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Leo F. Buscaglia Archives

 Collection
Identifier: 0344

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Scope and content

The Leo F. Buscaglia Archives contains material pertaining to his personal life as well as to his professional career. The noted educator, author, and lecturer collected material not only that he created, but also material that was written about him and his work. The personal material includes cartoons, clippings, correspondence, legal items, obituaries, and photographs. The professional material includes articles, artwork, book manuscripts, correspondence, lectures, photographs, and scrapbooks.

Dates

  • Creation: 1904 - 2000

Creator

Language of materials

The materials in the archives are written primarily in English, except for items in the Rocco Bartolomeo Buscaglia file, which are written in Italian.

Conditions Governing Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access. The majority of the collection is open for research use, except for a few items that are considered confidential because of the information contained in them.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Rights Statement for Archival Description

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Biographical note

Leo F. Buscaglia was born Felice Leonardo Buscaglia in Los Angeles, California, on March 31, 1924, one of four children of Italian parents, Rocco Bartolomeo (Tulio) and Rosa Buscaglia. A noted educator, lecturer, and author, Buscaglia served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, working in a military hospital.

Following his military service and academic pursuits, Buscaglia embarked on a career in education and public speaking. He served as supervisor of special education in the Pasadena (CA) City Schools from 1960 - 1965. Then he joined the faculty of the School of Education at the University of Southern California (USC), where he taught special education and counseling from 1965 - 1984. In addition to teaching at USC, Buscaglia also became a world-reknowned public speaker, lecturer, and author on loving and human relationships. He continued his writing and speaking engagements following his retirement from USC in 1984 until his death in 1998.

He was the best-selling author of such books as Love, Personhood, Living, Loving & Learning, and Born for Love. He also wrote a number of articles and a column in the Los Angeles Times.

Buscaglia earned his bachelor's degree in English and speech from USC in 1950, followed by the master's degree in language and speech pathology in 1954, and the Ph.D. in language and speech pathology in 1963, both also from USC.

Buscagalia passed away in Glenbrook, Nev., in 1998 at the age of 74.

Extent

36 Linear Feet (36 boxes and 1 oversize folder)

Additional Description

Abstract

The Leo F. Buscaglia Archives contains material pertaining to his personal life as well as to his professional career.

Organization

The Leo F. Buscaglia Archives is organized into two series: Series I: Personal, Series II: Professional. The files within each series are arranged alphabetically. The exception to this rule would be the scrapbooks, which are placed in the last 5 boxes of the collection, due to their size, and are arranged for the most part chronologically.

Custodial history

The archives was created by Leo F. Buscaglia and Steven Short, and remained in the custody of Dr. Buscaglia and Steven Short until Mr. Short donated it to the USC Libraries Special Collections in September 2007.

Acquisition

Gift of Steven Short, initially in 2007 with an accrual in 2022. The cassette tape titled "Love in the Classroom" was a gift from the University of Northern Colorado in 2018.

Related Names

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Inventory of the Leo F. Buscaglia Archives
Status
Completed
Author
Michael Q. Hooks
Date
2008
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2014: Finding aid revised by Jacqueline Morin
  • 2020 January: Finding aid updated by Bo Doub to include unprocessed boxes found in the University Archives
  • 2022 July: Finding aid updated by Bo Doub to include material added to the collection from accrual no. 2022-059.

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository

http://libraries.usc.edu/locations/special-collections
Contact:
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States

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Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.