Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace, Golden Gate International Exposition Scrapbook, 1938-1940

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Summary

Title:
Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace, Golden Gate International Exposition Scrapbook: Collected by Fred D. Parr
Dates:
1938-1940
Creators:
Parr, Fred D.
Abstract:
The collection includes a scrapbook collected by Fred D. Parr with correspondence, published pamphlets, event programs, and extensive news articles from California newspapers, and two versions of the book by Stanley Armstrong Hunter on the Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace at the Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939 and 1939-1940.
Extent:
2 boxes (1 linear foot) 17 online documents and images
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace, Golden Gate International Exposition Scrapbook: Collected by Fred D. Parr, GTU 2009-11-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes the scrapbook of the event and the two books by Stanley Armstrong Hunter, Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. The scrapbook includes formal documents by the Hall of Religion committee, various pamphlets and most of the locally published clippings on the Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace in 1938 and 1939. Besides the activities of local religious organizations, there were several controversies. One mural met with great concern. The depiction of Jesus by Austrian artist Franz Bergmann seemed too dark and appeared "lacking in spirituality and kindness" by many clergymen. Moses seemed too stern and, in a departure from usual form, mostly bald. Bergmann agreed to soften both figures. Among the exhibits were archeological artifacts from the Palestine Institute (now Bade Institute of Biblical Archaeology) of Pacific School of Religion, a Marcus Whitman exhibit from San Francisco Theological Seminary, and the John Howell exhibit of Bibles, of which a portion was later donated to PSR.

Biographical / historical:

In 1938 religious leaders in the Bay Area raised $100,00 to construct a Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace for the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition on Treasure Island.

San Francisco's Temple represented all faiths, compared with the Temple of Religion at the New York World's Fair, 1939-1940, that represented an interfaith organization including Protestants, Catholics and Jews. As involvement in the Second World War seemed increasingly inevitable, the organization sponsored a series of events and lectures to promote peace and keep America out of the conflict. These took place on the last eight Sundays of the exposition in 1939. Officially closed in October 1939, the exposition was reopened the following yeat and extended from May 25 through September 29.

Treasure Island was built between 1937 and 1938 for the exposition. In 1941, the island was obtained from the City and County of San Francisco for use as a base during the war. Nearly all of the buildings used for the exposition were taken down. However, some of sculptures and art survived.

The scrapbook was collected by Fred D. Parr (1885-1964) a native Californian and Methodist layman. He was founder of the Dodge Steamship Company, organizer of the Parr-McCormick Steamship line, Parr-Richmond Terminal Company and the Parr-Richmond Industrial Corporation. He served on several charitable boards and commissions. In 1938, Parr became president of the Temple of Religion Committee coordinating all efforts to include the Temple and Tower in the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition.

Work included planning and constructing the buildings, coordinating exhibits and art work, and scheduling programs and events throughout the exposition. Aurelia Henry Reinhardt, President of Mills College, gave speeches during the Exhibition. The artist, Franz W. Bergmann, painted the religion themed murals on the buildings.

Stanley Armstrong Hunter, long-time minister of Saint John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, authored two accounts of the Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace: one containing activites through 1939; the other, from 1939 through 1940. President Robert Gordon Sproul of University of California wrote: "the book will have historical significance as an accounting of one of our earliest efforts to bring people of faith together, regardless of their religions."

Acquisition information:
Donated by the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church Archives in November 2009.
Arrangement:

The collection is in chronological order.

Physical location:
2/H/3
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Lucinda Glenn and David Stiver
Date Prepared:
© 2014
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by David Stiver. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: May 2, 2014.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace publications are in the public domain. However, the copyright for news and other articles have not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. Permission to reproduce those materials must be obtained from the source.

Preferred citation:

Temple of Religion and Tower of Peace, Golden Gate International Exposition Scrapbook: Collected by Fred D. Parr, GTU 2009-11-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Location of this collection:
2400 Ridge Road
Berkeley, CA 94709, US
Contact:
(510) 649-2523/2501
archives@gtu.edu
Website