Column: OCC’s college archives are maintained with volunteer love

We’re guardians of the culture.

I speak of “The Gang of Five” that gathers Wednesday mornings in the Archives Room of Orange Coast College’s Library.

Let’s see, there’s retired professor of aviation technology Bob Clifton; retired head football coach, athletic director and professor of physical education Dick Tucker; retired assistant football coach, head tennis coach and physical education professor George Mattais; retired head athletic trainer, sports medicine instructor and physical education professor Leon Skeie; and myself.

I was OCC’s director of community relations for 37 years.

Clifton has spearheaded the voluntary effort for 14 years now. Systematic and organized to the nth-degree, he considers it a labor of love. Bob is hugely responsible for the excellent condition of the archives, and his diligence has ensured that the college’s history will be preserved and promulgated within its community for generations.

OCC will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2022-23.

The five of us have logged more than 150 years of career service with the college. Even in retirement, we harbor deep feelings for the institution. We’re all loyal Pirates.

The committee began meeting in 2003. Its mission is to document and preserve the college’s rich heritage. Historical materials are maintained in the Archives Room on the library’s second floor.

“Because of Bob Clifton’s dedication, OCC has one of the finest archives of any community college in the country,” says Leon Skeie. “We have materials that have been painstakingly preserved from the founding of the college in 1947.”

In the early 2000s, the Archives Room was, at best, a disorganized mess. Under Clifton’s steady hand it’s been cleaned up, organized and dramatically enhanced. “New” materials arrive weekly.

“We typically get donations of valuable materials when long-time faculty and staff members prepare to retire,” Clifton says. “They begin cleaning out their desks and invariably uncover materials from years and decades past.”

When I retired in 2008, I boxed up stacks of campus publications and materials that I’d been accumulating in my office for years.

I sent the Archives five or six decades worth of issues of the student newspaper; an array of catalogs, schedules and printed materials; books; manuscripts; correspondence; minutes from meetings; decades worth of press releases and feature stories; photographs; videos; films; annual reports; scrapbooks; two campus oral history projects; TV news media coverage; and newspaper clippings.

The Archives Committee spends much of its time sorting, organizing, cataloging and filing. In recent months, we’ve been identifying individuals and groups of individuals in thousands of photos and negatives in our files. We attempt to ID each person.

We feel we’re contributing something of value to OCC’s community — and just as tangible as bricks and mortar. It’s critical that the college acknowledge the importance of its institutional memory.

Recently, the Archives Committee received a donation of materials from a former Orange Coast student and retired faculty member. The materials were from the 1963 Junior Rose Bowl Game. OCC’s Pirates, coached by Dick Tucker and George Mattias, beat Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in the Rose Bowl, 21-0.

Donated materials included a game program, tickets, Junior Rose Bowl promotional materials and newspaper clippings and photographs. They were in pristine condition. The college also possesses a film of the game itself.

“It was a much-appreciated donation,” Clifton said. “Lots of history there.”

We accomplish a considerable amount of work during our three hours together each week. I must confess, however, that we spend the first 30 minutes or so cracking jokes or telling and retelling campus stories.

We also discuss former students and staff members.

Comments typically begin like this: “Hey, do you remember that tall guy with curly hair who worked in the (such-and-such) department? What was his name?”

During the remainder of our time we sort and categorize a host of materials. Every item is referenced and described in an archives catalog and then painstakingly filed and stored.

What I enjoy most is identifying old photos. You can literally lose yourself in a flood of memories.

Members of our “Gang of Five” have been associated with the college since 1962. We recognize people in old photographs that no one on campus today could possibly know.

It’s truly our labor of love.

JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years.