The Daily Californian: The First 150 Years
“Serving the campus community since 1871. Independent student press since 1971”
– The Daily Californian
Campus activism. Nobel prize winners. The controversy over whether sophomores should be allowed to wear jeans (1924). The Daily Californian has covered it all. Over the years, a student might go to the Daily Cal to find housing, a typist, discount coupons for restaurants, or jobs. They would also find news, editorials, campus event listings, and, of course, the sports pages.
Was the campus actually going to spend $2,700 for a whole year of electric lighting (1897)? Did the Regents really fire 157 faculty for refusing to take the loyalty oath (1950)? Did the women’s basketball team reach the Final Four? (2013)? Did the university fire three Daily Cal editors for their editorial about People’s Park (1971)? Did the Daily Cal really publish the first college newspaper sex column (1996)?
Answers to these questions and more can be found in this exhibit, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of one of the oldest college newspapers in the United States, and one of the oldest newspapers on the West Coast.
History of the Daily Californian
The Daily Californian has its roots in The College Echo, published by the Durant Rhetorical Society at the College of California before the founding of the University of California. The society continued the publication after the formation of the university and the move to the Berkeley campus site as The University Echo. The Neolaean Literary Society began the Neolaean Review in March 1873, and the two publications merged in January 1874 as The Berkeleyan. There was a gap in the publication from 1888 thorough 1892; a new series of The Berkeleyan was begun in 1893 The named was changed to The Californian in 1897, and in October of that same year it became the Daily Californian. Source
How to Use this Exhibit
Use the Themes or Browse features to view the items in the exhibit. Click on an individual item to enlarge it (multiple times if necessary). Select the "toggle full page" icon to view the item as a full page.
To see the item in context, navigate to the digital archive of the Daily Californian. We recommend toggling "full text" search ON and then searching by date (example: nov 10 1939).
Want more?
Check out the Daily Cal's own 150th anniversary website.
AND: the Daily Cal archives, digitized by the UCB Library. Details and search tips from the Library's online guide (we recommend browsing by date!)