C.H. Muller Library and Archives

General Collection

The C. H. Muller Library currently houses over 2,700 volumes of books, government publications, and technical reports, a large reprint collection, archive and manuscript collections, and maps.  The general collection focuses primarily on the plant sciences, covering topics such as ecology, systematics, anatomy and physiology, ecological restoration, and plant distribution with an emphasis on California. Other areas covered are: ornithology, marine biology, wetland classification and ecology, and campus and regional land use issues. The Brigger-Holmes Diatom collection includes over 400 volumes on worldwide distribution and systematics of diatoms.

The library is a resource for faculty, staff, students, and the community, and books may be checked out for a period of three weeks. The library is open to the public during regular university hours (M-F 8:30-5 PM).  

 

Archives and Manuscripts

CCBER houses the papers of a number of past UCSB biology faculty and researchers, representing an important source of historical information. The collections consist of correspondence, publications, field notebooks, research data, photographic images, drawings, historic maps, rare books, and memorabilia, much of which is complemented by associated plant, animal, and algal specimens.  A finding aid for each of CCBER's archival collections is located in the Online Archive of California and many of these collections are now in the UCSB Library.

Collections of note include: Vernon Cheadle, Katherine Esau, Demorest Davenport, and Cornelius H. Muller.  The archives also houses the institutional records of the Museum of Systematics and Ecology and several donated collections about the UCSB Natural Reserve System and its reserves at Carpinteria Salt Marsh, Sedgwick Ranch, and Coal Oil Point.

 

 

 

Illustration from The Butterflies of North America by William H. Edwards, 1868.

 

Digital Collections

CCBER aims to provide faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, staff, and the community at large with archival and biological collections to support teaching and research. In the past five years, CCBER has received funding for digitization of several collections to help fulfill this goal.

Esau Digital Archive

The Katherine Esau Digital Archive, begun in 2008, offers access to over 350 images from her papers and a growing collection of plant anatomy images.

Cheadle Photographs of Cuba

Plant anatomist Vernon Cheadle spent six weeks in 1936 studying and collecting plants at the Harvard Botanic Station for Tropical Research and Sugar Cane Investigation in Cuba, formerly owned by Edwin Atkins.  The Cheadle Collection contains over 150 photos taken from the gardens of the field station, now known as the Jardin Botanico de Cienfuegos. Most of these images have been digitized to preserve the originals and to make them available online.

Field Notebooks and Catalogs

Field notebooks for vouchered plant and animal specimens are kept and preserved at CCBER.  Most of the vertebrate specimen catalogs have been scanned, as well as the field observation notebooks.  These are available as PDFs and may be viewed at CCBER.  Some of the botanical field notebooks of former Herbarium Director Wayne Ferren have also been scanned.  These items are currently being catalogued in our Specify database and will be available online through our upcoming Specify web portal.