Guide to the Mel Scott Papers, 1927-1977

Processed by Kendra J. Willson
The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
© 1997
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Note

History --History, California --History, Bay Area History --History, California --History, Los Angeles Area Geographical (By Place) --California Social Sciences --Publishing

Guide to the Mel Scott Papers, 1927-1977

Collection number: BANC MSS 70/73 c

The Bancroft Library



University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

Processed by:
Kendra J. Willson
Date Completed:
January 1997
Encoded by:
Hernán Cortés
© 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Mel Scott Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1927-1977
Collection Number: BANC MSS 70/73 c
Creator: Scott, Mel, 1906-
Extent: Number of containers: 6 cartons, 1 box Linear feet: 7.9
Repository: The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Correspondence, writings, and research files, mainly concerning Scott's publications on art, regional planning, and growth in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Research files account for the bulk of the collection, and include notes, clippings, and miscellaneous printed materials arranged by subject and pertaining to a wide range of aspects of city planning and urban development. Also includes drafts of some of his published and unpublished works, along with the typescript letters Scott wrote to his family during his travels in Europe in 1939.
Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library 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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Mel Scott papers, BANC MSS 70/73 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Material Cataloged Separately

  • Printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
  • Maps have been transferred to the Map Collection of the Bancroft Library.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Mel Scott Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Professor Scott on December 15 and 29, 1969, with an addition on January 12, 1970. On October 11, 1996, two manuscripts received by the Environmental Design Library some years previously from Geraldine Knight Scott were transferred to The Bancroft Library. In Feb. 1999, a box of additional manuscript and research material were received from Sally Woodbridge.

Scope and Content

The Mel Scott Papers contain correspondence, drafts, notes, clippings, and printed materials from 1927 to 1977, mainly relating to Professor Scott's publications on art, regional planning, and growth in the San Francisco Bay Area and in other parts of California. The collection has been divided into three series: correspondence, writings, and research files.
The bulk of the correspondence consists of typescript letters Scott wrote to his family during his travels in Europe from March through August of 1939, in which he vividly describes his impressions of different European cities and peoples. A few exchanges between Scott and J. N. Bowman, John Reber, and Clarence Stein are also included.
Scott's writings include draft manuscripts, notes and materials used in his books, Metropolitan Los Angeles: One Community (Haynes Foundation, 1949), and The San Francisco Bay Area: A Metropolis in Perspective (University of California Press, 1959). In addition, there are notes for an unpublished book on Robert Bradford Marshall, a typescript draft for an unpublished book which was to be called The Hill Towns of Northern Italy, and notes and materials gathered for speeches.
The remainder and bulk of the collection consists of Professor Scott's research files, a copious compendium of reading notes, newspaper clippings, and printed materials organized by subject and pertaining to a wide range of aspects of city planning and urban development, in California and in general.

 

Series 1: Correspondence, 1939-1958

Ctn. 1, folder 1-4

Letters to family from European trip 1939 Mar. 24-Aug. 26

folder 5

Bowman, J. N. (Jacob Neibert), 1875-1968 1954 Jan. 11-21

folder 6

Reber, John, 1887-1960 1958 June 26-July 2

folder 7

Stein, Clarence S. 1949 Nov. 15

 

Series 2: Writings, [ca. 1940s-1970s]

Ctn. 1, folder 8-33

Drafts, notes, and materials used in his Metropolitan Los Angeles (Haynes Foundation, 1949) n.d.

Ctn. 2, folder 1-28

Drafts, notes, and materials used in his The San Francisco Bay Area: A Metropolis in Perspective (University of California Press, 1959) n.d.

folder 29-30

Notes and clippings for book on Robert Bradford Marshall (never published) n.d.

folder 31

The Hill Towns of Northern Italy (never published) [ca. 1975-77]

folder 32

Library planning speech, source materials 1961-62, n.d.

folder 33

City Life and City Planning, visual materials 1950

 

Series 3: Research Files, [ca. 1920s-1960s]

Ctn. 3, folder 1

1930s -- General

folder 2

Agriculture

folder 3

Airports

folder 4

Airports in the 1930s

folder 5

Alameda County

 

