Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- The Mai K. Arbegast Collection documents Arbegast's projects and professional activities through drawings, manuscripts, photographs, and slides. The collection is arranged in four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records and Project Records, and includes documentation of her work for the UC Davis Arboretum (1975-1977), Trefethen Vineyard (1976, 1990), California Palace of the Legion of Honor renovation (1991-1995), Shanel Estate (1992-1995), The Embarcadero Center (1992, 1996) and the Rudd Estate (1996-1999). Also included are her many collaborations with other landscape architects and architects.
- Extent:
- 16 Linear Feet: 7 boxes, 5 cartons, 1 flat file drawer and 22 tubes
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], Mai Kitazawa Arbegast Collection, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Mai Kitazawa Arbegast Collection documents Arbegast's projects and professional activities through drawings, manuscripts, photographs, and slides. The collection is arranged in four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records and Project Records. The Personal Papers include biographical information, personal correspondence, and photographs of herself, family, and friends, including her college years at Oberlin. It also includes her husband, David Arbegast's (UCB MS 1953) thesis drawings for a greenbelt in San Francisco.
The Professional Papers contain materials from her classes in the U.C. Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture, the manuscript for an unfinished book project done in collaboration with Santa Barbara-based photographer Bob Werlitz, and correspondence related to her activities in professional organizations and committees.
The Office Records contain correspondence and other documents related to the work of her firm including potential commissions, and consultations. Arbegast had ongoing consulting relationships with several firms including ROMA Design Group and her consulting is also documented in the manuscript and slides found in the Professional Papers and Project Records series.
The Project Records document design projects from 1966 to 2003 and contain drawings, slides, photographs, and manuscripts consisting of extensive correspondence with clients, contractors, architects, and plant brokers. The collection includes documentation of her work for the U.C. Davis Arboretum (1975-1977), Trefethen Vineyard (1976-1990), California Palace of the Legion of Honor renovation (1991-1995), Shanel Estate (1992-1995), The Embarcadero Center (1992, 1996), and the Rudd Estate (1996-1999). The collection also includes her designs for many private gardens, vineyards, and some public/civic projects in collaboration with other landscape architects and architects.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Mai Arbegast was born in San Jose, CA. Her father Gijiu Kitazawa and his brother Buemon started the Kitazawa Seed Company and nursery in 1916. When they split the business a year later, Arbegasts's father moved the seed brokerage to a downtown San Jose storefront and sold seeds wholesale and retail, adding his own line of Asian vegetables. This became the main seed source for the growing population of Japanese tenant farmers in California and Oregon. In an interview Mai recalled, "I spent much of my early life in boots stomping on particular tomatoes and collecting the seed for further crosses."
In 1942, Arbegast's family was packed off to the Heart Mountain internment camp. They got a sponsor and clearance to move to Michigan until World War II ended. In 1945, the business was restarted at which time her father began mail-order sales and shipping.
Arbegast graduated from Oberlin College in 1945 and earned an M.S. degree in Ornamental Horticulture from Cornell University in 1949 as well as an M.S. in Landscape Architecture from Berkeley in 1953. Following graduation, she taught both full and part time at Berkeley in the Department of Landscape Architecture from 1953 to 1967. During that time she maintained a part-time professional practice. In 1967, she gave up teaching to begin a full time professional practice that continued through 2003. During her time as a teacher of plant materials, horticulture, and planting design she inspired and influenced generations of students.
Arbegast specialized in planting design and was involved in the design of large scale residential gardens, estates, and wineries, in addition to commercial, educational and public projects. Her notable projects include the Hearst Castle planting restoration, California Palace of the Legion of Honor renovation, restoration projects at the Oakland Museum and Scripps College, UC Davis Arboretum, Trefethen Vineyard, Shanel Estate, the Great Highway renovation with Michael Painter, and the UC Berkeley Master Plan with ROMA Design Group. She frequently worked as a horticultural consultant to architects including, Herzog & DeMeuron, Robert A.M. Stern, and MLTW/Turnbull Associates, and with other landscape architects such as Pete Walker, Richard Haag, Lawrence Halprin, her husband's firm Arbegast, Newton, Griffith, and large firms including SWA and EDAW.
In addition to her professional practice, Arbegast was a member and trustee of many boards and foundations. These include: U.C. Berkeley Botanical Garden, Filoli Center Founding Committee, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Design Review Board, Saratoga Horticulture Foundation, American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta, and the Strybing Arboretum Society. She also served on the City of Berkeley Planning Commission, Board of Adjustments, and Waterfront Advisory Committee.
Arbegast played a key role in the gift of the Blake Garden to the U.C. Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture and the transfer of Filoli Gardens to the National Trust. She was largely responsible for the donation of Beatrix Farrand's Reef Point Collection and Endowments to the U.C. Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture.
Sources:
"Curriculum Vitae," Mai Kitazawa Arbegast Collection, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.
- Acquisition information:
- The Environmental Design Archives acquired this collection in 2006. An additional donation was made is 2012.
- Processing information:
-
Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by the Beatrix Farrand Endowment courtesy of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the Curator.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], Mai Kitazawa Arbegast Collection, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.
- Location of this collection:
-
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820Berkeley, CA 94720-1820, US
- Contact:
- (510) 642-5124