Are you interested in UCI history? Ever wonder where the Anteater mascot came from? Was Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie" really filmed at UCI? Did architect William Pereira have ideas for the central park that were never implemented? Anteater Antics is a new blog designed by Special Collections and Archives to share informal, interesting, and fun bits of UCI history.


Recent photos posted from the Anteater Antics blog

The blog showcases a variety of interesting (and occasionally obscure) items from the archival collections in Special Collections and Archives. Some of these items are accompanied by short, engaging stories about the university that you might not have otherwise heard or read about.

Topics covered thus far include the original 1965 student election that determined the Anteater as the UCI mascot; the first UCI men's basketball game; details of architect William Pereira's early campus plans and some aspects of the plans that were never implemented; documents and photographs from the Star Trek Association of Irvine (known as STAI by its members), a UCI student organization dedicated to "alternate realities;" and photographs of the various films that were shot on campus, including "Silent Movie" and "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes." There is even an interview with Schuyler Hadley Bassett III, one of the students who spearheaded the successful campaign that resulted in the anteater election.

Visit Anteater Antics often as new posts are added regularly, and please add your own comments as you wish. For further information, please contact Steve Macleod at smacleod@uci.edu or 949.824.4967.

Did you know?

Mel Brooks shot scenes for the 1976 feature film "Silent Movie" at UCI. The all-star cast included Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Bernadette Peters, Paul Newman, and a special guest appearance from the famous French mime, Marcel Marceau. A hilarious wheelchair race scene was filmed on campus with the chairs flying through Aldrich Park and speeding by the Libraries' Gateway Study Center and Langson Library.