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Inventory of the Julia Morgan Records at the University of California Berkeley, 1893-1988 (bulk 1901-1940)
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  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Abstract
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope & Content
  • Arrangement
  • Related Collections

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Julia Morgan Records at the University of California Berkeley,
    Date (inclusive): 1893-1988 (bulk 1901-1940)
    Creator: Morgan, Julia, 1872-1957
    Extent: 6.5 boxes, 1 flat box, 13 flat file drawers, 34 tubes, 1 oversize volume, 1 portfolio, l model (77 linear feet)
    Repositories: Environmental Design Archives
    University of California, Berkeley
    Berkeley, California 94720-1820
    The Bancroft Library
    University of California, Berkeley
    Berkeley, California 94720-6000
    The Bancroft Library, University Archives
    University of California, Berkeley
    Berkeley, California 94720-6000
    Language: English.

    Administrative Information

    Provenance

    The Julia Morgan materials at the University of California, Berkeley were donated to the respective repositories over time, by several different donors. The Environmental Design Archives received its initial donation of materials in 1959 with subsequent donations by different donors between the years 1969-1989. The Julia Morgan/Forney Collection was donated in 1983. The Julia Morgan materials held in The Bancroft Library were donated by several donors over a period of time spanning from 1971-1990. Materials held by the University Archives are generally donated by departments within the University.

    Funding

    The present finding aid has been created by staff of the Environmental Design Archives with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

    Access

    Access procedures and restrictions vary by repository. In most cases advance notice or an appointment are required for use. For more information, see each repository's finding aid, or contact the institution directly.

    Other Formats

    Microfilm containing selected records and drawings from the collection is available.
    • Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library:
      Identifier/Call Number: BANC FILM 2546
    • Contributing Institution: Environmental Design Library:
      Identifier/Call Number: MICROFILM 78264 NA

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has not necessarily been assigned to the holding repository. All requests for permission to publish materials must be submitted in writing to the institution that holds the desired manuscript or image. Any permission for publication, reproduction, or quotation is granted on behalf of the holding institution 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 user.

    Preferred Citation

    Refer to the introductory text in the finding aids for each repository for instruction

    Abstract

    The Julia Morgan materials consist primarily of the manuscripts, photographs, and drawings of her architectural projects which include residential, educational, governmental, and commercial buildings. The collections also include limited personal, professional, and office records such as her student drawings from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
    The bulk of the project records are split between the three collections housed at the Environmental Design Archives and the Bancroft Western Americana collection at The Bancroft Library. Included are projects for the University of California, photographs of Girton Hall and drawings for the Phoebe Hearst Memorial Women's Gymnasium with Bernard Maybeck found in the University Archives, of The Bancroft Library. A small amount of personal, professional, and office records are held by the Environmental Design Archives.

