Sanford L. Berger papers, 1870-1999, bulk 1965-1996

Summary

Creators:

Berger, Sanford

Abstract:

This collection consists chiefly of correspondence and research files reflecting the activities of California architect Sanford L. Berger (1919-2000) in the mid-to-late 20th century as a collector, student, and enthusiast of objects and knowledge related to 19th century English artist, decorator, poet, and printer William Morris (1834-1896), his circle, and his involvement with the Pre-Raphaelites and English Arts and Crafts Movement.

Extent:

53.26 Linear Feet (72 boxes)

Language:

English.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Sanford L. Berger papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Sanford L. Berger papers consist chiefly of research material relating to the activities of California architect Sanford L. Berger, from the mid 1960s to the late 1990s, as a collector, student, and enthusiast of objects and knowledge related to 19th century English artist, decorator, poet, and printer William Morris and his circle.

This finding aid provides a preliminary inventory of the collection and has been broadly arranged into eleven series. This collection contains a wide assortment of materials of varying research value. Because most items remain in the original order in which the Huntington received them, there is some overlap among series. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence between Berger and prominent individuals in Morrisian scholarly, academic, special collections libraries, book trade and museum circles in the United States and England (Series 1), as well copies of articles, clippings, ephemera, and research materials related to Morrisian topics (Series 2 and Series 5).

The collection also contains administrative documents and ephemera related to museum exhibitions that included material from the Bergers' collection (Series 3), and specific research and travel files related to the story of Cupid and Psyche as recounted in Morris's The Earthly Paradise (Series 8); ecclesiastical stained glass installations of Morris & Co. visited by the Bergers (Series 9); and the Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (Series 7). Miscellaneous ephemera (Series 4) in the collection includes fine press book announcements, exhibition posters, postcards, clippings, photocopies and photographs of Morris designs, correspondence, notes and inventories made by Berger, 238 bifolios from The Golden Legend (Series 4, Box 64), and loose gatherings and separated leaves from miscellaneous imprints (Series 4, Box 65). Complimentary materials in the collection include items related to Berger's interest in contemporary and historical fine press printing, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area (Series 6) and two film reels from the 1970s (Series 10).

Biographical / historical:

Sanford Lionel Berger (1919-2000), an architect and William Morris enthusiast, was born in San Francisco, California in 1919. His father, Samuel Berger, was an architectural woodcarver employed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and his work can be seen in many Bay Area churches and cathedrals among other sites. During World War II, Sanford Berger served as a civilian naval architect while stationed at the Boston Naval Ship Yard. A University of California at Berkeley and Harvard-trained architect, he practiced for 38 years and became a senior vice president for the firm of Stone, Marracini & Patterson in San Francisco, California. As a student, Berger, with his wife Helen, also a Harvard-trained architect, studied under such luminaries as Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

In the 1960s, the Bergers purchased an almost complete set of books printed by William Morris's Kelmscott Press, thus beginning almost four decades of building a collection of books, manuscripts, textiles, wallpapers, carpets, tapestries, drawings, stained glass, ephemera, and ceramics that during their lifetimes was regarded as the largest private collection of William Morris materials in the United States. Their collection was acquired by the Huntington Library in 1999.

The renown of the Sanford and Helen Berger Collection of William Morris grew steadily over the years, and the lure of the welcoming hosts and charming location of "Kelmscott Carmel" or "Kelmscott West" as the Bergers' Scenic Road residence in Carmel, California, was known, proved irresistible for scores of scholars, researchers, and serious Morris aficionados from around the world.

Berger was active in many bibliophilic societies and organizations and served as a president of the Book Club of California. He enjoyed hobby printing, and operated two small, private presses, the Tunnel Road and the Scenic Road presses, both from his homes of the same addresses.

Sanford L. Berger died on July 30, 2000. Helen L. Berger died in 2001.

