To commemorate UC Irvine’s 50th Anniversary, UCI Libraries launched a 50th Anniversary Historical Documentation Project. A major goal of this project was to identify, collect, preserve, and make available important historical records not yet part of the University Archives. In addition to digitizing hundreds of slides, photos, audio and video recordings, and publications, the project also included a unique oral history collection effort called UCI Stories.
Inspired by StoryCorps, UCI Stories facilitated 50 discussion pairings of over 100 campus leaders, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliates representing the diversity of UCI in the broadest sense. The reminiscences collected during the dynamic hour-long video recorded conversations offer first-hand perspectives that tell the multifaceted story of UCI’s intellectual contributions, key turning points, and unique legacy.
It is our hope that this website will provide the UCI campus, greater Irvine community, scholars, and the general public with access to the memories, reflections, and predictions shared by the UCI community during the UCI Stories project. Thoughtfully curated video clips highlight the spoken words of UCI Stories participants, thereby documenting how over the past 50 years, UCI has given birth to generations of community-oriented difference-makers driven by a pioneering spirit that has permeated the campus long before a physical building ever stood on the land. UCI Stories captures how this spirit glues UCI together, and often after graduation calls Anteaters back home. Every great story has three main parts: characters with whom you can identify, a memorable and imaginable setting, and a plot based on the unexpected experiences of protagonists. This is UCI Stories.
Video production by UCI Media Services.