Violich (Francis) Papers, 1931-1989

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Summary

Title:
Francis Violich papers, 1931-1989
Dates:
1931-1989
Creators:
Violich, Francis
Abstract:
This collection contains the papers of Francis Violich, urban planner, landscape architect, educator and author. The papers primarily document Violich’s involvement in city planning, urbanization, development and the education of planners, from the early 1940s-mid 1970s, and reflect his interest in resolving social inequality through urban design in California, Latin America, Spain and Yugoslavia.
Extent:
19.15 linear feet (15 cartons, 1 box)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Francis Violich papers, BANC MSS 2003/226, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains the papers of Francis Violich, urban planner, landscape architect, educator and author. The papers primarily document Violich’s involvement in city planning, urbanization, development and the education of planners, from the early 1940s-mid 1970s, and reflect his interest in resolving social inequality through urban design in California, Latin America, Spain and Yugoslavia. Materials include correspondence, notes, research, proposals, reports, lectures, conference papers, publications, administrative files and some photographs. Many of Violich's original folders with his folder titles were retained. Several of Violich’s papers are published in both English and Spanish and are included in these materials.

Biographical / historical:

Francis Violich was born to Croatian parents in San Francisco in 1911. He graduated from Lowell High School and from University of California, Berkeley with a 1934 bachelor's degree in landscape architecture. Two years later, he was awarded a Heller Charitable and Educational Fund fellowship for graduate studies in city planning at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His interest was how to design urban places to resolve social inequality. While on a 1941-1942 research grant to study urban planning in Latin America, Violich met and married Mariantonia Sanabria (d. 1989) of Caracas, Venezuela. Violich published his first book, Cities of Latin America: Planning and Housing in the South, in 1944. It was considered the first comprehensive work on planning and housing in Latin America and as a result Violich was invited by what became the Organization of American States to start an exchange program on urban planning in the region. His other books includedCommunity Development and the Urban Planning Process in Latin America, andUrban Planning for Latin America: The Challenge of Metropolitan Growth.

Following his research trip he worked for the San Francisco Planning Department and during the late 1940s and 1950s, Violich, with Vernon DeMars, Catherine and William Wurster, and others, founded Telesis, a volunteer-based group bringing multiple fields together in a comprehensive approach to environmental development in a regional context. In 1951, he joined the landscape architecture and city and regional planning faculties at UC Berkeley. Violich also conducted study tours in Europe, Yugoslavia and Latin America that helped him establish a multi-cultural approach to his professional practice, teaching, research and community activities.

His earliest research in Dalmatia began in 1937 and continued for many decades. He had a number of Fulbright Fellowships in the 1970s and in 1996 launched the exchange program between the urban planning departments at UC Berkeley and the University of Zagreb in Croatia. In his 1998 book, The Bridge to Dalmatia: A Search for the Meaning of Place, he examined post-war reconstruction, environmental eco-history, planning of urban areas in Croatia, and particularly the environmental cultural identity of people along Croatia's Dalmatian coast.

Violich won several awards, including a National Planning Pioneer designation by the American Institute of Planners in 1992 and recognition in 1997 as co-founder of UC Berkeley's city and regional planning department. He was given a Distinguished Alumnus Award by the College of Environmental Design and its alumni in 1999 in recognition of his accomplishments. Violich placed in the finals of the Prix De Rome twice and was a member of the American Academy in Rome.

Violich served as a planning consultant to Sao Paulo and Caracas and as an adviser to educational programs in Venezuela and Chile and to the Peace Corps, Pan American Union, Ford Foundation and other groups interested in urban planning in Latin America. He retired from UC Berkeley in 1976 and passed away in 2005.

Sources:

Kathleen Maclay, The Berkeleyan, UC Berkeley Media Relations 2005. UC Berkeley web site accessed June 29, 2017

Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD) — © 2005-2015 Alan Michelson, accessed July 5, 2017

Processing information:

Arranged to the folder level.

Processed by Waverly Lowell and Lisa Monhoff in 2017.

Accruals:

No future additions are expected.

Physical location:
Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Wavery Lowell, Lisa Monhoff
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2017-11-27 09:15:43 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Francis Violich papers, BANC MSS 2003/226, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
510-642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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