William Morris (1834-1896), an English artist, decorator, poet, and printer, was born March 24, 1834, in Walthamstow, England, then a suburb of London; he attended Marlborough College and in 1852 entered Exeter College, Oxford. He left in 1855, without taking religious orders, as he originally planned, and instead embarked on a varied career as a poet, visual artist and Socialist. He married Jane Burden on April 26, 1859, and they had two daughters, Jane Alice (Jenny), born in 1861 and Mary (May) in 1862.

William Morris, a man of tremendous energy and creativity, became, over the years, a poet, artist, designer, decorator, manufacturer, printer, Socialist activist, and lecturer. He helped to begin the Arts & Crafts movement in England through Morris & Co., a decorative arts firm, and strove to better the lives of the working class through his work with Socialist causes. It was possibly the strain of overwork as he tried to maintain a busy lecture schedule, as well as oversee the Kelmscott Press and other business interests, that caused Morris to become ill in June, 1896. After a lingering illness he died on October 3, 1896, at his home, Kelmscott House in London.

Morris & Co. operated from 1875 until 1940 and was known for its stained glass, wallpaper, pottery, and textile designs. The firm succeeded Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., which had been founded in 1861, when Morris became the sole owner. John Dearle (1860-1932) assumed leadership of the company when he became its Art Director following Morris's death in 1896. In 1905 the company's name was changed to Morris & Co. Decorators Ltd.

Acquisition information:

This collection is a subset of the Sanford and Helen Berger Collection that was acquired by the Huntington Library and Art Collections in 1999 and includes monographs, pamphlets, and other printed materials, manuscripts of William Morris, and art materials.

For additional information about the other components of the Berger Collection, please see the "Related Materials" notes below.

Processing information:

The bulk of the collection, except for the correspondence series, was received unarranged. Processing involved the survey and broad arrangement of the materials and the creation of this finding aid; container lists were created for some series depending on the complexity of the material and the available staff resources. Box 63 contains miscellaneous material that was found after the rest of the series had already been organized. In 2022, Maggie Hughes added additional formerly separated materials to box 63. In 2023, Gayle M. Richardson added formerly separated materials into boxes 66-68. In September 2023, Mari Khasmanyan added formerly separated binders of reference materials into boxes 69-70.

Items of particular note were separated from the collection:. Two letters, one from May Morris (Call Number: mssHM 80229) and one from William Morris (Call Number: mssHM 80230), were transferred to the Manuscript Department in June 2013, and 12 typescript and manuscript lists of images used in Morris & Co. stained glass projects, with corresponding portfolio numbers, were moved to the William Morris Papers in October 2016.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in the following 10 series:

1. Correspondence (Boxes 1-32)
2. Periodicals (Boxes 33-40, 66-68)
3. Exhibition Ephemera (Boxes 41-43a)
4. Miscellaneous (Boxes 44-50, 63-65, 71)
5. Miscellaneous Research Papers (Boxes 51-52)
6. Fine press printing publications, woodcuts, and ephemera (Boxes 53-56)
7. Cranbrook Ephemera (Box 57)
8. Cupid and Psyche Ephemera (Box 58)
9. Stained Glass Travel Ephemera (Boxes 59-61)
10. Film reels (Box 62)

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

Art materials:

1. William Morris Collection (Art Collections accession number: 2000.5) containing more than 5000 items from the Berger Collection including individual drawings in sketch books and a study collection of more than 600 items comprised mainly of 35mm slides taken by the Bergers of Morris & Co. stained glass installations. More than 3500 items from this collection are digitized in the Huntington Art Collections Online Catalogue

Manuscripts:

1. Papers of William Morris, 1839-1999, (mssMOR 1-611) containing archival and manuscript materials from the Berger Collection created by Morris and his associates, as well as items related to the 19th and 20th century British Pre-Raphaelites, fine printing and private presses, and the Arts & Crafts movement
2. Letters by William Morris and May Morris, 1892-1914, (mssHM 80229-80230)

