Hilgardia

The Hilgardia Project

Hilgardia was the primary technical publication of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) for 70 years. Although production ceased in 1995, the 900-plus issues include classic research—the cornerstones of agricultural, environmental and nutritional research. These issues are frequently still cited in scientific literature. (Hilgardia citation analysis)

The journal was established in May 1925 and succeeded the Technical Paper series which ceased with issue No. 20 (April 1925). (Technical Paper series) Hilgardia commemorates Dr. Eugene Woldemar Hilgard (1833-1916), founding director of the California Agricultural Experiment Station. Professor Hilgard also organized the Agriculture Department of the University of California. The change of title from Technical Paper to Hilgardia was made "to simplify the title for citation purposes. It was also felt that the issue of technical data in the new form, that is, in a continuously paged volume, was a more dignified form of presentation, as well as a great simplification from the stand point of librarians and technical workers."¹

Many of the classical pieces of work of UC faculty in Viticulture and Enology were published in Hilgardia (List of Hilgardia grape and wine articles). When these works are digitized, they will be posted here, freely available to scholarly and lay readers worldwide.

A group of UC faculty and staff are spearheading a project to scan and digitize the entire Hilgardia series (more than 31,000 pages), bringing these scarce classic publications to light. (About one-half of published Hilgardias, including the first 24 volumes and 58 other editions, are now out of print.) If you are interested in making a donation to the Hilgardia digitizing project, please email Dr. Deborah Golino, dagolino@ucdavis.edu.

¹University of California, Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California from July 1, 1924  to June 30, 1925, (Sacramento: State Printer, 1926), p. 23.