Arts

folder 6

General

folder 7

American Symphony Orchestra League, Community Arts Councils, Inc., Greater St. Louis Arts Council

folder 8

Architecture and related arts

folder 9

Cultural Centers

folder 10

Federal legislation on the arts and foundations

folder 11

August Hecksher and other speeches on the arts

folder 12

Historic monuments

folder 13

Museums

folder 14

Music festivals and summer opera

folder 15

National government and the arts

folder 16

New York State Arts Council and Arts Management magazine

folder 17

Dick Raymond's cultural survey

folder 18

Recreation -- tourists

folder 19

Regional arts council of the San Francisco Bay Area

folder 20

Symphony orchestras

folder 21

Symphony orchestras and other musical organizations in other parts of the U.S. and other parts of California

folder 22

Miscellaneous

folder 23

Bay ports

folder 24

Bridges

folder 25

Bridges -- 1930s

folder 26

Burnham Plan notes

folder 27

Central Valley Planning programs

folder 28

Climate

folder 29

Construction

folder 30

Culture

folder 31

Downtown fear of decentralization

folder 32

Earthquakes

 

Economic development

folder 33

Bay Area in the 1930s, notes

folder 34

Santa Clara County

folder 35

Education

folder 36

Employment

folder 37

Energy

folder 38

Ferry Building Park and freeway

folder 39

Freeways

folder 40

Fringe area incorporation

folder 41

Geography

folder 42

Government -- metropolitan

folder 43

Health -- S.F. Bay Area

folder 44

Highways

folder 45

Highways and transit

folder 46

Historic landmarks

 

History

Ctn. 4, folder 1

S.F. Bay Area

folder 2

Old history

folder 3

Housing

folder 4-5

Housing clippings

folder 6

Housing in the 1930s

folder 7-8

Housing -- Europe

folder 9

Incomes

folder 10

Incorporation and annexation

folder 11

Industry and banking

folder 12

Land use -- industrial and commercial

folder 13

Libraries

folder 14

Manufacturing clippings

folder 15

Military establishments

folder 16

Missions

folder 17

Parking

folder 18-19

Parks

folder 20

Planning

folder 21

California

folder 22

California Youth Authority, Community Planning for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency

folder 23

City

folder 24

City, county, and regional

folder 25

City and county, postwar -- legislation

Ctn. 5, folder 1

Early -- Olmsted

folder 2

East Bay Regional Planning Association, minutes, 1927-1938

folder 3

Public Relations

Ctn. 4, folder 26

Sonoma County

Ctn. 5, folder 4

State

folder 5

Miscellaneous places

folder 6

Pollution

folder 7

Population clippings

folder 8

Ports

folder 9

Ports during 1930s

folder 10

Ports and shipyards -- related housing

folder 11

Private housing and transit

folder 12-14

Public health

folder 15

Public housing

folder 16

Railroads, electric lines

folder 17

Rapid transit

folder 18

Reber Plan

folder 19

Recreation

folder 20

Recreation -- parks, 1930s

folder 21

Redevelopment

folder 22

Redevelopment and housing

folder 23

Regional Development Council of America, Inc., memoranda etc., 1950-1951

folder 24

Regional organization

folder 25

Regional planning -- Association of Bay Area Governments

folder 26

Regional planning -- Bay Area Council

folder 27-28

Richmond

folder 29

C. M. Robinson -- Oakland Plan

folder 30

St. Louis cultural survey

folder 31

San Francisco

folder 32

Centennials

folder 33

City planning

folder 34

Civic Center

folder 35

Regional Planning Association, 1925-29

folder 36

San Francisco Bay and Bay Conservation & Development Commission

 

San Jose

Ctn. 6, folder 1

Citizens' Planning Council of Greater San Jose

folder 2

City planning clippings

folder 3

History clippings

folder 4-5

Transportation clippings

folder 6

San Mateo County

folder 7

Sanitation, S.F. Bay Area

folder 8

Santa Clara County

folder 9

Santa Clara County Population and Land Use

folder 10

Schools

folder 11

Shopping -- decentralized

folder 12

Smog and bay pollution

folder 13

Social services

folder 14

Sonoma County

folder 15-16

Suburbs -- mass-produced

folder 17

Tidelands reclamation and Bay development

folder 18

Trafficways

folder 19

Trafficways, clippings

folder 20

Trafficways -- one-way streets

folder 21

Transit

folder 22

Transit, clippings

folder 23

Transit -- highways in the 1930s

folder 24

Transportation -- rail, air, highways

folder 25

Universities and colleges

folder 26

U.S. economy

folder 27

Water and energy

folder 28

Water in California

folder 29

Water -- The History of Water and Water Companies in the East Bay Area

Box 1, folder 1

Water problems

folder 2

Water problems -- booklets and clippings

folder 3

World trade

folder 4

Zoning

folder 5

Unsorted clippings

folder 6

Miscellaneous