Tours & Open Houses

Check back often as events will be added to the website frequently — right up until Homecoming weekend!

Doe and Moffitt Libraries and Gardner Stacks Open House

Doe Library
10/20/17 8 am – 5 pm  
10/21/17 9 am – 5 pm  
10/22/17 1 pm – 5 pm  

Explore these libraries that have served the campus for more than 100 years. Be awed by grand spaces like the North Reading Room and Heyns Reading Room and delve into the exhibits of the Bernice Layne Brown Gallery. Plus get special access to the 52 miles of shelves in the Gardner Stacks; simply show your badge at the entrance.

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Fiat Yuks: Cal Student Humor, Then and Now

Rowell Cases, Bancroft Library
10/20/17 8 am – 9 pm  
10/21/17 9 am – 5 pm  
10/22/17 1 pm – 9 pm  

Let there be laughter! This exhibition features selections from UC Berkeley campus humor magazines, the yearbook, and other student publications. 

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Love Across the Global South: Popular Cinema Cultures of India and Africa

Bernice Layne Brown Gallery, Doe Library
10/20/17 8 am – 9 pm  
10/21/17 9 am – 5 pm  
10/22/17 1 pm – 9 pm  

This exhibition takes the globalization of Bollywood as a starting point, looking at how the robust and organized Bollywood fan culture of Senegal, West Africa engages with, theorizes, and domesticates Indian popular culture — entering into dialogue with it and making it its own.

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Cal Café

Alumni House
10/20/17 9 am – 5 pm  
10/21/17 8 am – 11:59 pm  

Stop by to celebrate Homecoming with complimentary refreshments and light snacks. We will have multiple giveaways as well as a raffle! The café will close on Saturday at football kickoff. Visit alumni.berkeley.edu for more information about the Cal Alumni Association.

Sponsored by: 
Cal Alumni Association
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Ecocity Berkeley at 30

210 Wurster Hall
10/20/17 9 am – 5 pm  
10/21/17 1 pm – 5 pm  
10/22/17 1 pm – 10 pm  

The Environmental Design Library honors Richard Register’s groundbreaking 1985 publication Ecocity Berkeley. The exhibit exploring Register’s innovative, environmentally conscious city planning work can be found in the Raymond Lifchez and Judith Stronach Exhibition Cases.

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Herstory: Chinese American Women, 165 Years of Struggle and Success

Ethnic Studies Library (30 Stephens Hall)
10/20/17 9 am – 5 pm  
10/21/17 1 pm – 6 pm  

Drawn from the personal collection of Dr. Chang C. Chen, Herstory features rare photographs and case descriptions of efforts by Chinese American women to gain legal standing in the U.S. Beginning in 1852, the exhibit documents women who fought for equal treatment in the eyes of the law and for citizenship and immigration rights. Far from being passive, Chinese American women have a legacy of resistance, from advocating for the right to public education to fighting against discriminatory detention and deportation. At a time of public debate around immigration and belonging in the United States, this exhibit shines a light on the “herstory” of brave women who fought for their place in America and the place of future generations.

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The Environmental Design Library Open House

210 Wurster Hall
10/20/17 9 am – 5 pm  
10/21/17 1 pm – 5 pm  
10/22/17 1 pm – 10 pm  

The Environmental Design Library has the largest collection west of the Mississippi for architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Explore a wide array of resources including rare publications, hand-made artists’ books, and more.

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The Paul Kendel Fonoroff Collection

C. V. Starr East Asian Library
10/20/17 9 am – 5 pm  
10/21/17 10 am – 5 pm  
10/22/17 12 pm – 8 pm  

The C. V. Starr East Asian Library’s Fonoroff exhibition displays periodicals, posters, and ephemera from the newly acquired collection of Chinese film studies materials — the largest of its kind in North America. View materials documenting the development of the film and entertainment industry of greater China from its inception in the early decades of the twentieth century to the 1990s.

