A priceless western Americana collection of more than 21,000 volumes, Native American baskets and pottery of the Southwest and Northwest Coast tribes, Western artwork and other rare items has been donated to the UC Davis General Library.

Michael and Margaret Harrison bequeathed their collection to the UC regents, for the Davis campus, University Librarian Marilyn J. Sharrow announced April 7. The Michael and Margaret B. Harrison Western Research Center Collection is housed permanently in the Peter J. Shields Library for use by students, researchers and visiting scholars from around the world.

"It's an absolute treasure," UC Davis history professor Louis Warren, an expert on the West, said during a news conference amid the collection in its new home.

And, he said, "It's a great treasure to be able to walk up and down these aisles and be able to take the books down and look at them. It's a bit like exploring the West, as Michael Harrison did."

Earlier, Warren described the donation this way: "It's one of the greatest private book collections in the world on Western history. You never find this material, some of it very, very rare, in one place. And it's not just about Western history. Much of this collection is the product of the people who make up Western history. If it weren't for a collection like this, these voices would be lost."

Michael Harrison, who passed away at his Fair Oaks home in April 2005 at the age of 107, spent more than 80 years amassing one of the finest western Americana history collections in private hands. Harrison once said that his collecting "was done with the view that eventually it would all be turned over to an institution where it could be studied and used by people who are as interested in the subject as I am."

For more than 35 years, Harrison and his wife, longtime friends and supporters of the UC Davis General Library, provided funds to support the library's Margaret B. Harrison Preservation Department, in addition to bequeathing the bulk of their estate, including their home, to the university. It is estimated that their total gift is conservatively valued at $5.1 million; however, some of the items are so historically unique as to be priceless. Money generated from the sale of the Harrison residence is to be used to continue building the Michael and Margaret B. Harrison Research Center Collection.

It contains rare and fine press books, serials, manuscripts and correspondence relating to the history of the trans-Mississippi West. Subject strengths include Native Americans, cowboys and cattlemen, western military history, Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, western art, transportation, trails and national parks.

Special treasures include: The spectacular "The North American Indian" portfolio set by Edward S. Curtis (issued in a limited edition from 1907 through 1930 and containing 20 text volumes with more than 1,500 illustrations, and 20 photographic volumes documenting the traditional customs and life of 80 Indian tribes); Mary Austin's 1930 "Taos Pueblo," photographed by Ansel Adams, signed by Austin and Adams, and specially bound by Margaret Harrison; and a photograph album of photographs and signatures of officers in the 7th Calvary. The original works of art include more than 50 Michael Westergard bronze sculptures.

"The collection will significantly enrich the library's holdings in western Americana resources and will provide many opportunities for historical research for faculty, students and visiting scholars," said Daryl Morrison, who heads Special Collections for the General Library.

To help researchers navigate his extensive collection, Harrison typed his own 700,000-plus card catalog — affectionately known as the "Harrison Peculiar System" — that indexes and cross-references thousands of topics appearing in books and articles in the collection.

"Librarians from around the country, they would just come and visit his collection and shake their heads. A person could spend a lifetime just in one section," said Vince Lozito, Michael Harrison's friend and executor. "They couldn't fathom how he put it all together."

Harrison began collecting books on the American West as an employee of the U.S. Department of the Interior. He served as a clerk and ranger at Grand Canyon National Park in the 1920s, and later worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on reservations in Arizona. Margaret Harrison died in 1980, and at that time the first half of the Harrison collection was turned over to UC Davis.

The Michael and Margaret B. Harrison Western Research Center Collection will be administered by the UC Davis General Library Department of Special Collections. The collection is not yet available for public viewing, but library officials expect limited viewing in the fall. Contact Daryl Morrison at dmorrison@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-2112 for further information.