We are saddened to share the news that former librarian and Head of Reader Services, Carol Sommer, died unexpectedly on Sunday, February 8th. Carol was at the Clark Library for almost 30 years, working in a variety of roles including cataloging, preservation, archival processing, and reader services before retiring in 2011. Born and raised in San…

Another new initiative this year is the inaugural Ahmanson Lecture on Clark Library Legacies: Landscape and Legacy, a program centered on the Clark grounds and their future. This new lecture series brings conversations around landscape design, environmental humanities, and conservation and stewardship into our regular programming. Presented in recognition of Lee Walcott, whose enduring support…

Johan Nieuhof’s (1618-1672) promising career as a merchant with the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was upended in 1665 when he was accused of mismanaging the Company’s pearl fishery in Tuticorin (Thoothukudi, India). Arrested and tried in Colombo, he was convicted and moved to Batavia (Jakarta, Indonesia) in 1667, where he spent three years appealing…

On March 6, 2026, I attended the second meeting in this year’s workshop series, Empires in Practice, following Empires of Thought in December 2025, as part of the Core Program Strange Synchronicities and Familiar Parallels in Asia, 1600–1800. With a third meeting, Empire of Things, planned for May, the series has already exceeded expectations and…

The mainstay of our programming has consisted of string quartets and piano trios, supplemented on occasion by other ensembles and solo artists.  Only once have we presented a vocal recital—and that was nearly thirty years ago, in the first years of the series.  So, we were very excited to present Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle on March 15,…

Dr. Zirwat Chowdhury held an Ahmanson class at the Clark this winter called At Home in 18th —Century London. This class met weekly, at first providing grounding in the topic – with readings, discussions, and sample collection materials – and in the final weeks doing research to put together a proposal for an exhibit for…

Following in the footsteps of the Clark cooks before me, I was encouraged to take up a manuscript and bake a pie for this year’s Pi Day celebration. Our manuscript and cookery collection at the Clark afforded me many options to choose from, but rather than bake an apple or cherry pie and make it…

We are pleased to announce that Erich Uralma has been promoted to Finance & Personnel Manager for the Center for 17th-and-18th-Century Studies and Clark Library. Erich has worked in the Center since 2014, first as Program Coordinator, and then as Assistant Manager of Programs for the past four years, and many faculty, staff, students, and…

After a long planning and buildout period, the Clark Library’s new Digitization Studio, or DigiLab as we call it, is now fully installed and in use. What began as a proposal to move us away from ad hoc, semi-unpredictable, request-based digitization toward a more programmatic model has, over the last ten months, become a fully…

On February 6, the Clark Memorial Library hosted the conference Early Modern Skies—organized by Bronwen Wilson (UCLA), Lyle Massey (UC Irvine), Vin Nardizzi (UBC), and Tiffany Jo Werth (UC Davis)—that brought together scholars from Canada, Italy, France, and the United States to share and compare their research on how the heavens were studied, utilized, and…

A sizable and enthusiastic audience gathered at the Clark Library on the afternoon of Saturday, February 21, for the biennial Oscar Wilde Lecture. Margaret D. Stetz, the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women’s Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware, gave an informative and entertaining talk about the importance and influence…

Technical Services is a vital part of every library. Whether large or small, a technical services department describes, organizes, and preserves a library’s collection. This nine-month fellowship seeks to serve as a springboard for graduate students interested in learning the practicalities and intricacies of special collections cataloging and description. Depending on the successful candidate’s strengths…

The Instruction and Engagement Fellowship comes with a great deal of responsibility, ideal for someone who is eager to learn about incorporating primary sources into curriculum and outreach in libraries, contributing to our strategy and mission, and developing professional skills. We are seeking an enthusiastic and dedicated Instruction and Engagement Fellow who will play an…

Last Friday, December 5, on a beautifully crisp and sunny day at the Clark Library, we gathered with nine scholars who presented their work on the Ottoman, Qing and Mughal empires in the early modern period—topics closely tied to the theme of this year’s Core Program, “Strange Synchronicities and Familiar Parallels in Asia, 1600–1800.” The…

Last month, the Clark participated in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Los Angeles Arch Tour Fest with a special walking tour focused on the North Range—the 1990 architectural addition many of you know primarily as the quiet edge of the Great Lawn. Led by architect Barton Phelps, whose firm designed the project, the tour…

On November 19, the Clark Library welcomed Dr. William Zachs for a fascinating exploration of early printing innovation. In his lecture, “Scotland’s Gutenberg: William Ged and the Invention of Stereotype Printing, 1725–49,” Dr. Zachs explained the origins of stereotype printing—an approach that used cast metal plates instead of traditional moveable type and would later revolutionize…

Now in its 31st season, Chamber Music at the Clark continues to delight audiences with first-rate performances hosted in the intimate and acoustically superb Drawing Room at the Clark Library. Expertly curated by Artistic Director Rogers Brubaker, our current season began with a performance by the Aris Quartett, a young German ensemble performing at the…

On November 10, the Center for 17th– & 18th–Century Studies, in conjunction with Director Bronwen Wilson’s class on Renaissance and Baroque Art History, hosted an illuminating screening and discussion of the powerful documentary We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe. Award-winning filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuworno was on hand to invite the…

On October 23, the Clark Library welcomed Professor Thiago Sevilhano Puglieri (Art History, UCLA) for an engaging lecture that illuminated the scientific and ethical dimensions of cultural heritage research. Drawing on his interdisciplinary expertise in art history, chemistry, and conservation, Puglieri guided attendees through the analytical methods chemists use to study cultural objects and the…