Marian Osgood Hooker Collection 2010-06
Clare Suffern
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives
230 Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820
(510) 642-5124
designarchives@berkeley.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives
Title: Marian Osgood Hooker Collection
creator:
Hooker, Marian Osgood, Dr.
Identifier/Call Number: 2010-06
Physical Description:
4 Cubic Feet:
8 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1896-1926
Abstract: The Hooker Collection consists primarily of 23 photograph albums recording Hooker’s travels in Europe and her home state of
California. Other documentation includes a folder of publisher’s proof prints from her book Farmhouses and Small Provincial
Buildings in Southern Italy, an index of her travel photos, an album of portraits, three albums of negatives (some of travel),
and a scrapbook. The bulk of the collection documents the architecture, people, and landscape of the places Hooker and her
mother, Katharine Putnam Hooker, travelled during their five trips abroad between 1896 and 1923.
Access Statement
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the
Curator.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Marian Osgood Hooker Collection, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.
Biographical Note
Marian Osgood Hooker, (1875-1968)
Marian Osgood Hooker was born in San Francisco in 1875 to parents with impressive lineage. Her mother, Katharine Putnam Hooker,
was the niece of famous geologist Josiah Dwight Whitney, and her father, John Daggett Hooker, was a direct descendent of Connecticut’s
founder Thomas Hooker. The family, which also included Marian’s older brother Laurence Whitney Hooker (1873-1894), moved to
Los Angeles in 1886 in search of economic opportunity. In Los Angeles, which experienced boom times during the later half
of the 19thcentury, John Hooker established a successful steel pipe manufacturer. They moved to a mansion on Adams Street,
where they entertained scientists, poets, and authors. During this time, John Muir frequented the house and became a close
friend of Katharine Hooker.
Marian, surrounded by intellectuals in her childhood home, developed a love of art and science. At the prestigious Marlborough
School in Los Angeles, she studied art history under school founder Mary Caswell, who likely inspired Marian to travel abroad.
In 1896, two years after graduation, Marian and her mother embarked on their first of five trips abroad. She meticulously
documented her travels in Gibraltar, Spain, Tangier, Italy, Greece, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Amsterdam,
and England in a scrapbook. In 1899 and 1903, she and Katharine returned to Italy. In 1913-1914, they travelled to Constantinople,
England, Ireland, Egypt, and Italy. In 1922, they made their final trip abroad to the southern Italian province of Apulia.
Marian’s photographs from these adventures demonstrate her particular fascination with remote destinations. She and her mother
sought to capture in image and writing the daily lives of the people they encountered. Marian’s prints and illustrations were
published in her mother’s travel books Byways in Southern Tuscany, Wayfarers in Italy, and Through the Heel of Italy, which
were unique for veering away from typical tourist locations. In 1925, Marian published her own book of images called Farmhouses
and Small Provincial Buildings in Southern Italy, which included introductions by Katharine and architect Myron Hunt. Hunt
credited Farmhouses for inspiring some of his Mediterranean-style architecture.
In 1910, Marian earned a degree in medicine from the University of California, Berkeley. She co-authored several scientific
papers with Dr. Martin Fischer during her stay at the University of Cincinnati and in later years. In 1912, she returned to
the west coast to become Assistant Medical Examiner at the University of California.
After her father’s death in 1911, Marian and her mother moved to a house designed by Willis Polk and Bruce Porter in San Francisco.
They moved again in 1924 to Santa Barbara, where Katharine died in 1935. In addition to their adventures abroad, Katharine
and Marian visited Death Valley and travelled throughout California and Canada.
Marian was a member of the San Francisco Women’s Club, the San Francisco Women’s Athletic Club, the Women’s Club of Santa
Barbara, the Sierra Club, the California Historical Society, and others. She died in 1968.
Sources:
Watts, Jennifer A. “Wayfarer In Italy: The Photography of Marian Osgood Hooker.” Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 85 No
1, Spring 2003: 83-100. Reprint.
