Emerson Knight Collection 1954.-1
Adrine Arakelian
Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning.
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives
2008
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820
designarchives@berkeley.edu
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives
Title: Emerson Knight collection
Creator:
Knight, Emerson, 1882-1960
Identifier/Call Number: 1954.-1
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet:
1 carton, 3 boxes, 1 half box, 1 flat box, 1 tube, 4 shoeboxes
Date (inclusive): 1898-1965
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the
Curator.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Emerson Knight Collection, 2004-2, Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design.
University of California, Berkeley.
Biographical / Historical
Emerson Knight (1882-1960)
Emerson Knight was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1882 and moved to Los Angeles when he was nine years old. His father, William
Henry Knight, was an author, astronomer, and California pioneer. In 1913, Knight embarked on a walking tour of England and
studied art in Paris. He returned to Los Angeles in 1916, but soon indulged his trekking desire by walking to Monterey, stopping
at the California missions along the way.
He began supervising landscape developments for Cammillo Fancheschi in Santa Barbara, and in 1917 became an associate of Mark
Daniels, a San Francisco landscape engineer. Knight took charge of 80 acres of the J. Cheever Cowdin estate in Hillsborough
(south of San Francisco), and designed gardens and country estates in San Francisco and the peninsula. In 1918, Mark Daniels
left his office, including most of his equipment and books, to Knight.
In the late 1920s, Knight traveled to Mexico where he did studies for the Mexican National Highway Commission regarding areas
that might be developed into parklands and historic monuments. He was awarded a diploma as an honorary member of the Sociedad
Forestal Mexicana. Upon returning to the United States, Knight worked for the Save-the-Redwoods League, the Monterey City
Planning Commission, the California State Park Commission, and the National Park Service. He was elected as a member of the
American Society of Landscape Architects, and established the San Francisco headquarters at his office so that the Society
could qualify for representation in the San Francisco Federation of Arts. He was involved in the plan for the preservation
of historic Monterey and worked on park surveys, including one with Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Outdoor theaters played a major role in Knight's career. In 1924 he oversaw the completion of a garden theater on the Max
Cohn estate, Little Brook Farm, in Los Gatos. He designed the Woodland Theater in Hillsborough, and collaborated with Regua
and Jackson on the Mount Helix theater outside San Diego. Knight is probably best known for his design of the Mountain Theatre
on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. Planning for the project began in the late 1920s, but progress was slow until 1934 when
Knight convinced the National Park Service to get involved. (Knight was working as an inspector for the Park Service at the
time.) The Civilian Conservation Corp was then engaged to work on the theater, which was completed in 1938. Knight's design
for the theater was intended to blend into the natural environment, using natural elements as much as possible. Large boulders
were used for seats, trees and bushes were transported to the site to create natural boundaries for the stage, and drinking
fountains were built of indigenous rock.
In the 1940s, Emerson Knight suffered a period of ill health, but still wrote articles and poetry. He served as associate
editor for The Architect and Engineer magazine for 11 years, and was a member of the San Francisco Arts Commission and the
Commonwealth Club. He died in 1960.
Source:
Dean Luckhart. Emerson Knight: Landscape Architect 1882-1960. Paper for L.A. 2, University of California, Berkeley, 1962.
Scope and Contents
The Emerson Knight Collection spans the years 1898 to 1965 and documents Knight's personal life, projects, and professional
activities through reports and correspondence, drawings, and photographs. The collection is arranged in four series: Personal
Papers, Professional Papers, Project Records, and National Park Service. The Personal Papers include personal correspondence
and photographs, along with other personal memorabilia. The Professional Papers include correspondence, writings, and reports
for organizations with which Knight was involved, such as Save the Redwoods League and Protect the Mother Lode Society, documentation
of activity in other professional organizations, writings for publications, and reference files.
The Project Records document projects developed by Knight from 1927-1949 through drawings, photographs, and records consisting
of reports and correspondence. Knight is well known for the design of the Mountain Theater at Mount Tamalpais that is documented
in photographs and drawings. A previous donation of Knight's papers contains further documentation of the Mountain Theater
in the form of correspondence and reports. His work on parks and preservation for the Mexican government is also documented
in reports and photographs. Additional documents include records and photographs of his project in Monterey, CA, limited photographic
documentation of residential projects completed by Knight, and one drawing of a planting plan for his own residence.
