UC libraries hold literary treasures

Three days after the Mark Twain Project Online went live in November 2007, a gentleman from the Tennessee State Archives contacted UC Twain editor Robert Hirst about three Clemens family documents he had uncovered.

Thanks to the new digital incarnation of the Mark Twain Papers and Project — marktwainproject.org — the archivist in Tennessee was able to search the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library's collection for references to the family land dispute that produced the Twain-related legal documents in the state archives.

"He would never have been able to do that in the past," said Hirst, who has been editor of the UC Twain collection since 1980. "I expect more of that to continue."

"More of that" means more access to UC's vast collection of priceless papers and archives for researchers, students and the local and global communities the university serves. Collectively the UC libraries house more than 34 million volumes and 36 miles of archives and manuscripts.

UC Davi, for example, has the papers of Zen poet and environmental writer Gary Snyder, who is a professor emeritus in the English department.

Health care: UC researchers get grants

UC's California Program on Access to Care announced May 1 that it is providing $271,750 in funding to eight research projects exploring various California health care coverage issues.

Officials say the move comes in anticipation of new health care reform efforts expected after the November elections. Toward this, the grant projects are aimed at giving California policy makers valuable information on the health needs of Californians.

At UC Davis, Hilary Hoynes, associate professor of economics, and Peter Huckfeldt, a doctoral student, received $15,000 for a dissertation project titled, "The Impacts of Recent Prenatal Insurance Eligibility Expansions."

More information: www.ucop.edu/cpac.

— Dateline staff