This collection contains materials related to the selection of the campus site for the University of California, Irvine. The collection primarily consists of correspondence between former University of California Regent, Philip L. Boyd and parties interested in or participating in the selection of the Irvine campus site. Correspondence spans the initial search for a site in 1958 to the development of specific buildings and the development of a curriculum for the new campus in 1964. Correspondents include members of the California legislature, local business community leaders, University Regents, members of the Irvine Company, and California Governor Edmund Brown. Also included are photographs documenting the signing of the site selection agreement and aerial photographs of the proposed site. This collection also contains a site selection status report published in 1958 that details campus site searches for the Southern California Metropolitan Center Section (Irvine) and the Southern Cross Section (San Diego).

A rapidly growing California population in the late 1950s prompted the Regents of the University of California to explore the possibility of adding new campuses in an attempt to meet the state's escalating need for higher education. Enrollment projections suggested that the University would require three new campuses by 1970 to meet the rising demand. After selecting Santa Cruz and San Diego as new outposts for the University, the Regents undertook a search to discover a campus site in the Southeast Los Angeles-Orange County area. The Regents selected twenty-three sites in the region based on size, shape, physical setting, availability, accessibility, their relationship to the center of population and potential for planned community development. Additional criteria for selecting a campus site included finding an area with a large and increasing population, and a strategic site that would relieve pressure from existing campuses, namely Los Angeles and Riverside.

0.2 linear feet (1 box)

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