Preservation of Cultural Heritage

This InfoGuide was prepared in conjunction with a display by the same name installed in Payson Library in May 2019. The exhibit was produced by the Pepperdine University Libraries, with support from the Pepperdine Integrated Marketing Communications team and the Seaver Natural Sciences Division. Financial support was provided in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Like many educational institutions, Pepperdine acquires materials of historical and cultural significance - materials that tell the story of our shared heritage and that support teaching, learning, and research at Pepperdine.

Unique and rare photographs, maps, letters, books, and audio and video recordings at Pepperdine document a wide variety of topics, including the history of our own institution and region. In addition to capturing and promoting our heritage, these materials provide rich resources for students’ research.

Unfortunately, all of these objects naturally deteriorate over time. Without taking steps to slow the rate of deterioration, we risk losing valuable information, such as when deteriorated photographic negatives can no longer be viewed, when mold obscures the text of a book, or when brittle newspapers crumble to dust.

At Pepperdine, we partnered with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to create a sustainable temperature and humidity controlled preservation environment for our rare and valuable materials to extend the usable life of these collections.

At lett: Pepperdine’s major collecting areas are rare books in many subjects, Malibu history, Pepperdine history, the Restoration Movement, and film and television history. Within these collections, most disciplines offered at Pepperdine are represented.

Above:Pictured here is the inside of our preservation environment.