The National Park Service series includes projects Knight worked on during his years at the National Park Service, from 1934-1937.
Projects from that time include reports and correspondence for preserving historic Monterey, CA, work on Oregon coast parks,
the California coast and beaches, and East Bay Regional Parks, in addition to other projects.
Biographical Information A.
Box 1, Folder 2
Biography of Knight - Student Paper
1962
Box 1, Folder 3
Personal Correspondence of Travels
1909-1957
Box 1, Folder 4
Marta Davidson Carr
1919-1920
Box 1, Folder 6
Waldo Ruess and Emerson Knight
1942-1960
Box 1, Folder 7
Maria Allen Bazzi
ca. 1942
Box 1, Folder 8
Stella Knight Ruess Re: EK's death
1960
Box 1, Folder 9
Re: EK's Funeral, Will, and Estate
1960-1962
Box 1, Folder 10
Stella Knight Ruess and Fred Whittlesey
1960-1964
Box 1, Folder 11
Re: Hattie B. Knight Estate
1964-1965
Box 1, Folder 12
Re: Stella Knight Ruess Estate
1965
Personal and Family correspondence C.
Box 1, Folder 13
Pages from Emerson Knight's Scrapbook
1894-1950
Box 1, Folder 14, Box 6, Box 10
Personal Artifacts
1903-1924, 1935, 1938, n.d.
Box 1, Folder 15
Book by Stella Knight Ruess
1910
Box 1, Folder 16
Family Artifacts
ca. 1917
Box 1, Folder 17
Pressed Plant Specimens
n.d.
Box 1, Folder 18
Death certificate and Mortuary Photographs
1960
Box 1, Folder 19
San Francisco Chronicle Obituary and Funeral Notices
1960
Box 1, Folder 21
Family Portraits
1882, n.d.
Box 2, Folder 22, Box 7
Emerson Knight, Friends, and Family Portraits
1900-1957
Box 2, Folder 23
Personal Photographs
1919-1947
Box 7, Box 10
San Francisco Bay Area
1925-1951
Box 9
California State Parks
1934-1936
Box 8
Europe - from scrapbook
n.d.
Box 9
Missions San Juan Bautista and San Miguel
1942
Box 2, Folder 25-27
Emerson Knight's Poetry - Records of Walks in Europe
1913-1950
Box 2, Folder 28
Collected Poetry, not written by Knight
n.d.
Box 2, Folder 29
Emerson Knight's Notes
1915, n.d.
Professional Papers
1922-1949
Associations and Committees A.
Box 3, Folder 1
San Francisco Arts Commission
1933, 1938
Box 10
Honorary Diploma - Sociedad Forestal Mexicana
1929
Box 3, Folder 3
The Architect and Engineer, writings on the west
1920's
Box 3, Folder 4
The Architect and Engineer, writings on Mexico
1931
Box 3, Folder 5
Writing - various
ca. 1930, 1954
Box 3, Folder 6
Landscape Archiecture, Mount Tam
1949
Box 3, Folder 7
Parks Research-John C. Merriam
1933-1939
Box 3, Folder 8
UC Berkeley Greek Theater (photographs)
1936
Box 3, Folder 9
The Gonzales Historical Memorial (photographs)
1937
Protect the Mother Lode Society D.
Box 3, Folder 10
Mother Lode- Notes and Clippings
1938-1941
Box 3, Folder 11
Protect the Mother Lode Society
1940-1941
Box 3, Folder 12
Mother Lode- Sunset Magazine Articles, published and drafts
1940-1941
Box 3, Folder 13
Correspondence - Sunset Magazine Article
1940-1941
Box 3, Folder 14
Correspondence - Emerson Knight and Anson S. Blake
1940
Box 3, Folder 15
Correspondence - Historical Society of Southern California
1940
Box 3, Folder 16
Society of California Pioneers
1940
Box 3, Folder 17
Mother Lode Maps
1935, 1940, 1941
Box 3, Folder 18-21, Box 7
Photographs - Mother Lode
1938-1942
Save the Redwoods League E.
