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Chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich correspondence and other materials (University of California, Irvine)
AS.002  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Processing History
  • Historical Background
  • Collection Scope and Content Summary
  • Collection Arrangement
  • Related Collections

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
    Title: University of California, Irvine, Chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich correspondence and other materials
    Creator: Aldrich, Daniel G.
    Identifier/Call Number: AS.002
    Physical Description: 11.1 Linear Feet (29 boxes and 1 OS folder)
    Date (inclusive): 1962-1984
    Abstract: The collection consists mainly of correspondence sent from the office of Daniel G. Aldrich during his tenure as chancellor of the University of California, Irvine (1962-1984). It also includes correspondence congratulating Aldrich on his appointment as chancellor (1962-1963), desk calendar pages (1972-1973), daily appointment files (1967-1973) and other material.
    Language of Material: English .

    Access

    Series 1, subseries 2 (outgoing correspondence) contains restricted personnel records interfiled throughout the subseries. Unrestricted materials in this subseries can be made available with sufficient advance notice. Other materials in the collection are open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Property rights reside with the University of California. Copyrights are generally retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright. For information on use, copyright, and attribution, please visit: http://special.lib.uci.edu/using/publishing.html

    Preferred Citation

    University of California, Irvine, Chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich correspondence files and other materials. AS-002. 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.

    Acquisition Information

    Transferred from Administrative Services in 1977, 1984 and 1989.

    Processing History

    Processed by Lee Johnson in 1998 and Ann Clark in 2009.

    Historical Background

    Daniel G. Aldrich was the founding chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, serving from 1962 until 1984. Aldrich's background in agriculture and his connection with the land-grant system at the University of Rhode Island influenced his decision to design a campus in which environmental planning and community service would be crucial. After accepting the appointment of chancellor he set out to create a university faithful to the land-grant tradition, yet appropriate to the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century.
    Born in Northwood, New Hampshire, on July 12, 1918, Aldrich received his Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Agriculture at the University of Rhode Island in 1939. He earned his Master's of Science degree at the University of Arizona in 1941 and married the former Jean Hamilton. He went on to get his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1943.
    Aldrich began his academic career at the University of California in 1944 as a soil chemist at the Citrus Experiment Station, now the University of California, Riverside. In 1955 he was appointed chair of the Soils departments concurrently for the University of California, Davis and The University of California, Berkeley. In 1958 he became dean of Agriculture for the University of California, presiding over agricultural teaching programs at Davis, Berkeley, Riverside and Los Angeles, as well as the Statewide Agricultural Experiment Station. He was responsible for activities on four campuses, a network of field stations, and the Agricultural Extension Service, with farm advisors and home advisors serving 56 of California's 58 counties.
    When appointed to the position of founding chancellor of UC Irvine, Aldrich was given the responsibility for developing the new campus from blueprints to fully operating academic institution within three years. He accomplished this, encouraging the newly recruited deans and department chairs to establish academic programs that reflected new developments in intellectual inquiry. Thus, the School of Biological Sciences pioneered in establishing departments based on levels of analysis, the School of Social Sciences developed programs emphasizing mathematical approaches to inquiry in the social and behavioral sciences, and the School of Humanities fostered programs in creative writing, literary criticism, and comparative literature. The young UC Irvine campus also provided a fertile setting for the development of newly-emerging interdisciplinary programs. The campus landscape was Aldrich's applied laboratory, a reflection of his interest and expertise in soils and plant nutrition.
    Aldrich retired as UC Irvine chancellor in 1984. However, with the sudden death of the UC Riverside chancellor, he became acting chancellor of that institution from 1984-85. He was called again from 1986-87 to become acting chancellor of UC Santa Barbara, after which he retired, finally, and became Chancellor Emeritus of UC Irvine.
    In recognition of Aldrich's key role in the planning and development of the buildings and programs of UC Irvine, the park in the center of campus was dedicated to him and named in his honor in 1984.
    Aldrich was involved in numerous civic and professional activities, receiving honorary degrees and awards from a number of academic institutions as well as many honors in recognition of his professional activities and his contributions to service organizations. He served on advisory committees and boards of a large number of local, national, and international organizations and provided leadership to groups concerned with world-wide problems of agriculture and natural resources, including the President's Agricultural Task Force to Zaire (1985).
    He was also an active participant in a variety of sports, ranging from coaching Little League teams in Riverside, Davis and Berkeley, to participating (and winning medals) in U.S. Master Track and Field Championships, Senior Olympics, and World Association of Veteran Athletes Championships.
    When Daniel Aldrich died on April 9, 1990, he had been with the University of California for 47 years.

    Collection Scope and Content Summary

    The collection consists mainly of correspondence sent from the office of Daniel G. Aldrich during his tenure as chancellor of the University of California, Irvine (1962-1984). It also includes correspondence congratulating Aldrich on his appointment as chancellor (1962-1963), desk calendar pages (1972-1973), daily appointment files (1967-1973) and other material.

    Collection Arrangement

    This collection is arranged in 2 series:
    • Series 1. Correspondence, 1962-1984, 10 linear feet
    • Series 2. Appointment files and other materials, 1963-1974, 1.1 linear feet

    Related Collections

    Related materials can be found in the following collections:

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    College administrators -- California -- Irvine -- History -- Sources
    Chancellors
    Aldrich, Daniel G. -- Archives
    University of California, Irvine -- History
    University of California, Irvine. Office of the Chancellor -- Archives
    University of California, Irvine -- Administration -- Archives
    Aldrich, Daniel G. -- Correspondence