Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Will Beittel Papers
MS-09
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Will Beittel papers
Dates: 1940-1994
Collection number: MS-09
Creator:
Beittel, Will (Wilbur G.)
Collection Size:
.5 linear foot
Repository:
Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (University of California, Santa Barbara). C. H. Muller Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9615
Abstract: Lecture materials, clippings, propagation and planting notes, and photographs relating to trees and shrubs growing in Santa
Barbara County, and especially plants grown by Will Beittel, former Santa Barbara City Arborist and Nurseryman at UCSB.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, UC Santa Barbara. All requests
for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Cheadle 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.
Will Beittel papers, MS-09, Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration. University of California, Santa Barbara.
Materials acquired from the Dept. of Biological Sciences.
Arrangement and description of this collection was made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Biography / Administrative History
Wilbur (Will) G. Beittel was born March 2, 1913 in Philadelphia. After attending NYU and Oberlin College, he began a music
career in 1936 as a composer and arranger for the Lucky Strike Hit Parade and CBS Swing Session. He also wrote for various
motion picture studios up until he switched careers around 1955 after attending Pierce Agricultural College.
Beittel moved to Santa Barbara and became the City Arborist until 1963. He lived at horticulturist Francesco Franceschi's
original home and garden (now Franceschi Park), overseeing the plants there and using the grounds as the city's nursery, where
he propagated and introduced many exotic species to Santa Barbara. He grew plants for the street tree program, public parks,
and other civic properties, propagating between 4,000 and 5,000 plants per year. In 1963, Beittel became the Senior Nurseryman
at University of California, Santa Barbara. He continued growing unusual exotic species which he planted around the campus
grounds, many which are still there today.
Among Beittel's noteworthy contributions to horticulture are several books that he authored:
Santa Barbara's Street and Park Trees,
Santa Barbara's Trees, and
Dr. F. Franceschi, Pioneer Plantsman. He co-wrote
Trees of Santa Barbara with Katherine Muller and Richard Broder. Beittel also taught several popular classes through Adult Education. Beittel passed
away in 1999 at the age of 86.
Scope and Content of Collection
Series 1 Teaching Materials includes notes and handouts for several adult education and extension courses taught by Beittel.
Series 2 Publications includes lists in draft form and galley proofs of some pages from the 1977 edition of
Santa Barbara's Trees.
Series 3 Clippings includes newspaper articles about Beittel, articles about Santa Barbara parks and trees, and articles on individual plants
written by Beittel for the
Santa Barbara News-Press.
Series 4 Professional Papers includes Beittel's records on plant propagation for Franceschi Park and UCSB and inventories of plants on the UCSB campus.
There are also records on experimental plantings of various eucalyptus species on campus, a project aimed at finding suitable
street trees for Santa Barbara. In this series is also correspondence from Raymond B. Cowles and Sima Eliovsen on South African
plants, and a tribute to Santa Barbara Park Superintendant Finlay MacKenzie.
Series 5 Photographs includes color slides and prints of plants that Beittel planted at Franceschi Park and at UCSB, as well as trees and shrubs
growing in various parks and gardens in Santa Barbara.
The collection is organized into five series: Series 1 Teaching Materials; Series 2 Publications; Series 3 Clippings; Series
4 Professional Papers; and Series 5 Photographs.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
University of California, Santa Barbara
Beittel, Will (Wilbur G.)
Trees--California--Santa Barbara
Shrubs--California--Santa Barbara
Photographs
Scrapbook
Clippings
A collection of Santa Barbara park inventories including maps and plant lists by Will Beittel is located at the Santa Barbara
Botanic Garden Library.
A copy of
Santa Barbara's Trees containing Beittel's annotations was moved to the library collection.