Nicholas Olsberg Research Papers on Southern California, circa 1910-circa 2015

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Creators:
Olsberg, R. Nicholas, 1943-
Extent:
7.0 Linear feet (13 boxes)
Language:
Preferred citation:

Nicholas Olsberg Research Papers on Southern California. Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara. Gift of Nicholas Olsberg.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection of Nicholas Olsberg's architectural research contains slides, photocopies of published and ephemeral materials, and notes and inventories. The bulk of the collection materials were accumulated for a planned exhibition about Southern California architecture and urban pattern. The exhibition, "Moving Image," was to be focused on architecture in the golden age of Hollywood, 1915-1964, with a prologue on 1910-1915, and an epilogue on the Watts Rebellion of 1965. Topological themes include roadside architectre, signage, the corridor and the highway, the house on the beach and the slope, the open campus. Other themes include, the dispersal of recreation and culture, dwelling clusters and colonies, movie architecture, the subcenter, the desert and mountain dwelling, the film and tv studio, and the emergence of aerospace and tech facilities.

Olsberg gathered research on this exhibition between 1999 and 2005. Although the exhibit did not take place, it was planned as a joint venture of IFA/Cite d'Architecture in Paris and Casa del Caritat in Barcelona, with funding from several sources.

Other materials relate to Olsberg's research on Cliff May, for a book and exhibition at UC Santa Barbara (2012); his research on John Lautner for the catalogue and exhibition he curated with Frank Escher for the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2010). Lastly, inventories and writings relate to the architectural illustrator, Carlos Diniz, whose archive Olsberg helped bring to UCSB's Art Design & Architecture Museum.

Major resources for Olsberg's research were UCSB's Architecture and Design Collection at the AD&A Museum and the Huntington Library, Pasadena. Other archives include: the Environmental Design Archives at UC Berkeley, Special Collections in the Research Library at UCLA, the Architecture archives at Cal Poly Pomona, Armet Davis collection, the Lautner Foundation (the Lautner archive is now at the Getty Research Institute), the University of Texas at Austin, the Getty Research Institute, the downtown Los Angeles Public Library, the Library of Congress, and the California Historical Society, among others.

Biographical / historical:

Nicholas Olsberg is a curator, historian, and archivist who has written on Frank Lloyd Wright, John Lautner, Cliff May, Carlos Diniz, Ernest and Esther Born, and other topics related to the architecture and urbanism of California. He worked as a curator at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; and the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Nicholas Olsberg, 2018.
Custodial history:

Materials were collected by Nicholas Olsberg from various California archives and published sources and donated by him in 2018.

Physical location:
ADC Reg: Boxes 1-12
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Nicholas Olsberg holds copyright to his writings. Other third party rights have not been fully evaluated; contract repository for information regarding rights and permissions to publish.

Preferred citation:

Nicholas Olsberg Research Papers on Southern California. Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara. Gift of Nicholas Olsberg.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-7130, US
Contact:
(805) 893-2724
adc@museum.ucsb.edu
Website