After the disappearance of The Owl in 1875, no monthly magazine or weekly periodical existed on campus. Yet there appeared to be a “long felt desire”, according to the editorial in the Redwood's first issue, and in October 1902 this experimental issue of The Redwood was quickly put together by a selected board of editors with the encouragement and permission of the faculty. “The eager expectation with which its advent was awaited and the enthusiasm which greeted it” encouraged the editors to face the difficulties of starting it on its career. In January 1903, The Redwood began publication and was considered to be a continuation of the literary ideals of The Owl.
As stated at the top of each issue's editorial page, the object of The Redwood was "to gather together what was best in the literary work of the students, to record University doings and to knit closely the hearts of the boys of the present and the past.”
The monthly periodical was given the name The Redwood in honor of the part the college had played in the campaign to save the redwoods of the nearby Santa Cruz mountains the same year publication began.
The year 1911-1912 was the last year it described itself as a monthly publication.
The year 1921-1922 was the last year The Redwood was published in installments throughout the academic year and the name was appropriated by the university yearbook the following year, although literary submissions continued to be an element of the yearbook until 1930. The Redwood continued to be published on a yearly basis until the start of the Second World War.
According to the introduction to the Last Roundup, “The conditions of uncertainty and the necessity for frugality, arising from the demands of the nation's war effort, made the publication of the 1942 edition [of the Redwood] an inadvisable venture. The loss of the 1942 Redwood was felt most by the graduating class for it is to the seniors that the yearbook holds its greatest appeal. To prevent their singular contribution to Santa Clara life from going unrecorded, the Class of 1942 united in the common purpose of publishing a senior book. Devoted entirely to the graduates, the Last Roundup is neither intended to replace The Redwood nor to imitate it on a smaller scale.”
In 1945-1946 The Laurel marked the first pictorial volume record of university life since 1941-1942. It was, according to its editors, “dedicated to those Santa Clarans who gave their lives in the service of their country and named for the crown of leaves symbolizing honor. That year's annual, “approximately one-half the size of the normal yearbook and recording only the small part of the university activities left untouched by the war, was called The Laurel rather than The Redwood because of its diminished proportions and because of its place as a dedicatory issue.”
The Redwood returned in 1946 and continues to the present.
Visit our digitizing partner for the Redwood project, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/santaclarauniversitylibrary), to obtain other versions of the books. Downloadable formats include PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Daisy, Full Text, and DjVu, and the books can also be read online at the site.
