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Guide to the Margaret Wentworth Owings Papers
BANC MSS
86/71 c
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Collection Title: Margaret Wentworth Owings papers,
Date (inclusive): 1913-1996
Collection Number: BANC MSS
86/71 c
Creator:
Owings, Margaret Wentworth
Extent:
Number of containers: 10 boxes, 4 cartons, 1 oversize box, 1 oversize
folder, 5 volumes
Linear ft.: 9.6 linear ft.
Linear ft.: 9.6 linear ft.
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Abstract: Collection contains correspondence, speeches, articles, and
files related to Margaret Owings' work in environmental conservation and wildlife
preservation. She was particularly concerned with mountain lions, sea otters, sea
lions, California redwoods, and parks and wildlife in Africa. Owings was the only
woman on the California State Park Commission in the 1960s. The collection contains
only a few personal papers, including a small amount of correspondence with family
members, awards, biographical information, and files related to her husband,
architect Nathaniel Alexander Owings.
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection open for research, with the following exceptions:
Correspondence from John Steinbacher was restricted at the request of Mr. Steinbacher on May 27, 2008. Use only by permission
of Mr. Steinbacher. Inquiries concerning these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services, The
Bancroft Library.
Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. Materials in these collections are protected by the U.S. Copyright Law
(Title 17, U.S.C.) and may not be used without permission of The Bancroft Library. Use may be restricted by terms of University
of California gift or purchase agreements, privacy and publicity rights, licensing terms, and trademarks. All requests to
reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services,
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Margaret Wentworth Owings papers. BANC MSS 86/71 c, The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Margaret Wentworth Owings Photograph Collection,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1992.057--PIC
Artist, and Wildlife and Environmental Defender: oral history transcript,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 92/717 c
- Selected printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
- Some Photographs have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library (cataloged as BANC PIC 1992.057--PIC).
- One fabric cap has been transferred to the Objects Collection of The Bancroft Library.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Owings, Margaret Wentworth--Archives
Owings, Nathaniel Alexander, 1903-
Rachel Carson Memorial Fund
Friends of the Sea Otter
California State Park Commission
African Wildlife Leadership Foundation
Conservation of natural resources--California
Game protection--California
Coast redwood
Sea lions
Otters
Puma
Wildlife conservation
Women conservationists--California
Adobe houses--New Mexico
Conservationists--California
The Margaret Wentworth Owings Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by
Margaret Owings in several installments from October 1987 through March
1997.
Processed by Elizabeth Stephens, 2004; Bancroft Library Staff, 2008.
Born April 29, 1913 in Berkeley, California, Margaret Wentworth Owings was a 1934
graduate of Mills College, where her father, Frank Wentworth, was a trustee, and
completed graduate studies in art at the Fogg Museum at Harvard University in 1935.
She set her artistic career aside and earned international recognition as a tireless
advocate for sea otters, mountain lions and other wild creatures.
Honored with the National Audubon Society Medal, the Gold Medal Award from United
Nations' environmental program, the Department of the Interior's Conservation
Service Award, and many other citations and medals, Mrs. Owings inspired new
generations in the fight to preserve wilderness and the animals that call it home.
She is most closely identified with the California sea otter, a threatened marine
mammal whose cause she championed as founder and president of the Friends of the Sea
Otter. She also led successful campaigns to end bounty-hunting of mountain lions in
California, and to impose moratoriums on hunting mountain lions-an effort that was
crowned passage of a state initiative banning lion hunting in the state.
As a member of the Point Lobos League, she fought successfully in 1947 to save
beaches between the Carmel River and Point Lobos State Reserve. With her husband,
noted architect Nathaniel Owings, she campaigned to keep the scenic Big Sur coast in
its undeveloped state.
In addition to her role with Friends of the Sea Otter, which she led as president
from its founding in 1968 until the early 1990s, she was on the council of the
Save-the-Redwoods League, a member of the California Parks Commission (1963-69); a
trustee of Defenders of Wildlife (1969-74); a board member with the National Parks
Foundation (1968-69); a trustee of the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation
(1968-76); a trustee of the Environmental Defense Fund (1972-82); founder of the
Rachel Carson Council established to carry on the work of combating toxics in the
environment; and a member of the Big Sur Land Trust.
In addition to her long commitment to wildlife conservation, Mrs. Owings and her
husband were devotees of the art and Indian culture of the Southwest. They were
seasonal residents of Santa Fe, N.M. for more than 30 years and assembled a
significant collection of Pueblo Kachinas, now in the permanent collection of the
California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
[Excerpted from Friends of the Sea Otter website]
The Margaret Wentworth Owings Papers, 1913-1996, consist of correspondence, speeches,
articles, and files related to her work in environmental conservation and wildlife
preservation. She was particularly concerned with mountain lions, sea otters, sea
lions, California redwoods, and parks and wildlife in Africa. Owings was the only
woman on California State Park Commission during the 1960s. The collection contains
only a few personal papers, including a small amount of correspondence with family
members, awards, biographical information and files related to her husband,
architect Nathaniel Alexander Owings. Her art work is also not covered in this
collection of papers.