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Campanile Open House

Campanile (Sather Tower)
10/20/17 10 am – 3:45 pm  
10/21/17 10 am – 4:45 pm  
10/22/17 10 am – 1:30 pm  
10/22/17 3 pm – 4:45 pm  

Get a spectacular, sprawling view of the Bay Area from the observation platform of Sather Tower, also known as the Campanile. One of UC Berkeley’s most beloved and well-known symbols, the Campanile is the third tallest bell and clock tower in the world, visible for miles at a height of 307 feet. Enjoy daily carillon concerts at 7:50 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m.

Visitor Services has waived admission for Homecoming guests — simply show your badge at the entrance.

Sponsored by: 
Visitor Services
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Campus Walking Tour

Homecoming Headquarters Tour Tent
10/20/17 10 am – 11:30 am  
10/20/17 1 pm – 2:30 pm  
10/21/17 10 am – 11:30 am  
10/21/17 11 am – 12:30 pm  
10/21/17 1 pm – 2:30 pm  

Learn about campus architecture, history, and university life during a 90-minute walking tour led by a knowledgeable campus ambassador.

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The Summer of Love

Bancroft Corridor
10/20/17 10 am – 4 pm  
10/21/17 10 am – 4 pm  

This exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love through the Bancroft Library’s rare and unique collections. Presented are images from the Bay Area alternative press, psychedelic rock posters and mailers, documentary photographs of the Haight-Ashbury scene and major rock concerts, and material from the personal papers of author Joan Didion and poet Michael McClure.

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¡Viva la Fiesta! Mexican Traditions of Celebration

Bancroft Library
10/20/17 10 am – 4 pm  
10/21/17 10 am – 4 pm  

This exhibition explores many traditional Mexican celebrations: weddings and birthdays, the Day of the Dead, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Las Posadas, and many more. 

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BAMPFA Open House

10/20/17 11 am – 9 pm  
10/21/17 11 am – 9 pm  
10/22/17 11 am – 7 pm  

Exhibitions on view include: “Gordon Parks: The Making of an Argument,” which examines the editorial process behind Parks’s groundbreaking 1948 Life magazine photo-essay “Harlem Gang Leader”; “Miyoko Ito / MATRIX 267,” featuring compelling paintings by an underrecognized artist; and “Martin Wong: Human Instamatic,” the first major West Coast survey of paintings by a San Francisco native who was immersed in the bicoastal counterculture of the 1980s and ’90s since the artist’s death in 1999. BAMPFA has waived admission for Homecoming guests — simply show your badge at the entrance.

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Hearst Museum Open House

Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Kroeber Hall
10/20/17 11 am – 5 pm  
10/21/17 10 am – 6 pm  
10/22/17 11 am – 5 pm  

The recently reopened Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology is excited to welcome Cal alumni, parents, and friends! Stop by anytime to explore the inaugural exhibit, “People Made These Things: Connecting with the Makers of Our World,” or join a guided tour at 11 a.m. or 4 p.m. Virtually explore archaeological sites around the world through the interactive CAVE kiosk or take a break and chill out in the Lounge of Wondrous Anthropological Discoveries.

The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology has waived admission for Homecoming guests — simply show your badge at the entrance.

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The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life Open House

Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
10/20/17 11 am – 4 pm  

View four exhibitions highlighting the treasures of one of the world’s preeminent Jewish collections in a university setting. The first, “The Invisible Museum: History and Memory of Morocco,” highlights our considerable Moroccan collection, including many objects never before seen in public. “Sketching Fiddler: Set Designs by Mentor Huebner” displays original sketches and storyboard drawings created by Huebner for the 1971 feature film Fiddler on the Roof along with a small selection of set photographs. In the auditorium of The Magnes, “The Worlds of Arthur Szyk” displays high-resolution images of select collection items from The Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection. Continuing from the spring semester is “Power of Attention: Magic & Meditation in Hebrew Shiviti Manuscript Art,” which showcases a selection from manuscripts, books, amulets, and textiles that center on the graphic representation of God’s ineffable four-letter Hebrew name — a window into the more mystical side of Judaism. 

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