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Preliminary Guide to the Dick Smith Collection
SBHC Mss 56
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Table of contents
Title: Dick Smith Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1969-1971
Collection Number: SBHC Mss 56
Collector:
Smith (Dick)
Extent:
.4 linear feet
(1 oversize box and 1 slide tray)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical Location: Del Sur Oversize and Vault Slide Cabinet
Language:
English.
None.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Dick Smith Collection. SBHC Mss 56. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Gift of Mrs. Dick [Olive] Smith, 1977.
Richard J. [Dick] Smith was born in Minnesota on Aug. 29, 1920. He came to Santa Barbara County in 1948, got a job at the
Santa Barbara News-Press as Promotion Manager and continued to work there part-time, spending the rest of his time hiking the backcountry. Over the
years he came to be known as Santa Barbara County's foremost backwoodsman and a local wilderness area bears his name.
In 1964 Smith co-authored
California Condor: Vanishing American with Robert O. Easton. A posthumous work,
Condor Journal: The History, Mythology, and Reality of the California Condor, was edited by his wife, Olive Kingston Smith, in 1978.
Dick Smith died on Feb. 2, 1977.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains more than 200 black/white photographs, 8x10 and larger, 2 color prints, and more than 300 color slides
of the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill and its aftermath. These mainly are images of oil rigs, shoreline, beaches, oil soaked
birds and animals, clean-up efforts, and some aerial views. There are duplicates of some images. Most were taken January-Feb.
1969, but some are as late as 1971. A few of the photos have stamps or notes on the back, indicating credit should be given
to the
Santa Barbara News-Press or Dick Smith.