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Uncommonplace American Town Oral History Collection

 Collection — Box: AR-2020-004
Identifier: AR-2020-004

Content Description

The Uncommonplace American Town Oral History Collection contains oral histories conducted by Sheila Lodge during development of her publication, Santa Barbara: An Uncommonplace American Town — How Thoughtful Planning Shaped a City, published in 2020. The people interviewed were involved in the urban planning of the City of Santa Barbara, California, during the last half of the 20th century. The collection contains forty (40) interviews on audio cassette tape, one (1) flash drive containing electronic transcriptions and notes, and one (1) folder of release forms and informant biographical data.

Dates

  • 2003 - 2018

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head Archivist of the Gledhill Library.

Biographical / Historical

Sheila Lodge was born at home on her parents’ dairy in Arcadia, California. She is a life-long Californian except for 2 1/2 years in Annapolis, Maryland, where she taught school and did social work. She returned to California in 1950 and came to Santa Barbara in 1952. She served on the Santa Barbara City Planning Commission from 1973-1975, the City Council from 1975-1981, and as the first woman, and longest serving Mayor, from 1981-1993. An incurable public policy wonk, she’s been back on the Planning Commission since 2009, where she started her civic life.

Extent

38 Cassettes

214 Electronic files (flash drive)

1 Folder(s)

1 Volumes (“Santa Barbara: An Uncommonplace American Town — How Thoughtful Planning Shaped a City,” by Sheila Lodge)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The City of Santa Barbara, California, became the community that it is through planning. In her book, Santa Barbara: An Uncommonplace American Town, former Mayor Sheila Lodge documents the many battles it sometimes took, the unanticipated events, and the process that was developed to make the critical decisions necessary to guide development of Santa Barbara over the course of 170 years.

The Uncommonplace American Town Oral History Collection contains oral histories conducted by Sheila Lodge during development of her publication, Santa Barbara: An Uncommonplace American Town — How Thoughtful Planning Shaped a City, published in 2020. The people interviewed were involved in the urban planning of Santa Barbara during the last half of the 20th century.

Arrangement

The Uncommonplace American Town Oral History Collection is arranged in three series:

1) Interview audio tapes, 2003-2018

2) Digital transcripts, 2003-2018

3) Release forms and biographical data, 2003-2018

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The materials were acquired from Sheila Lodge.

Separated Materials

The monograph Santa Barbara: An Uncommonplace American Town — How Thoughtful Planning Shaped a City was added to book catalog and shelved in the Library.

Bibliography

Lodge, Sheila. 2020. Santa Barbara: An Uncommonplace American Town — How Thoughtful Planning Shaped a City. Santa Barbara, Calif: Olympus Press.


Processing Information

The Uncommonplace American Town Oral History Collection was processed by Chris S. Ervin CA in February 2021.

Creator

Source

Title
Guide to the Uncommonplace American Town Oral History Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Chris S. Ervin CA
Date
2021-02-16
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Edition statement
First edition

Repository Details

Part of the Gledhill Library Repository

Contact:
136 E. De La Guerra
Santa Barbara California 93101 USA