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Finding Aid for the Esther McCoy research papers, circa 1940-1989 0000103
0000103  
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Collection Details
 
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  • Access
  • Custodial History note
  • Preferred Citation note
  • Biographical/Historical note
  • Scope and Content note
  • Related Archival Materials note

  • Title: Esther McCoy research papers
    Identifier/Call Number: 0000103
    Contributing Institution: Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 4.0 Linear feet (2 boxes, 1 oversize box and 1 flat file drawer)
    Date (inclusive): circa 1940-circa 1984
    Location note: Boxes 1-2/ADC - regular Box 3/ADC - oversize** 1 Flat File Drawer/ADC - flat files
    creator: Abell, Thornton M., (Thornton Montaigne), 1906-1984
    creator: Bernardi, Theodore C., 1903-
    creator: Davidson, Julius Ralph, 1889-1977
    creator: Killingsworth, Brady, Smith and Associates.
    creator: McCoy, Esther, 1920-1989
    creator: Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970
    creator: Rapson, Ralph, 1914-2008
    creator: Rex, John L.
    creator: Schindler, R. M., (Rudolph M. ), 1887-1953
    creator: Smith, Whitney Rowland, 1911-2002
    creator: Soriano, Raphael, 1904-1988
    creator: Spaulding, Sumner, 1892/3-1952
    creator: Walker, Rodney
    creator: Wurster, William Wilson

    Access

    Open for use by qualified researchers.

    Custodial History note

    Gift of Esther McCoy, 1984.

    Preferred Citation note

    Esther McCoy research papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Biographical/Historical note

    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.
    From the year 1950 to 1989, the year she died, Ester McCoy was a frequent contributor the Arts & Architecture, Architectural Form, Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture, L’Architectura, Lotus, The Los Angeles Times and The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. In 1960 she published her first architecture book entitled Five California Architects. Three years later she published Modern California Houses: Case Study Houses 1945-1962. Later in her life she wrote catalogues for gallery and museum exhibits devoted to modern California architecture. She lectured at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles. Esther McCoy also catalogued the Richard Neutra papers at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her last work, however, was an essay for the catalog of an exhibition on the Case Study Houses at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. McCoy died on December 30, 1989.

    Scope and Content note

    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).

    Related Archival Materials note

    Esther McCoy papers, 1920-1989, bulk 1920-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
    ADC Study collection, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    McCoy, Esther, 1920-1989
    Architecture -- California
    Architecture -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th Century
    Case Study House 1950 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 1 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 13 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 16 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 17 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 18 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 2 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 21 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 26 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 3 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 4 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 5 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Case Study House No. 7 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Reprographic copies