Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Additional collection guides
Descriptive Summary
Title: Richard Whitehead Papers
Dates: 1775-1988
Collection Number: MS-02
Creator/Collector:
Whitehead, Richard
Extent: 13.5 linear feet (25 boxes)
Repository:
Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. Presidio Research Center
Santa Barbara, California 93101
Abstract: This collection, compiled by Whitehead, contains research materials, drafts,and published writings; facsimiles, transcriptions
and translations of historic documents; correspondence; and deeds, maps, and plans, that document the history and reconstruction
of El Presidio de Santa Barbara. Also included are Whitehead's activities with other organizations in Santa Barbara related
to history and preservation.
Language of Material: English
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist-Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation Research Center 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 by the reader.
Preferred Citation
Richard Whitehead Papers. Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. Presidio Research Center
Acquisition Information
Gift of Richard Whitehead
Biography/Administrative History
Richard Whitehead was born July 11, 1907 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a career as a land use planner for Santa Barbara
County, Whitehead joined the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation as a board member in 1969 and became President
in 1972. During his retirement he worked for many years on the reconstruction of the Presidio, doing the initial surveys
for the archaeology work and collecting all the documentary evidence he could find from libraries all over the world. He
organized many paid and unpaid translators as well as spent many hours himself transcribing and translating many of the documents
he ordered from the Bancroft Library, the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library, and the Archivo General Nacional. Whitehead
established the Presidio Research Center and donated most of his personal research materials which formed the foundation of
the Center’s collections. His hope was that the Research Center would become a major facility focusing on the four presidios
of California, with additional material on Loreto, the southwest U.S. and the northern frontier of Mexico.
In addition to his research on the Santa Barbara Presidio, Whitehead also edited a new printing of An Archeological and Restoration
Study of Mission La Purísima Concepción : Reports Written for the National Park Service, and Voyage of the Frigate Princesa
to Southern California in 1782, as well as several articles. He was also a dedicated board member of the Santa Barbara Mission
Archive-Library and conducted much of his research there. Whitehead died in Santa Barbara on August 25, 1988. His book on
the Santa Barbara Presidio, Citadel on the Channel, was published posthumously by the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation
in 1996.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection, compiled by Whitehead, contains research materials, drafts,and published writings; facsimiles, transcriptions
and translations of historic documents; correspondence; and deeds, maps, and plans, that document the history and reconstruction
of El Presidio de Santa Barbara. Also included are Whitehead's activities with other organizations in Santa Barbara related
to history and preservation. The collection is organized into four series.
Series 1. Presidio Reconstruction
Subseries 1 Land Ownership and Acquisition
Subseries 2 Presidio Reconstruction and Master Plan
These materials represent the effort by Whitehead and the Presidio Volunteers, a group of archaeologists, students, educators,
and other interested individuals to research property ownership and land use in the Presidio neighborhood to assist the Trust
in obtaining land once occupied by the Presidio, in order to rebuild it. Subject include: title research, land acquisition,
copies of deeds, Presidio master plan, Presidio background and history, and the chapel and padre’s quarters reconstruction.
Many of the research files in Series 2 are directly related to the reconstruction which was based on documentary evidence.
Series 2. Research and Documentary Materials
Subseries 1 Documents and Indexes
Subseries 2 Translations and transcriptions
Subseries 3 Subject Files
The main focus of these materials is the history of the building of the Presidio and its relation with Mission Santa Barbara.
These materials were procured over many years and involved the work of Whitehead and a team of interns, paid consultants,
and volunteers who transcribed and translated many of the documents. Whitehead also compiled many subject files on various
topics related to early Santa Barbara, mission, and presidio history.
Materials include facsimiles of documents (either photocopy or photographs) and indexes; transcriptions and translations by
Richard Whitehead and others in various stages of completion; and notes, secondary materials, and subject files.
Series 3. Correspondence
Subseries 1 General
Subseries 2 Personal
This correspondence is divided between general and personal files; however, material in both sections covers a variety of
similar subjects, such as translations done by various researchers; requests for research material about the Presidio from
various libraries; and discussion with colleagues on many topics, including the garden at Mission La Purisima. Whitehead
wrote on his own letterhead as well as that of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation and the Santa Barbara Mission
Archive-Library.
Series 4. Publications
Subseries 1 Writings
Subseries 2 Background Material on the Presidio
This series includes drafts of some of Whitehead’s published and unpublished writings as well as subject files. See also
series 5 for additional writings.
Series 5. Volunteer Activities
Subseries 1 SB Trust for Historic Preservation 1969-
Subseries 2 Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library
Subseries 3 SB County Landmarks Advisory Commission
Subseries 4 Other Projects and Organizations
This series includes papers created while Whitehead was on the board of the Trust, as well as his activities as President
and Vice-President during 1972-73. It covers such activities as working with the Presidio Volunteers, raising money for land
acquisition, establishing a research center and library of material about the Presidio, with the foundation being his personal
library. The correspondence concerns the Trust activities that took place in 1972 and 1973, such as the acquisition of El
Paseo and Casa de la Guerra, and the purchase of the chapel site by the state. Also included are Whitehead’s resignation
from the board (twice) and some of his opinions on the management of El Paseo in the early 1980s.
Oral history interviews called “Conversations with Dick Whitehead” were conducted in 1986 by Linda Moore at Whitehead’s home
and at the Presidio. In the interviews, they discussed most of the historical research materials that Whitehead intended
to give the Research Center and other materials that were already there. This valuable resource is helpful in understanding
the intent of Whitehead’s research, how he acquired many of the historic documents in the collection, his gifts to the Trust,
and his hopes for the continuation of his research projects.
Subseries 2 documents some of Whitehead’s activities while he was on the board of the SBMAL including the publication of the
Voyage of the Frigate Princesa to Southern California in 1782. Subseries 3 includes resource files from a Santa Barbara County
survey headed by Whitehead in 1974 to determine historic sites, part of a state parks resource inventory.
Indexing Terms
Santa Barbara Presidio (Calif.)
Santa Barbara (Calif.)--History.
Historic sites--California--Santa Barbara County.
Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.
Presidio Volunteers.
Mission Santa Barbara (Calif.)
Santa Barbara County. Landmarks Advisory Committee.
Mission La Purísima Concepción (Calif.)
Santa Barbara (Calif.)
Additional collection guides