The fruit of several months of planning, the center’s donation spans a key period of the North Coast’s environmental history.
Library Dean Teresa Grenot said the historical significance of the records lies in the influence of EPIC on the way the California Forest Practices Act has been carried out. “The impact and benefits of its decades of work have extended well beyond our region,” she noted.
The EPIC archives will buttress the Library’s Forest Communities Collection, considered a unique research tool for both the campus and the community.
“This donation builds on our other renowned regional collections,” Grenot said, among them the recently-completed Peter Palmquist Working Photograph Collection and the Tim McKay and Rudolf Becking Collections. Regional archives also include the historical Don H. Clausen Congressional Papers, opened to researchers several years ago. All are open to the public.
Preparatory work continues on several smaller donations. Collections from the Humboldt Watershed Council and the Northcoast Environmental Center comprise other key parts of regional history.
Grenot said, “Taken together, these multiple collections tell the story of our North Coast forest communities and the region at large.”
The EPIC papers will be available alike to students, faculty and community members when Library specialists complete the lengthy task of readying them for research purposes.
“The University Library is truly honored to have the trust of the community in preserving these materials,” Grenot stated. “Humboldt State University works actively on behalf of our region through the preservation of a wide assortment of North Coast historical documents that provide a fuller and more useful record of life in this area.”
Information about the collections and appointments to use them are available from Joan Berman at 707/826-4939 or Edie Butler at 707/826-5602, HSU Library Special Collections.