Robert A. Kennard papers, 1953-2015

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Summary

Creators:
Kennard, Gail and Kennard, Robert A.
Abstract:
Robert A. Kennard (1920-1995) was an African American architect in Los Angeles. He designed over 40 residences and later focused on public works, including Carson City Hall and Community Center and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Headquarters. The collection contains administrative records about his firm, Kennard Design Group (KDG); site plans, planning reports, and studies; photographs, negatives, and slides of completed projects; and documentation about Kennard's work in the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and mentorship to architects of color.
Extent:
25.2 linear feet (58 boxes, 1 half box, 5 shoeboxes, and 2 flat boxes), 250 linear feet (125 unprocessed architectural rolls), and 51.3 linear feet (90 unprocessed rolls, 7 unprocessed oversize boxes, 2 unprocessed flat boxes, 1 unprocessed folder)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Robert A. Kennard papers (Collection 2351). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains administrative records about Robert Kennard's architecture firm, Kennard Design Group (KDG); site plans, planning reports, and studies; and documentation about Kennard's work in the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and mentorship to architects of color. The bulk of the material consists of photographs and negatives of KDG architectural projects, in addition to color slides and microfilm of drawings. Also contained within the collection are 125 rolled architectural drawings for KDG projects and 7 boxes of plans for Kennard's personal residence. The collection also contains a student portfolio of Kennard's.

Biographical / historical:

Robert A. Kennard was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1920. He served as a lieutenant in the Army in World War II and the Korean War, attended Pasadena City College, and earned an architectural degree at USC. In 1957 he established his own firm, later known as Kennard Design Group, the oldest African American architecture firm in Los Angeles. The firm designed more than 700 projects in Southern California, beginning with over 40 residences completed through the early 1960s. One of his first homes, the Zeiger Residence in Laurel Canyon has been designated as a City of Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument. In the mid-1960s he shifted his practice to public work. Notable projects include the City of Carson City Hall and Community Center, designed with architects Robert Alexander and Frank Sata, Van Nuys State Office Building with architect Harold Williams, and Parking Structures 1, 3 and 4 at the Los Angeles International Airport. Two of his last projects completed in the mid-1990s were the City of Los Angeles 77th Street Police Headquarters in which the community room is named in his honor, and a new entrance to the Hollywood Bowl.

Kennard Design Group garnered awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and California Preservation Foundation for its work as associate architect in the redesign and expansion of Los Angeles' Central Library. Kennard encouraged other minority and women architects to enter the profession, and he was active in the both the Los Angeles and California chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and in numerous community organizations including the Inner City Cultural Center where he served as president of the board with the late actor, Gregory Peck. He was recognized as a fellow of the AIA, a Distinguished Alumnus of the USC School of Architecture, and he received the Whitney M. Young Jr. Citation from the AIA in 1991 for his contributions to the profession. He died in Los Angeles, CA, in March 1995.

Source: Myrna Oliver, "R. A. Kennard; Prominent Black Architect," Los Angeles Times, March 29, 1995, http://articles.latimes.com/1995-03-29/news/mn-48295_1_los-angeles.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Gail Kennard, 2017.
Processing information:

Processed by Amy Zhou, Allison Yang, and Eric Olsen in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), under the supervision of Courtney Dean, 2019-2021.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's Library Collections and Archives.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged in the following series:

  • Series 1: Kennard Design Group administrative records, 1953-2000s
    • Subseries 1.1: General administrative records, 1953-2000s
    • Subseries 1.2: Awards, 1974-2000
    • Subseries 1.3: Press and marketing, 1980-1999
    • Subseries 1.4: Correspondence, 1954-1995
  • Series 2: Kennard Design Group projects, 1957-2015
    • Subseries 2.1: Los Angeles County, 1957-2003
    • Subseries 2.2: Non-Los Angeles County Southern California, 1970-1988
    • Subseries 2.3: Northern California, 1968-2015
    • Subseries 2.4: Other US locations, 1970s-1980s
    • Subseries 2.5: International, 1970s-1983
    • Subseries 2.6: Color slides, microfilm, and negatives, 1960s-1995
  • Series 3: Architectural plans and drawings, 1959-1995
  • Series 4: Increasing diversity in architecture, 1976-1994

Physical / technical requirements:

CONTAINS UNPROCESSED AUDIO MATERIALS: Audio materials are not currently available for access and will require further processing and assessment. If you have questions about this material please email spec-coll@library.ucla.edu.

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research with the exception of the Architectural Plans series. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Robert A. Kennard papers (Collection 2351). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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