The Esther McCoy research papers span four linear feet and date from circa 1940 to 1989. The collection consists primarily of documents relating to Esther McCoy’s research regarding the Case Study House Program and Richard Neutra. Box one houses Esther McCoy’s inventory of Richard Neutra’s collection of microfilmed architectural drawings and reprographic copies, box two houses a VHS tape of Esther McCoy’s 80th birthday party, and one oversize box and one flat file drawer houses architectural reprographic copies of Case Study House numbers: 1 (Julius Ralph Davidson), 2 (Summer Spaulding and John Rex), 3 (William W. Wurster and Theodore Bernardi), 4 (Ralph Rapson), 5 (Whitney R. Smith), 7 (Thornton Abell), 13 (Richard Neutra), 16 (Rodney Walker), 17 (Rodney Walker), 18 (Rodney Walker), 21 (Richard Neutra), 26 ( Killingsworth, Brady, Smith & Associates), and 1950 (Raphael Soriano).

Esther McCoy was born in Arkansas in 1904 but spent the majority of her childhood in Kansas. She attended college in Missouri, Kansas, St. Louis, and Michigan. In 1925 Esther left the University of Michigan to launch her writing career in New York City. Her architectural career began when she entered a training program for engineering draftsmen at Douglas Aircraft. Then in 1944 she began to work as a draftsperson at the office of acclaimed architect Rudolph Schindler in Los Angeles, CA. Her prominence as an architectural historian flourished at this time, as she began disseminating concepts of modern architecture to large audiences through her writing.

4.0 Linear feet (2 boxes, 1 oversize box and 1 flat file drawer)

Open for use by qualified researchers.