Oral History Tradition

Oral History

By the Oral History Team

Since its founding in 1926, the Garden has been home to many memorable characters – horticulturalists, landscape architects, botanists, historians, conservationists, and nature lovers of many stripes. These folks and their work over the past 95 years have shaped our collective understanding of the Garden today. We are fortunate that staff throughout the years have captured different voices and experiences through photos, writing, and interviews, and kept these historical resources in archives for us to learn from today. The Garden’s Oral History Program has been led by librarians, interns, and dedicated volunteers to show life through the eyes of the influential figures of our modern history, and ensure that their contributions live on into the future.

as a condition of his job, he could carry around a “surf box” and leave at any time when it alerted him that the waves were good.

Nancy Hawver and Dara Emery recording “A Spring Walk” for Oral History Program, Porter Trail 1985.

Photo: Shari Smith

1983

With the intention of increasing awareness of the Garden’s history, Nancy Hawver inaugurated an Oral History program in 1983. She began simply with the desire to collect information on the history of the Botanic Garden and discovered as she went along that a wealth of historical information was waiting to be tapped in the memories and reminiscences of local residents. A number of the interviews have been transcribed and bound. These personal narratives capture and preserve a unique aspect of local history and of the Garden’s development. [from Staff Profiles: Nancy Hawver; Librarian Garden Newsletter, p. 6, 1988]

At the time, the Gane House was empty, and in disrepair. Ralph Philbrick (Garden Director 1973-1987) was aware that its history was being lost. A friend of his from UCSB had a son, Don Norris, who needed a summer job, and Ralph proposed hiring him and having him work with Nancy to develop oral histories. Don Norris gained some notoriety around the Garden because, as a condition of his job, he could carry around a "surf box" and leave at any time when it alerted him that the waves were good.

Strawberry meadow in 1946.

Photo: Joseph Muench

1985

"Since its inception just over two years ago, the Oral History collection has produced 54 taped interviews of people who have been part of the Garden’s development. Sally Gane and Elizabeth Cram shared their recollections of growing up in Mission Canyon in the early part of the century before the Garden was established. Horticulturist Dara Emery covered his 30 years of experiences growing native plants and working at the Garden, and long-time Mission Canyon resident Joseph Muench, who captured early views of the Garden on film, was also interviewed. Many of the interviews, now transcribed and edited, are housed in the Library Annex Special Collections Room.” [from 1984-1985 Annual Report, p.13]

2008

Librarian Joan Ariel with summer intern Will Robinson planned to interview former grounds superintendent, naturalist, and historian E.R. (Jim) Blakley and former director Ralph Philbrick. Unfortunately, Mr. Blakley died before the interview took place, but the interview with Dr. Philbrick was recorded and transcribed and is currently being prepared for publication. In 2008, Randy Wright joined the Garden Staff as the Digital Image and Database Specialist and expanded his role to Libraries Collections Coordinator in 2013. In both of these roles, he found boxes of tapes in storage. He led an effort to digitize these tapes, a process that is not only slow, but fraught with technical glitches.

2012

Henry Adams came to volunteer at the Garden three days a week in 2012, working with many staff/volunteers and contributing to our Library & Collections department and Conservation & Research. Henry also was a skilled audio technician – skills developed through his association with the Film Music Society. He agreed to work with Randy to digitize the old Oral History Tapes in 2016. As the digitization progressed, Henry realized that Oral History was a way to capture the insights of several of the recently retired Garden scientists. He gave a substantial grant to the Garden in 2017 to restart the Oral History Program.

Oral History team members Carolyn Pidduck, Randy Wright, Henry Adams, Lauren Fleming, and Pat Saleh in 2018.

2018

In Spring 2018, with the support of Manager of Volunteer Programs Kathy Castaneda, volunteers were recruited to help to restart the Oral History Program. The Team researched and adopted the Best Practices of the Oral History Association and developed an SBBG Oral History Program Description:

The goal of the Oral History Program is to interview people who have long relationships with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and have had an impact on the Garden or its mission. This includes the transcription and publication of interviews conducted in the 1980’s and recording new interviews. The volunteer team has developed an end-to-end process for producing new oral histories. Candidates are contacted to learn about their interest in being interviewed. With the subject’s guidance, a set of questions is developed that covers their background and experiences. One or more recording sessions may be needed to cover all of the questions. The recordings are submitted to an online transcription service, and the resulting transcripts are reviewed and edited for factual content and clarity by both Oral History Team members and the interviewee. The completed transcript is then published in bound form, copies of which are added to the Library collection.

Henry Adams 2019

R. Wright: So Henry, what was your goal, what is the purpose for the Oral History Program that you had in mind with your most generous grant?

