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Inventory of the John Galen Howard Records at the University of California Berkeley, 1874-1954 (bulk 1888-1931)
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Table of contents
Title: John Galen Howard Records at the University of California Berkeley,
Date (inclusive): 1874-1954 (bulk 1888-1931)
Creator:
Howard, John Galen, 1864-1931
Extent:
ca. 50.5 boxes, 5 cartons, 2 flat boxes, 118 tubes, 27 flat file drawers, 7 folios, 7 volumes, 1 framed drawing, 3 shipping
tubes
(231.3 linear feet)
46 online items
Repositories:
Environmental Design Archives
The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library, University Archives
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720-1820
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Language:
English.
The collections were donated to the repositories by outside donors or transferred to the repositories from other University
departments during the years 1955-2001.
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 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.
Microfilm containing selected records and drawings from the collection is available.
-
Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library:Identifier/Call Number: BANC FILM 2554
-
Contributing Institution: Environmental Design Library:Identifier/Call Number: MICROFILM 78314 NA
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.
Refer to the introductory text in the finding aids for each repository for instruction
The John Galen Howard materials consist primarily of the manuscripts, photographs, and drawings of his architectural projects.
In addition, a large amount of personal correspondence, writings, and drawings, including drawings from his studies at the
Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris are held at the University. There is also a sizeable amount of material from his faculty position
and professional careers.
The records are divided between four repositories with the majority of the personal correspondence, faculty papers, and some
project records held by the Bancroft Western Americana collection at The Bancroft Library. The records for the University
of California buildings and the Phoebe Hearst Competition are split between the Environmental Design Archives and the University
Archives at The Bancroft Library. The remainder of the sizeable amount of project records, along with personal papers and
personal drawings are held at the Environmental Design Archives.
John Galen Howard was born May 8, 1864 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. He began his architectural education at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, the nation's only architectural program at the time, and left that program in 1885 before completing
his degree. He apprenticed himself to Henry Hobson Richardson in Brookline, Massachusetts, gaining a practical knowledge of
drafting. After Richardson's death he left the firm and went to Los Angeles where he worked with the firms Caulkin & Hass,
and James M. Wood. Unhappy with the prospects in Los Angeles, Howard left after a year to tour Europe in 1888. Returning to
the United States, he went to work for McKim, Mead & White, first in Boston then in New York. Encouraged by the partners of
the firm, who offered financial assistance, Howard left for Paris to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1890 to 1893. Although
he left shortly before completing the training, he brought the tradition and style of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts back to the
United States.
In 1893 Howard opened a private practice with Samuel Cauldwell in New York. The partners built residential and commercial
buildings in New York and New Jersey. In 1898, Howard & Cauldwell entered the Phoebe Hearst International Competition for
the plan for the University of California in Berkeley. Emile Bénard won the competition, but did not wish to leave Paris for
Berkeley. Howard, whose entry with Cauldwell came in fourth place, was appointed to the Advisory Board of Architects for the
Perpetuation of the Phoebe Hearst Architectural Plan for the University of California. Phoebe Hearst hired Howard to design
the Hearst Mining Building, sending him on a tour of Europe in 1900 to study University buildings, particularly those relating
to mining. Because Bénard proved too difficult for the Regents to work with, President Wheeler, a strong supporter of Howard's
talents, offered Howard the position of Supervising Architect of the University in 1901. The Howards moved to California in
1902. In 1903, the University of California provided funding for a department of architecture. Howard was appointed professor
at the new school, and settled into life in the Bay Area.
Due to Howard's work on the University, he soon had a growing private practice. In 1906 he opened an office in San Francisco
in partnership with engineer John Debo Galloway. He was an advisory member of the Reconstruction Committee of San Francisco
after the 1906 earthquake. Away from his work at the University, Howard was the supervising architect for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific
Exposition in Seattle and was involved with the Panama-Pacific Exhibition of 1915 in San Francisco. He was a member of the
Exposition advisory committee as well as a member of the board that supervised the plan for the San Francisco Civic Center.
He also designed the San Francisco Civic Auditorium for the Exposition as well as a variety of residential and commercial
buildings in Berkeley and San Francisco.
