R. Dudley Trudgett Collection 1999.-5

Contributing Institution: University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives

Title: Dudley R. Trudgett Collection

Creator: Trudgett, R. Dudley, 1908-1985

Identifier/Call Number: 1999.-5

Physical Description: 4 Linear Feet: 1 box, 1 flat file drawer

Date (bulk): 1932-1985

Language of Material: English .

Collection is open for research.

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the Curator.

[Identification of item], R. Dudley Trudgett Collection, (1999-5), Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, California.

R. Dudley Trudgett was born in 1908 in Alameda, California. Trudgett graduated with a degree in landscape architecture from the University of California, Berkeley in 1934. Between 1935 and 1936 he attended Harvard's Graduate School of Design, focusing on city planning. He served in the Navy for four years during WWII after which he traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia. Following the armistice, he spent six years in India and Japan working on site development and town planning. First, in India under the firm of Mayer & Whittlesey and then in Okinawa, Japan, for the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. Trudgett began his career working on county planning, State Parks, and land subdivision in both Northern and Southern California. He became an early member of Telesis, an inter-professional environmental design group organized to give direction to the city of Los Angeles in regards to regional planning. During the late1950's, Trudgett created a landscape design practice in the Los Angeles area that he continued until his death at the age of 77 in 1985. Among his most notable projects and designs were the Howard Hughes Research Center in Malibu, the Pasadena Art Museum, the Norton Simon Museum and personal residence, the University of Southern California campus, and several homes for persons of note such as Jack Warner and Kirk Douglas.

The R. Dudley Trudgett Collection is organized into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project Files. The Personal Papers comprise the bulk of the collection containing student and personal drawings and other artworks created during his attendance at UC Berkeley and during his naval service, correspondence, and documents relating to Trudgett's naval career and his travels within Japan and Europe. Trudgett's professional papers are minimal in scope and only include a lecture given in 1955; the subject matter was the reconstruction of Europe after WWII. Office records contain correspondence between Trudgett and clients such as Norton Simon and the University of Southern California on a number of subjects such as future planning issues and payment for services. Trudgett's project records include extensive reference materials pertaining to regional and city planning used for his projects in India and for his Master Plan of Banaras (now Varanasi) in India, as well as correspondence referring to his projects completed in India. There are also drawings for the Hunt Foods Co., Continental Vinters, The Alhambra Neuropsychiatric Hospital, and some unidentified residential projects.