The Hilgardia Project, launched in April to bring the full text of the classic UC Agriculture and Natural Resources publication to the Internet, has received $21,500 in donations and pledges, allowing the first phase to begin.

Hilgardia journal October 1959

Hilgardia was the primary technical publication of UC ANR for 70 years. Although production ceased in 1995, Hilgardia editions include classic research that is still widely cited in scientific literature, and many are considered cornerstones of current agricultural, environmental and nutritional research.

Despite its scientific preeminence, Hilgardia journals have virtually no Web presence today, and one-half of published issues (including all articles in the first 24 volumes, and 58 others) are out of print. The remaining paperbound editions are subject to physical degradation.

UC faculty and staff are spearheading the effort to scan and digitize the series, all 967 articles and more than 31,000 pages. With donations and pledges, the Hilgardia Advisory Committee has reached two-thirds of their $30,000 goal.

The first phase will include scanning of the Grape and Wine Collection (67 Hilgardias published between 1925 and 1982) on subjects spanning wine-grape physiology, anatomical structure, favorable soil characteristics, sensory and chemical evaluation, and management of pests and diseases.

“Targeted support for this initial collection came from the Lodi Winegrape Commission in acknowledgement of the tremendous importance of the monographs to the wine and grape industry today,” said Deborah Golino, committee chair.

Each article will be posted as a high-resolution PDF with searchable text, and its essential headings (such as title, authors, abstracts and references with active links) will be posted in HTML.

As they are digitized, Hilgardia editions will be posted on a separate section of the website of California Agriculture, which for decades was the sister publication to Hilgardia. Through the search engines and databases that now index California Agriculture, Hilgardia will become fully discoverable and searchable on the Web. All articles will be freely available and accessible to scholarly and lay readers worldwide.

To make a donation or for more info, write to calag@ucdavis.edu, e-mail Deborah Golino at dagolino@ucdavis.edu, or go to http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org/hilgardia.cfm .