In 1898 Bernard Moses, the University of California's first professor of history, established the University Chronicle, later known as the University of California Chronicle. He saw that "there were and would be public addresses at the University and documents relating to the affairs of the institution that ought to be preserved and made readily available," as he wrote in his unpublished autobiography.
That Chronicle, appearing quarterly between 1898 and 1933, provided its readers with intelligent and entertaining accounts of contemporary events in the university's social, academic, and administrative life. Moreover, the Chronicle no doubt assisted in creating and fostering an identity, crucial not only for the campus community but also in mediating the university's dealings with the public.
Today, our institutional identity might appear to be firmly established - UC and its several distinguished campuses are known throughout the world - but institutional memory is ebbing. Every year thousands of new students (along with new faculty members, administrators, and staff) enter the university's campuses with little knowledge of the institution beyond its admissions requirements, academic ratings, and perhaps its reputation for radicalism in the 1960s. And every year almost as many students leave knowing little more about their alma mater than when they entered.
Without memory there is no identity; without identity the university is left as a mere collection of disparate buildings and people.
From 1998-2009, the Editorial Board and Managing Editor Carroll Brentano revived the University of California Chronicle: a Journal of University History. The Chronicle offered a historical perspective, considering past university events in the context of ongoing changes within the university. Issues were organized around single themes that presented an inherent longitudinal view of the university’s development.
The full text of each volume is available through the links on the right, bookmarked for each article. Hard copies may be found in the Doe Library Reference Room, other Berkeley campus libraries, and the Northern Regional Library Facility. Call no: LD758.C47