca. 1967-1970 (1 binder),
Santa Barbara News-Press Letters to the Editor, 1969 (5 binders),
Santa Barbara News-Press Articles, 1969 (12 binders),
Santa Barbara News-Press Articles, 1970 (11 binders),
Santa Barbara News-Press Letters, 1970-1972; Selected Cartoons, 1969-1972 (1 binder), All Newspapers, 1970-1972 (12 binders), Unnumbered Newspaper
Articles, 1969 (1 binder).
Series II: Pamphlets (Box 16: 3 binders), ca. 1963-1972. Includes announcements, flyers, programs, brochures, technical specifications, data sheets,
proposals, and advertisements.
Series III: Patents (Box 16: 1 binder), 1967-1971. Photocopies, mainly relating to removal of oil films from water.
Series IV: Government Publications (Boxes 17-22), ca. 1923-1972. Copies of local, California, and U.S. materials such as hearings, statements, news releases,
reports, bills, resolutions, regulations, laws and statutes. Also some items from other states and countries.
Series V: Journals (Boxes 23-36: 57 binders), ca. 1936-1972. Primarily copies of articles in journals, magazines, newsletters, and bulletins.
Contains four sections, the binders for each being numbered separately. These are: Santa Barbara Case (6 binders), General
Pollution (27 binders), Other Cases (6 binders), and General (18 binders).
Series VI: Letters (Box 36: 1 binder), ca. 1967-1971. Mainly copies of memos and letters from private individuals, geologists and other experts,
legislators, and from oil companies to employees.
Series VII: Monographs (Boxes 37-47), ca. 1964-1973. Mainly items with identified authors and titles, such as papers, reports, plans, and chapters
from books.
Series VIII: Technical Reports (Box 48), 1967, 1970. Three items, including a bibliography on oil pollution of marine waters.
Series IX: Miscellany (Boxes 49-51), ca. 1969-1972. OSIC office files, as well as clippings, blueprints, maps, and reports apparently not filed
in other series.
Series X: Photographs (Box 52), 1969. Photos (b/w and color prints) taken by several individuals.
Series XI: Film (19 black and white reels), 1969. KEYT-TV news film footage of the Oil Spill. Film may be viewed and copies made for non-commercial,
educational use. For commercial use, permission to copy must be obtained from KEYT-TV.
Series XII: Slides (1 drawer), 1969. Color.
Series XIII: Audiotapes (5 open reel tapes), 1969, n.d. Dubridge Panel Report and Tempest in the Sea Lecture Series.
Series XIV: Oversize (Boxes 53-54), 1969-1970. Newspaper articles, journal articles, beach use survey; bound
Santa Barbara News-Press.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Oil Spill Information Center
Related Materials in UCSB Special Collections
California Coastal Commission Collection (SBHC Mss 39).
Clyde (George) Scrapbooks (SBHC Mss 53).
County Resource Management Office (CRMO) Collection (SBHC Mss 25).
Easton (Robert O.) Collection (SBHC Mss 6).
Get Oil Out (GOO) Collection (SBHC Mss 10).
Rand (William Whitehill) Papers (SBHC Mss 46).
Saadi (Ruth) Collection (SBHC Mss 14).
Santa Barbara Oil Spill Scrapbook (SBHC Mss 52).
Sharp (Robert C.) Collection (SBHC Mss 7).
Smith (Dick) Collection (SBHC Mss 56).
Sollen (Robert) Collection (SBHC Mss 33).
Von Breton (Harriette) Papers (SBHC Mss 8).
Weigand, et al, v. County, et al (Channel Island Drilling) Collection (SBHC Mss 31).