Berkeley Official Visitors Guide 2008/2009 - (Page 48) » UC Berkeley University History On a typically clear May morning in 1866, the trustees of the College of California gathered on a hillside overlooking the bay. Below them was the rough-andtumble port settlement of Ocean View; surrounding them were 200,000 acres of clear land that would someday become the University of California. “Westward the course of the empire takes its way,” recited one trustee thoughtfully, recalling a poem by bishop George Berkeley. Moved by the moment, the trustees agreed to name their townto-be after the good bishop. And so Berkeley was, from the beginning, a college town, with all the amenities, curiosity and exploration that influence a place of learning. at 10am, Saturday (10am) and Sunday (1pm) Tours depart from the Campanile, in the center of campus. Special tours for groups may be arranged, by appointment only, at least two weeks in advance. For information on the campus, you can access the website. demonstrations attract more than 300,000 visitors per year. Children, especially, love the hands-on approach to learning. Admission fee. Doe Memorial Library (1917), the main (north) entrance to Doe Library overlooks Memorial Glade, a memorial to Cal alumni, faculty and staff who served in World War II. Named after donor Charles Franklin Doe, a prominent San Francisco businessman and book lover, and Doe Library houses the research collection in humanities and social sciences, as well as the library’s core services. The campus library system includes Doe (the main library), Moffitt, and 19 branch libraries. It is the largest university library system in the western U.S., with more than 9 million volumes in every printed language, 90,000 currently received journals, and countless manuscripts. In Doe alone, there are more than 3 million volumes. Up the main staircase, on the second floor, is the magnificent Reference Room, which also functions as one of the main study halls on campus. Be sure to look at the room’s ornate ceiling. Look for the enormous 1854 painting, “Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth,” on the far wall of the adjacent Government and Social Science Information Service room. The painting, by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, is a companion piece to “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” which hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The painting was given to the University in 1882 by Mrs. Mark Hopkins. Bancroft Library (1948) Begun in the 1850’s with the collections of Hubert Howe Bancroft, the current Bancroft Library holds the University’s special collections, including rare books and archives. It is famous for outstanding collections of early California and Mexican history, and it also maintains the world’s largest collection of Mark Twain papers. The Bancroft holds more than 54 million manuscripts, 345,000 books, 70,000 pamphlets, and 2 million lithographs, photographs, drawings, and paintings. On permanent exhibit are the Drake Valley Life Sciences Building Renovated in 1994, is named after major donors Gladys and Wayne Valley and houses the departments of Integrative Biology and Molecular and Cell Biology. The shell of the original building (1930) now holds 480,500 square feet of new classrooms, lecture halls, labs and offices, plus the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (closed to the public), the Bio-Science and Natural Resources Library, the Museum of Paleontology, and the University and Jepson Herbaria. Covering three acres, Valley Life Sciences is one of the largest academic facilities in the country. The Campus Founded in 1868, Berkeley is the original campus of the University of California. UC Berkeley is one of the world’s great centers of learning. By any standard, UC Berkeley, or Cal, as it is known by many alumni and friends, is one of the world’s leading intellectual and research centers. It is renowned for the distinction of its faculty and students, the scope of its research and publications, and size and quality of its libraries. The faculty includes seven Nobel laureates and more Guggenheim Fellows and NSF Young Investigators than any other American university. The campus is an urban oasis that preserves much of the tranquil beauty of California’s early years. Hearst Memorial Mining Building 1907, the building was funded by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, the first woman named a UC Regent. Inside you can admire the ceiling that curves upwards into three arched skylights, or take a look at the aging models of underground mining operations and the mineral collection. UC Botanical Garden One of the finest in the country. Home to about 13,000 species grouped according to regions of the world, the garden has an especially impressive collection of California native plants. You will also find picnic tables, a gift/bookstore, and a conservatory for tropical plants. Admission fee. UC Campus Visitor Center 101 University Hall 2200 University Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 642-5215 http://www.berkeley.edu/visitors Visitor Services is located at 101 University Hall, on the ground floor. Open weekdays 8:30am-4: 30pm, the students and staff here answer questions about the campus and conduct tours for individuals and groups. Regular scheduled tours begin Mon-Fri departing from the Visitor Center Lawrence Hall of Science At the top of the hill is the famous Lawrence Hall of Science, 1968, a public science museum and center for research in pre-college science and math education. Named after Ernest O. Lawrence, Berkeley’s first Nobel laureate, its interactive exhibits, games, labs, classes, and UC BERKELEY | 48 | WWW.VISITBERKELEY.COM http://www.berkeley.edu/visitors http://WWW.VISITBERKELEY.COM
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