Li (Hua) papers, 1930s-1989, bulk 1948-1983

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Summary

Title:
Hua Li papers
Dates:
1930s-1989, bulk 1948-1983
Creators:
Li, Hua, 1909-2001
Abstract:
The papers of architect Hua Li primarily consist of travel photographs and architectural drawings. The photographs document buildings and sites in Europe and North Africa. The architectural drawings relate to design projects developed while working for M. A. Dyer Company, Architects & Engineers. Also included are materials from Hua Li's graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as photograph albums from his time in China.
Extent:
91.91 Linear Feet (66 boxes, 13 flatfiles, 6 rolls)
Language:
Collection material is in English with some Chinese.
Preferred citation:

Hua Li papers, 1930s-1989, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2002.M.10.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/archives2002m10

Background

Scope and content:

This collection primarily consists of Hua Li's photographic prints, slides, sketches, and architectural drawings. The bulk of the collection consists of photographic documentation of buildings and sites from Hua Li's travels in Europe and North Africa, as well as architectural drawings of design projects primarily from his time working for M. A. Dyer Company, Architects & Engineers. The collection also includes photograph albums from Hua Li's early years in China, materials from his time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and miscellaneous other papers and photographs.

Biographical / historical:

Hua Li was born in Macau, China, in 1909. He studied civil engineering at Tsing Hua University (now known as Tsinghua University) in Beijing and spent time in Shanghai and Kunming. He emigrated from China to the United States after World War II, joining his brother at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He obtained a Master in Architecture from MIT in 1949. Li worked for several firms in the Boston area, including M. A. Dyer Company, Architects & Engineers, and Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott. He specialized in designing schools and hospitals in the Boston area and in the United States Virgin Islands.

Hua Li experimented with photography in the early 1950s, creating abstract images as well as photographing the Boston coast. He became an avid photographer of architecture and landscape and documented his travels extensively. From the 1960s to the 1980s, he traveled across Europe, including Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain, and to North Africa, creating a large portfolio of images of archaeological sites, buildings, and cities.

Li learned to use pastels and watercolors as a young man and continued painting and sketching throughout his life. He was a member of the Rockport Art Association in Massachusetts. The Norris Medical Library at the University of Southern California holds a selection of his watercolors.

Hua Li stopped traveling in 1984 after a fall from the roof of his three-story home in Arlington, Massachusetts. After he recovered, he moved to join his brothers in Los Angeles, California, where he continued practicing photography until he passed away in 2001.

Sources:

"Hua Li: An Architect, a Painter and a Photographer." Exhibition announcement. LMAN Gallery, 2002.

University of Southern California Norris Medical Library. "Artwork in the Library." Accessed August 2024. https://libraries.usc.edu/locations/norris-medical-library/artwork-in-the-library.

Acquisition information:
Acquired in 2001.
Processing information:

The collection was partially rehoused upon receipt. In 2024, Sara McGillivray completed the rehousing, arranged the materials, and wrote the finding aid.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in five series: Series I. Photograph albums from early years in China, 1930s-1940s; Series II. Graduate school papers, 1948-1950, undated; Series III. Architectural projects, 1950-1979, undated; Series IV. Travel photographs, 1962-1989, undated; and Series V. Other papers, 1967-1984, undated.

Physical location:
Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Sara McGillivray
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-05-15 08:08:54 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Preferred citation:

Hua Li papers, 1930s-1989, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2002.M.10.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/archives2002m10

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
Website