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Heinrich (Edward Oscar) Papers
BANC MSS 68/34 c
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Edward Oscar Heinrich papers
creator:
Heinrich, Edward Oscar
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 68/34 c
Physical Description:
144 linear feet
(87 cartons, 33 boxes, 25 oversize boxes, 18 cardfile boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1888-1953
Date (bulk): 1909-1953
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.
Collection is open for research, with the exception of Series 8 (oversize boxes 18-25 and cardfile boxes 17-18), which is
restricted and requires curatorial permission to view.
No future additions are expected.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Edward Oscar Heinrich papers were gifted to The Bancroft Library by Mortimer A. Heinrich on December 7, 1969.
Edward Oscar Heinrich was a chemist, consultant, expert witness, businessman, and pioneer in scientific criminology. He operated
a private crime lab out of his home at 1001 Oxford Street in Berkeley, California from the 1920s through his death in 1953.
In his lab, Heinrich pioneered techniques in scientific crime detection, applying them in a wide array of criminal cases,
including forgery and fraud as well as some of the most high profile murder cases of his day.
Heinrich was born in 1881 in Clintonville, Wisconsin to August Frederick and Albertine Otilie Heinrich. The family moved to
Tacoma, Washington around 1889 or 1890. August Frederick committed suicide in 1897, leaving sixteen-year Edward to support
his mother and two sisters. Edward left school without a high school diploma and worked as a janitor in a pharmacy. By the
age of 18, he had taught himself enough to pass the state pharmacy board examination and become a licensed pharmacist.
In 1904, Edward applied to study chemistry at the University of California. Initially denied admission because of his lack
of a high school diploma, Heinrich travelled to Berkeley and, after petitioning the administration, he was granted entrance
to the University as a special status student. He graduated in 1908. While at the University of California, Edward met his
future wife, Marion Allen, a native of Salt Lake City. Edward and Marion would have two sons, Theodore and Mortimer.
After graduation, Edward and Marion moved back to Tacoma, where Edward found work as a chemist for the city. In 1910, he resigned
from this post (protesting both the salary and lack of adequate equipment and support) and set out to run his own industrial
chemistry lab, still seeking business from the city but also from local breweries and other industries. By 1915, Heinrich
was beginning to show interest in lab work relating to crime and during the next few years saw increasing opportunities to
apply his chemistry expertise to crime detection and investigation.
In 1917, Heinrich's laboratory work was interrupted by a shortage of adequate lab supplies after the United States’ entrance
into World War I. Heinrich sought out new opportunities and moved his family back to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1917 and
1918, Heinrich worked as Chief of Police for the city of Alameda. During the same time, Heinrich began teaching during summer
sessions in the new Police Science program at the University of California. The brainchild of Berkeley Police Chief August
Vollmer, the program sought to professionalize the local police force by providing education in a range of academic subjects,
including the emerging field of criminology. Heinrich would teach criminology courses in the University of California Summer
Sessions until the mid-1940s.
In 1918, Heinrich once again relocated his family, taking up the job of City Manager for the city of Boulder, Colorado.
In early 1919, Heinrich seized the opportunity to resume his lab work by returning to the San Francisco Bay Area to take over
the lab of renowned and recently deceased handwriting analyst Theodore A. Kytka. Heinrich would manage a crime lab and a criminology
consulting business in the Bay Area for more than 30 years and establish himself as a sought-after criminologist and expert
witness.
Heinrich, whose lab often handled up to thirty cases a month, was a mostly self-taught expert in various fields of criminology,
including handwriting analysis, typewriting analysis, and ballistics. He always saw himself as a chemist, first and foremost,
and brought his knowledge of microscopy and material science to his work on criminal cases. Heinrich was also a self-taught
photographer and used photography extensively in his criminology work.
The bulk of Heinrich's case load consisted of handwriting analysis cases. His business was built mostly on fraud, forgery,
and estate cases. Heinrich's public reputation, however, seems to have been mostly tied to his work on infamous murders and
other violent crimes cases, including those of the D'Autremont Brothers, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and David Lamson.
[Identification of item], Edward Oscar Heinrich papers, BANC MSS 68/34 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
Processed by Lara Michels in 2017-2018.
The collection consists of eight series: correspondence; personalia; professional materials; case files; press and publicity;
subject files; photographs; and selected artifacts/evidence. Materials date from around 1888 through 1953 and document the
full range of Edward Oscar Heinrich's professional activities and, to a lesser extent, his education and his family life.
The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence and professional materials relating to Heinrich's work as a criminologist
and consultant in Berkeley, California. Especially noteworthy is the comprehensive collection of case files (1916-1952) from
Heinrich's crime lab as well as his work diaries (which provide a day-to-day accounting of Heinrich's appointments and lab
activities relating to specific cases). Also noteworthy in the collection are files relating to Heinrich's teaching at the
University of California (1917-1943). These files illuminate early thinking about criminology as an academic subject and professional
endeavor.
The collection also contains Heinrich's writings; his newspaper clippings file; materials relating to his work as Chief of
Police of Alameda; some materials created during the course of Heinrich's tenure as City Manager of Boulder, Colorado; subject
files on topics ranging from chemistry and engineering to policing and criminology; photographs; and some artifactual evidence.
The collection originally included approximately 65 cartons of books and periodicals from Edward Oscar Heinrich's library.
Approximately 1200 items were separated from the manuscript collection and cataloged individually. Researchers can search
these materials in Oskicat, the University of California, Berkeley's online catalog. The materials can be browsed by searching
under the following author: Heinrich, Edward Oscar, 1881-1953, former owner.
Heinrich's file of photographic negatives was transferred to the Pictorial Collections of the Bancroft Library. One carton
of photographic prints was retained in the manuscript collection and there are case file photographs scattered throughout
the Case Files series.
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 to The Bancroft Library.
See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Heinrich, Edward Oscar--Archives
Vollmer, August
Crossman, Edward C. (Edward Cathcart)
Kidd, A. M. (Alexander Marsden)
Kaiser, John Boynton
Arbuckle, Roscoe
Lamson, David
Bridges, Harry
University of California, Berkeley. School of Criminology --Faculty
University of California. Department of Chemistry
Criminology
Criminologists--United States
Forensic scientists
Chemistry, technical
Chemists
Pharmacists
City managers
Laboratories
Crime laboratories
Police training
Police adminstration
Graphology
Typewriting -- Identification
Ballistics
Bullets -- Identification
Firearms
Firearms -- Identification
Firearms -- Catalogs
Murder -- Investigation
Homocide investigation
Anonymous letters -- Investigation
Women -- Crimes against
Fraud investigation
Bank fraud
Check fraud
Forgery
Bombing investigation
Criminal investigation
Evidence, criminal
Forensic sciences
Extortion investigation
Threats
Stalking
Legal photography
Train robberies
Crime scenes
Crime -- California
Crime -- Oregon
Crime -- Washington (State)
Finance, Personal