Printed material:

1. More than 2,200 monographs, pamphlets, and other printed material received as part of the Sanford and Helen Berger Collection of William Morris are individually cataloged and can be retrieved by doing a keyword search for "Sanford and Helen Berger Collection" in the Huntington Library Online Catalog

In addition to the material from the Bergers' collection, the Huntington has broad and deep holdings of textual, visual and material artifacts related to Morris including the Kelmscott Press, the Arts & Crafts movements in American and Britain and the Pre-Raphaelites. For additional information about the Huntington's extensive holdings related to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their circle, see the following articles in the "Huntington Library Quarterly" (Winter 1992):

1. Pre-Raphaelite Materials in the Huntington Library and Art Collections (pages 147-148)
2. A Checklist of Pre-Raphaelite Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (pages 149-219, 221-223)
3. A Checklist of Pre-Raphaelite Works of Art in the Huntington Library and Art Collections (pages 225-251)

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Art- Collectors and collecting.
Book collectors.
Book collecting.
Collectors and collecting.
Manuscripts – Collectors and collecting.
Arts and crafts movement.
Antiquarian booksellers.
Letterpress printing.
Art museums – Exhibitions.
Libraries – Exhibitions.
Stained glass windows.
Cupid and Psyche (Tale).
Invitation cards.
Posters
Private presses
Private press books.
Business records -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Ephemera -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Ephemera -- United States -- 20th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States
Personal papers -- United States 20th century
Photographs -- 20th century

Names:

ABI Books (Firm)
Alta California Bookstore
Amaranth Press
American Printing History Association
Arion Press
Arts Club of Chicago
Bancroft Library.
Book Club of California
Cranbrook Academy of Art
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
H.M. Fletcher (Firm)
Good Book Press
David Magee (Firm)
Dawson's Book Shop
Delaware Art Museum
Goodspeed's Book Shop (Boston, Mass.)
Grolier Club
Joshua Heller Rare Books
Heritage Book Shop (Los Angeles, Calif.)
John Howell Books (San Francisco, Calif.).
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.
Kelmscott Press
Maggs Bros.
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N. Y.)
Mills College
Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art
Pierpoint Morgan Library
Morris & Co. (London, England).
William Morris Gallery and Brangwyn Gift (London, England)
William Morris Society
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N. Y.)
National Art-Collections Fund (Great Britain)
Oak Knoll Books (Firm)
Oakland Museum of California
Piccadilly Gallery
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Press in Tuscany Alley
John William Pye Rare Books
Bernard Quaritch (Firm)
Bertram Rota Ltd.
Roxburghe Club of San Francisco
Sacramento Book Collectors Club
Arthur Sanderson & Sons
St. Bride Printing Library
Stanford University.
E. K. Schreiber (Firm)
University of California, Berkeley.
University of San Francisco.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
Aho, Gary L.
Berger, Sanford
Bliss, Carey S.
Crace, John D. (John Dibblee), 1838-1919
Crane, Walter, 1845-1915
Dreyfus, John
Franklin, Colin
Hart, James D. (James David), 1911-1990
Kelvin, Norman
Samuels Lasner, Mark, 1952-
LeMire, Eugene D.
Levenson, Roger, 1914-1994
MacCarthy, Fiona
Morris, William, 1834-1896
Needham, Paul, 1943-
Parry, Linda
Peterson, William S.
Ritchie, Ward, 1905-1996
Roatcap, Adela Spindler
Sewter, A. C.
Shasky, Florian J.
Sperisen, Albert, 1908-1911
Standen, Edith Appleton
Strouse, Norman H.
Walsdorf, John J.
White, Gleeson. 1851-1898
Wilson, Adrian

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

RESTRICTED: Box 62: housed in cold storage; extended retrieval and delivery time required.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Sanford L. Berger papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Manuscript Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2191

reference@huntington.org

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