In 1913 Howard was appointed Director of the School of Architecture at the University. In his capacity as Supervising Architect
for the University, Howard completed the Hearst Memorial Mining Building, the Greek Theater, Boalt Hall, California Hall,
Agriculture Hall, the University Library, the Sather Tower (known as the Campanile), Sather Gate, Wheeler Hall, Hilgard Hall,
Gilman Hall, Hesse Hall, Le Conte Hall and Haviland Hall, thoroughly adapting the Phoebe Hearst Architectural plan to display
his preferred designs.
In 1917, Howard took a sabbatical to live and write poetry in Carmel, California. In 1918, he went on "war leave" to Europe.
There he helped establish the American Expeditionary Forces University, which was intended to educate soldiers as they awaited
transport home. Returning in 1919, he found the University reluctant to spend money and saw his authority as Supervising Architect
began to deteriorate. Howard was officially dismissed by the Regents of the University in 1924, and in 1926 resigned as Director
of the School of Architecture. He and his wife, Mary Robertson Bradbury, moved to San Francisco, residing on Russian Hill,
where Howard continued to write and publish his own poetry. He died suddenly from a heart attack in 1931.
Note
- Partridge, Loren. John Galen Howard and the Berkeley Campus: Beaux-Arts Architecture in the "Athens of the West," Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, Berkeley, CA 1978.
- Moss, Stacey. The Howards: First Family of Bay Area Modernism, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA 1988.
The John Galen Howard materials at the University of California, Berkeley represent the full range of Howard's professional
work as well as his personal life. The materials also provide insight into Northern California architecture and design, in
addition to architectural education of the early part of the twentieth century. Notable materials include the drawings from
the Phoebe Hearst International Competition, not only Howard's drawings but also the winner, Emile Benard, and drawings from
many other competitors. The collection is important for the number of drawings from University buildings designed and/or supervised
by Howard over his 24 year career at the University of California. Other important projects represented in the collections
include the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition, the San Francisco Civic Center, and several residential projects. Important personal
papers in the collection include 58 years of personal correspondence with his family, sketches, watercolors, writings, poetry,
and public epic poems. Additionally, the collections also contain papers from his education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
The collections include project drawings on linen and tracing paper, blueprints, manuscript materials and photographs related
to the projects. The personal, professional and office materials are primarily manuscripts, except for the collection of drawings
from his studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and the sketches from his travels in Europe and the United States.
This finding aid summarizes the collections of John Galen Howard papers and records, focused 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 the individual collections. For a description of the project records, 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 can be split among many different collections and repositories. The Project
Index also contains a selected number of digitized images of drawings from University projects held in the University collections.
In addition there are digitized images in the Container List of the John Galen Howard Collection (ARCH 1955-4).
Arrangement for each major 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, or 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.
Title: Architectural Drawings of University of California Buildings,
(CU-402) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Specifications, Contracts, and Bids for Construction of University of California, Berkeley, Buildings, 1896-[ongoing],
(CU-13) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Galloway, John Debo Papers, 1920-1940
(BANC MSS 67/40 c) The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Galloway, John Debo Papers,
(GALLOWAY) The Water Resources Center Archives, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Phoebe Hearst Architectural Plan for the University of California. Competition Drawings, ca. 1897-1898,
(CU-403) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Phoebe Hearst Architectural Plan for the University of California. Concours Phoebe A. Hearst pour les plans de reconstruction
de l'universite. 1er prix. Projet de E. Bernard.
(ff308gh.u, ff308gh.u.1900, ff308gh.u.pah) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Correspondence concerning the Phoebe Hearst Architectural Plan for the University of California, 1896 Oct 22-23.
(308gh.cor) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: John Galen Howard collection of progress photographs ca. 1905-1910,
(f308 x H849 pr) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
John Galen Howard
Title: Sketches of buildings, etc., for the University of California, Berkeley 1904.
(CU-402.1) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Records of the President of the University of California,
(CU-5) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Records of the Regents of the University of California, 1896-1933,
(CU-1) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Views of University Buildings,
(UARC PIC), University Archives Pictorial Collection, (UARC PIC) University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of
California, Berkeley. [see individual buildings collections]