    Biographical Note

    Julia Morgan was born in 1872 in Oakland, California where she continued to live throughout her life. Immediately after Morgan's graduation from Oakland High School, she enrolled in the College of Civil Engineering at University of California, Berkeley, receiving her degree in 1894. While at Berkeley she was introduced to Bernard Maybeck, who was an instructor of drawing at the university and taught architecture privately, since at that time the school of architecture did not exist. Maybeck encouraged students interested in architecture to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the foremost architectural program at the time. After graduation Morgan worked briefly for Maybeck, and then traveled to Paris in 1896 intending to enroll in the Ecole.
    In 1897, Morgan took the entrance examination for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, ranking 13th out of 392 competitors. Despite her score, she was denied admission because the school did not wish to encourage women in the field of architecture. The next year Morgan became the first woman to be admitted to the architecture school. She chose the atelier of Benjamin Chaussemiche, winner of the 1890 Prix de Rome and official architect for the City of Paris. Morgan excelled in her studies, becoming the first woman to receive a diploma in architecture in 1901. After graduation, she continued to work for Chaussemiche, designing the Harriet Fearing Residence in Fontainebleau.
    In 1902 Morgan returned to the Bay Area and was employed by John Galen Howard, the University of California, Berkeley architect. While in his office, she worked on projects such as the Hearst Mining Building and the Greek Theater. In 1905 she opened her own office in the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco, however, the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires interrupted her practice. Morgan temporarily moved her practice to Oakland and formed a partnership with Ira Wilson Hoover, another draftsman from Howard's office. The new firm, "Morgan and Hoover" had several notable commissions during this period, including the Carnegie Library at Mills College, St. John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, and the structural renovation of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
    In 1910 Hoover moved to New York, and the firm changed its name to "Julia Morgan, Architect." Although Morgan maintained her own practice, she often worked on joint projects with other architects and engineers. Morgan worked with Maybeck on the Hearst Gymnasium at University of California, Berkeley, and later, on Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. She also collaborated with engineer Walter Steilberg, even after he left her office.
    Julia Morgan is well known for her residences, but she designed numerous institutional buildings such as churches, schools, hospitals, university buildings, swimming pools and a series of YWCA buildings, all principally in California and the West. For distant projects, she often sent Edward Hussey, an architect in her office, to manage the projects and prepare reports for the office.
    Phoebe Apperson Hearst and her son William Randolph Hearst were responsible for a number of Morgan's commissions. Phoebe Hearst encouraged Morgan in her career, commissioned her work, and was a great supporter until her death in 1919. One of Morgan's largest commissions was William Randolph Hearst's La Cuesta Encantada, popularly known as Hearst Castle, in San Simeon. In 1919 she began work on the lavish and enormous compound, a project which continued for nearly twenty years. Other designs for Hearst included a commercial building in San Francisco, Wyntoon estate in Siskiyou County, the San Francisco Medieval Museum, a residence for Marion Davies in Santa Monica, and the Babicora Hacienda in Mexico.
    Morgan's projects were incredibly varied in style and materials. This diversity is usually attributed to her willingness to listen to clients' desires as well as her flexibility as an architect. Utilizing her Beaux-Arts training, Morgan began with logical and coherent plans and then added the exterior facades and ornament. Renaissance Revival, Tudor, Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean and Islamic styles were all part of her architectural vocabulary and were pieced together and overlapped with Craftsman elements as needed. Although the exact number of projects by Julia Morgan is unknown, over her career she is believed to have designed more than seven hundred buildings, most of which were constructed. She closed her office in 1951 at the age of seventy-nine. Morgan died February 2, 1957 at the age of eighty-five.

    Note

    Sources:

    • Boutelle, Sara H. Julia Morgan, Architect. Abbeville Publishers, New York, 1988.
    • James, Cary. Julia Morgan. Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1990.
    • Longstreth, Richard W. Julia Morgan, Architect. Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, Berkeley, 1977.
    • ___________. Julia Morgan of San Francisco, California, [photocopy]. available at clippings file, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
    • Adams, Annmarie. Notes on the Julia Morgan Collection, 1985. TMs [photocopy]. available at clippings file, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA
    • Riess, Suzanne B. ed. The Julia Morgan Architectural History Project. Vol. 1 and 2. available at The Bancroft Library, Bancroft Library Regional Oral History Office, Berkeley, 1976 .