Box 4, Folder 22
Articles of Incorporation
1920
Box 4, Folder 23
Effects of Highway through Nelson and Sicklen Grove
1938
Box 4, Folder 24
Studies of Redwoods for Carnegie Institute of Washington
1938-1940
Box 4, Folder 25
Human Values of the Redwoods
1939
Box 4, Folder 26
Avenue of the Giants
1941
Box 4, Folder 27
Save the Redwoods League Publications
1954,1958, n.d.
Box 4, Folder 28-32
Photographs
1910, 1926, 1929,1930,1942 n.d.
Box 7
Photographs - Del Norte Coast Park, Stout Grove, "Human Values" Study, Calavera Big Trees, Trips
1930-1945
Project Records
1927-1949
Box 5, Folder 1, Box 9, Box 10
Cohn, Max M., Los Gatos, CA - photographs
1924
Box 9
Cowdin Estate - Photographs
1917
Box 5, Folder 2, Box 9
Epstein, Gustav Estate - Photographs
1938
Box 10
Kaye, L.M. - Presentation Board -Photograph
n.d.
Box 5, Folder 3-5
Mexico, Federal Government
1929-1930
Box 5, Folder 6-11
Mexico-Photographs
1924,1927-1931, 1938-1939
Box 9
Moon, Merle B. Estate - Photographs
1923
Box 5, Folder 14
Mount Helix Nature Theater - Photographs
1928
Box 5, Folder 15-16
Mount Tam, Mountain Theater, Marin, Co.CA
1932-1954
Box 5, Folder 17-18, Box 9
Mount Tam, Mountain Theater - Photographs
1935-1939, 1948-1949, 1954
Box 9
Mount Tam, Mountain Theater - Photographs of construction
1934-1937
Box 9
Sherwood, Mrs. Eleanor H. - photographs
1931
Box 5, Folder 19
St. Augustine, FL - Zoning Ordinance for the City of St. Augustine
1938
Box 10
Woodland Theater - Presentation Board - Photograph
1927
National Park Service
1934-1937
Box 5, Folder 1
Correspondence
1934, 1937
Box 5, Folder 2, Box 9
Alameda and Contra Costa Counties,CA - East Bay Regional Park, Preliminary Report
1934, 1936
Box 5, Folder 3
Boulder Dam, AZ and NV - National Recreational Reserve
1936
Box 9
Boulder Lake - photographs
1935-1936
Box 5, Folder 4
Butano-Gazos, CA - Study of a National Seashore Recreation Area
1935
Box 5, Folder 5
California - Report on National Beach Parks Proposed
1934
Box 9
Fort Churchill - photographs
1934
Box 9
La Purisima Mission -photographs
1936
Box 5, Folder 6, Box 9
Mattole-Humboldt, CA - Study of a National Seashore Recreation Area
1935
Box 9, Box 10
Monterey, CA -photographs
1929,1935-1939
Box 9
Ozette Lake, WA - Proposed National Seashore Recreation Area - photographs
1935
Box 9
Pistol, River, OR - Proposed National Seashore Recreation Area - photographs
1935
Box 5, Folder 11, Box 9
Point Lobos Reserve, CA - Report on Motor Parking
1937
Box 9
Point Lobos, CA - photographic studies
1936-1937
Box 5, Folder 12
Point Reyes Peninsula, CA - Study of a National Seashore Recreation Area
1935
Box 9
Rogue River, OR - Proposed National Seashore Recreation Area - photographs
1935
Box 5, Folder 13
San Juan Islands, WA - Report
1937
Box 9
Tahoe Proposed Park -photographs
1935
Box 9
Thomas Creek, Mt. Rose, NV -photographs
1934
Box 9
Tillamook, OR - Proposed National Seashore Recreation Area - photographs
1935
Box 5, Folder 14
Trails Report - Principles of Location, Design, Construction
1937
