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SpecColl Collection

The core of the SpecColl Collection was the 1976 purchase of Western Americana books from George Fullerton, a lifelong book collector and bibliophile. Major themes in the purchase included:

  1. California Gold Rush
  2. California missions
  3. Voyages
  4. Overland migrations
  5. Mormons
  6. Lawmen and outlaws
  7. Native Americans
  8. Indian wars
  9. Railroads
  10. Homesteading
  11. Cattle trade
  12. Fur trade
  13. Military in the West

Types of materials that are currently being added to the collection include:

  1. Bibliographies, encyclopedias and guides
  2. Autobiographies, reminiscences and published letters
  3. Biographies and generational histories
  4. Community histories
  5. Corporate histories
  6. Regional histories
  7. Southern California histories
  8. Los Angeles histories

This collection is divided into the following three sections:

  1. SpecColl
  2. SpecColl Oversize
  3. SpecColl RareBook

Collection Highlights

There are approximately 5,550 items cataloged in SpecColl, 500 items cataloged in SpecColl Oversize, and 400 items cataloged in SpecColl RareBook. Highlights include:

  1. "Lewis and Clark's Expedition" (1814)
  2. A Biography of Junipero Serra (1797) by Francisco Palou
  3. "Voyage Around the World" (1718) by Woodes Rogers

Lewis & Clark
Expedition (1814)

Biography of
Junipero Serra (1797)


Voyage Around
the World (1718)

Access to the Collections

To arrange use of the Special Collections, please contact Ken Otto, special collections librarian, at kotto@apu.edu, (626) 815-6000, Ext. 5263, or by mail at the address to the right.