    Scope & Content

    The Julia Morgan materials at the University of California, Berkeley represent the papers and records of one of the earliest female architects in the United States. The materials serve as a window into California architecture and design in the early 20th century. The collections, when taken together, provide insight into the method of practice undertaken by Morgan, especially for residential projects. Important to note in the collection are the number of female clients she worked with, as well as her professional collaborations with other architects such as Ira Hoover, Bernard Maybeck, and Edward Hussey, and engineer Walter Steilberg. Important records include documentation from her work designing buildings and residences for William Randolph Hearst, including the residences at San Simeon and Wyntoon in Northern California. The collections also contain papers from her education at the University of California, Berkeley and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
    The collections include project drawings on linen and tracing paper, blueprints, and small amounts of manuscript materials and photographs related to the projects. The personal, professional and office records are primarily manuscripts, except for the collection of drawings from her studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and her travels in Europe.
    This finding aid summarizes the collections of Julia Morgan papers and records, focusing on the project records housed in the various repositories. Description of the personal papers, professional papers, and office records are found by following the links to the Container Lists for each of the individual collections. In the description of the project records that follows, the Project Index for this finding aid contains all of the project records held at the University of California, Berkeley. Please note that in some cases the records for an individual project may be split among many different collections and repositories. The Project Index also contains a selected number of digitized images from the materials at the University.

    Arrangement

    Arrangement for each collection follows the same format: personal papers, professional papers, office records, and project records in that order, when they appear in each collection. The personal, professional, and office records are described on the Container List and the project records described on the Project Index. The project records are arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the client or project name.
    Guide to the Project Index:
    The Project Index is a way to organize the various formats of architectural records from the same project. Each horizontal row holds information about a project and the location of the project records.
    Client Name/Project Name:
    The first column lists the Client or Project name. The client name is always listed first. If the project has a name, this may be listed with a see reference to the client. This is the most likely way that researchers will wish to find a project.
    Collaborator/Role:
    Often architects worked with other architects, engineers, or landscape architects. The name of the collaborator is listed, Last name, and first initial. The role of the collaborator follows in the same column in parenthesis.

    e.g. Maybeck, B. (architect) = Maybeck as a collaborating architect
    Date:
    The date of the project. May be a single year, a range of years, or a circa date.
    Physical Location of Materials:

    Manuscript Records, Drawings, Detail Drawings, Photographs

    • The next set of fields are used to designate the physical location of any materials related to the project. Materials may include records, files, correspondence, and papers, drawings, detail drawings, or photographs.
    • The location of the materials is formatted to have the box number, then folder number.

      e.g. Box # | Folder # - one box, one folder: 5 | 2
    • Folders in consecutive order, but the same box will be hyphenated. e.g. additional folders - same box, consecutive: 5 | 6-9
    • Folders not in consecutive order, but in the same box will be separated by a comma.

      e.g. additional folders - same box, not consecutive: 5 | 6, 11
    • Materials that reside in more than one box are separated in the cell with a comma.

      e.g. additional folders - different box: 4 | 3, 5 | 2
    • If the material is not a box, but actually a Tube, a T will be entered before the tube number, or if the oversize folder is in a Flat File, FF before the folder number. In some cases the size of the folder will be entered after the folder number.

      e.g. number, oversize folder - 10 B
    Location and State:
    The geographical location of the project.
    Project Type:
    The general term for the category of building.

    e.g. a commercial building or a residence.
    Microfilm:
    This column will appear if the collection has been microfilmed. The column tracks the amount of material microfilmed for each project: all, selected or none.

    Related Collections

    Title: Architectural Drawings of University of California Buildings,
    (CU-402) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
    Title: Correspondence and papers relating to the proposed Hearst Memorial Complex for the University of California, Berkeley,
    (CU-13.9) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
    Title: Hacienda del Pozo de Verona, [19--],
    (BANC MSS 92/117 c) The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
    Title: Bernard Maybeck Collection,
    (ARCH 1956-1) Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.
    Title: Morgan, Julia, 1872-1957. Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Thelen, Berkeley, California. Julia Morgan, Architect, 1924 January.
    (BANC MSS 90/151 c) The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
    Title: Maybeck, Bernard R., architectural drawings, 1939-1940,
    (BANC MSS 79/87 c) The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
    Title: Material relating to Julia Morgan, 1928-1988 (bulk 1928-1947),
    (BANC MSS 77/127 c) The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
    Title: Views of Girton Hall, University of California, Berkeley [graphic] 1920.
    (UARC PIC 16G) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.