Who We Are
The Orange County Collection is community-centered. The collection is curated by Dr. Krystal Tribbett, supported by a team of librarians, archivists, and staff in UCI Libraries' Department of Special Collections & Archives, and grown through ongoing partnerships with the UCI campus and the Orange County community.
History of the Orange County Collection
The library and archive of the prominent local historian, educator, and bibliophile Don Meadows (1924-1994) formed the foundation of the Orange County collection when UCI purchased it in 1972. Meadows’ collecting focused on Orange County, but he also collected California and Baja California. In addition to a personal library of several thousand volumes, he accumulated a large ephemera collection (brochures, pamphlets, handbills, broadsides and posters), maps, and photographs. Many of these items are found in the Don Meadows Papers.
Since then, we have broadened the scope of our collections beyond the dominant narrative centered around the history of the mission and ranchos of the Orange County area. Our goal is to document/acknowledge the complex and diverse history of Orange County in a way that brings to the forefront its many communities.
With the establishment of the the Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive (OC&SEAA) Center in 2015, we have solidified our commitment to community-centered archival principles and practices.