H. Adams: Given the fact that the Garden did start with an Oral History Program several years ago and given the fact that there are many staff members and crew that need to be interviewed that could give some insight into the Garden’s history while they are still with us, I felt that this was a good opportunity to reinvigorate the Oral History Program, and to catch up on those staff and personnel that are still with us but, are advanced in years and that we hope to catch their testimony as part of a continuation of the Oral History series.

Starting with Dieter Wilken, we know have an inroad or a way to start anew the Program, and we have many candidates, including Steve Junak, Betsy Thies, and many others who we need to be interviewed for their recollections of their experiences.

R. Wright: How do you see the Oral History being used in the future?

H. Adams: Well, we have our current generation of staff members if they are still with the Gardens, [such as] Betsy Collins who will have built up a resume of experience. We have the next generation of personnel that can continue to provide service to the Garden and build up a resume of experience.

And, we want to certainly keep open the program to where it will be on-going; be on-going for the next 10-20 years. History is always on-going it does not necessarily always have to repeat itself.

Dr. Matt Guilliams, Tucker Herbarium Curator & Plant Systematist, had these words to share about Henry: Henry was a stalwart volunteer at the Garden, bringing his positive attitude and dry sense of humor to everything he did here. As his main task with the herbarium team, Henry worked at the transcription of field notes, most of which belonged to Steve Junak. Last time I attempted to figure out how many he had personally processed; the number was well over 8,000! He loved to exchange witty banter with the mounting crew, especially Ky, and was at his happiest deciphering Steve’s field notes at the computer with the view of the Channel Islands. I will always see him at that chair. What an incredible person, whose death is a great loss for Santa Barbara and for us personally.

Oral History Highlights

Dara Emery with Nancy Hawver

1985

Dara and Nancy Hawver in early 1985.

Defining a new “disease” foot blight – plant damage caused by stepping on a plant.

D. Emery: Well, over the years we’ve had a great deal of trouble with foot blight, and it has become more acute as the number of people coming through the Garden increases, particularly around the pool. You’d come in Monday morning and the paths would look well-worn, you know, but the fellows raked and straightened them out and they were okay again. Camera people, photographers seem to think they’re in a class by themselves, and they have no compunction about getting right out into the flowers and trampling on six to photograph one. They’ll set their big equipment down on them. Very inconsiderate, so we have to be after them more or less all the time.”

Nancy Vivrette

Nancy received her Ph.D. from UCSB in 1973, and was an Assistant Professor of Botany at UC Berkeley.

N. Vivrette: Well, I grew up in the desert, but boy I didn’t know the name of anything out there. And that was when the infamous, “What’s that tree?” He [CH Muller] said, “It’s a Quercus.” I said, “What’s Aquercus?” He said, “It’s an oak.” I said, “What’s an oak?” He said, “You need to go to the Botanic Garden. Go talk to Jackie Broughton and get yourself some books to help you out.” So I’m thumbing through the books, looking under “A” for “Aquercus.” And Jackie says, “Oh, maybe you should start with these.” And she had the four Munz picture books, that’s what she had me buying. I said, “I still need to know how to do this.” So I bought the Munz as well. But that was my beginning. I knew nothing. Absolutely nothing. [From Oral History Nancy Vivrette – conversation occurred in 1969 when she was a first year Graduate Student at UCSB].

1986

Geege and Carol Ostroff

Carol, Geege, and baby Ariel (born on Garden grounds in 1986)

C. Ostroff: “Our daughter, Ariel, was born under an oak tree. My instincts told me I needed to be outside for this baby, and it was pretty magical.”

G. Ostroff: “I made a campfire, and the baby came fast. Our goats were peering over the fence of our corral. We slept the night with Ariel, and as it grew light, and we heard the bells from the Mission, we hiked back to the Gane House.”

Are you interested in oral history? Many more interviews are planned. Contact Manager of Volunteer Programs Kathy Castaneda if you would like to be an Oral History Volunteer!

“I joined the Oral History Team at the Garden in the spring of 2019. It has been a wonderful and eyeopening experience. I’ve learned a lot about the history of the Garden and the volunteers and scientists who have worked here. I’ve been able to use my editing skills working on the various digitized interviews. Right now, I’m editing Dara Emery’s interviews totaling more than 300 manuscript pages. He not only describes his work at the Garden but his childhood growing up in Hollywood. I love his “old-school” language and his descriptions of L.A. during the Depression.”

– volunteer Susan Keefe

SBBG staff group photo, 1986: Geege Ostroff, Carol Bornstein, Mary Carroll (Hochberg), Dara Emery, Steve Junak, Steven Timbrook, Ralph Philbrick, Mary Allcott, Gail Meadows, Karen Rich, Kathe Klock, Lynn Woodbury, John Dolan, Wayne Larimore, Dave Kershaw, Betsy Thies, Mike Shobe, Nancy Hawver, and others.

SPRING | SUMMER 2021 Ironwood 15