The John Loring Perkins papers span 5 linear feet and date from 1914 to circa 1978. The collection consists primarily of office records that take the form of manuals (construction and production), production data that spans two time periods 1947-1978 and 1947-1969, and construction details organized by project. The office records present in the collection are primarily from two firms: William L. Pereira Associates and Gensler and Associates. The collection also includes two paintings (one abstract and one landscape) by John Loring Perkins dated 1946 and 1993, respectively. A small portion of the collection (one folder) consists of papers relating to John Loring Perkins father’s, Robert A. Perkins, and regard his student work from Columbia University, 1914.

John Loring Perkins was born on January 10, 1912 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He attended the University of Minnesota from 1934 to 1941, when he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture. Starting in 1934 until 1942, Perkins worked as a draftsman for his father Robert A. Perkins, whose architectural firm Perkins & McWayne, was located in South Dakota. From 1942 to 1943 Perkins worked as a site planner and designer for the firm of Giffels and Vallet located in Detroit, Michigan. In 1943, he left Giffels and Vallet to be a draftsman for the Metcalf-Hamilton Kansas City Bridge Company. A year later, in 1944, Perkins left Metcalf-Hamilton and began working as a draftsman for architect Henry L. Gogerty. From 1945 to 1953, Perkins was a designer for William Glenn Balch & Louis L. Bryan. In 1953, Perkins became a partner in the firm Balch, Hutchason, Perkins, Architects which operated in Los Angeles, California. John Loring Perkins died in 1994.

5.0 Linear feet (4 record storage boxes)

Partially processed collection, open for use by qualified researchers.