Link (accessed July 13, 2015)
Scope and Contents Note
The Hooker Collection consists primarily of 23 photograph albums recording Hooker’s travels in Europe and her home state of
California. Other documentation includes a folder of publisher’s proof prints from her book Farmhouses and Small Provincial
Buildings in Southern Italy, an index of her travel photos, an album of portraits, three albums of negatives (some of travel),
and a scrapbook. The bulk of the collection documents the architecture, people, and landscape of the places Hooker and her
mother, Katharine Putnam Hooker, travelled during their five trips abroad between 1896 and 1923. These photo albums, carefully
labeled on the spine, contain detailed indexes that indicate the provinces or cities where Hooker took each photograph. Hooker
also lists this information in her index of travel photos (Box 1). In the scrapbook of her first trip to Europe in 1896 (Box
1), Hooker supplemented photographs with postcards, ticket stubs, pressed flowers, and other memorabilia.
Hooker’s views of Italy, Egypt, Ireland, and other countries in Europe provide insight into the daily lives of the inhabitants,
as well as document enduring tourist sites – Trajan’s Arch, the Tower of Pisa, the Bridge of Sighs, the Great Temple of Abu
Simbel, the Hagia Sophia, and many others. Hooker’s visual record of her adventures abroad calls to mind the centuries-old
tradition of the Grand Tour, a trip across Europe that privileged men (and later women) took in order to expand their cultural
knowledge and improve their language skills. Although Hooker’s travels post-date this tradition, they were nonetheless in
the spirit of it. Her photos offer contemporary viewers a primary account of this tour.
The Hooker Collection also includes photographs of family members and nature closer to home. Hooker devoted several albums
to the stunning beauty of California, its coasts, counties, and mountains. In one such album are images that may be of family
friend and famous naturalist John Muir (Monterey, Box 8).
Hooker’s meticulously labeled photo albums of her tours across continents and her trips through California provide insight
into the cultures that she explored, as well as insight into the newfound freedoms afforded to women at the turn of the 20th
century that allowed Hooker to take such photographs.
Custodial History
Transferred to the Environmental Design Archives from the CED Visual Resources Center (formerly the Architecture Slide Library).
Related Collections
Hooker Family Papers, Portraits, Drawings and Photographs ca. 1880-ca. 1949. BANC PIC 1977.006-.008—PIC., The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley.
Katharine Hooker Collection, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
John Muir Letters to Katharine Putnam Hooker, BANC MSS 70/17 c., The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Marian O. Hooker Collection, Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Society.
Marian Osgood Hooker Collection, Special Collection and University Archives, San Diego State University.
Bibliography
Katharine Hooker,
Byways in Southern Tuscany. New York: New York Scribner, 1918. Robarts Library, University of Toronto.
Katharine Hooker,
Italian Sketches, BANC MSS 71/107 c., The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Katharine Hooker,
Through the Heel of Italy. New York: Rae D. Henkle Co., Inc., 1927.
Katharine Hooker,
Wayfarers in Italy. San Francisco: D.P. Elder and Morgan Shepard, 1902.
Marian O. Hooker, Katharine Hooker, and Myron Hunt,
Farmhouses and Small Provincial Buildings in Southern Italy. New York: Architectural Book Publishing Co., Inc., 1925.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Architecture
Women Photographers
Travel
Hooker, Marian Osgood, Dr., 1875-1968
Hooker, Katharine Putnam, 1849-1935
Hunt, Myron, 1868-1952
Muir, John, 1838-1914
SERIES I.
TRAVEL ABROAD
1896-1923
Physical Description: 3.5 Cubic Feet: Boxes 1-7
B.
Photo Catalogue
Scope and Content Note
index of travel photos
5.
Casentino / Lombardi / Emilia
6.
Pistoieses and Lucchese Mountains
1922
8.
Marches / Umbria / Venetia
14.
England / Ireland
1913
17.
Egypt and Constantinople
18.
Egypt and Constantinople
1913-1914
19.
Misc. Italian and other European photos
D.
Duplicates
Scope and Content Note
Ed Alteri
E.
Publisher’s Proof Prints
SERIES II.
CALIFORNIA
N.D.
Physical Description: .5 Cubic Feet: Box 8
C.
King’s and Kern Counties, CA
SERIES III.
OTHER PHOTOGRAPHS
1900-1926
Physical Description: .5 Cubic Feet: Box 8
A.
Album of Portraits
1924-1926
2.
Family Photos
1900-1908
3.
Photo Catalogue
1904-1905