This collection consists of the papers of prominent Southern California architect Myron Hunt (1868-1952) and his wife Virginia Pease Hunt (1871-1957), chiefly related to their involvement with philanthropic and civic organizations in Pasadena, California, from 1917-1946. There are also two sketchbooks by Myron Hunt (1894) and thirteen journals (1893-1913) of his first wife, Harriette Boardman Hunt, written from Europe, Evanston, North Carolina, and Pasadena and Palm Springs, California, from 1893-1913. The collection also contains sub-groups consisting of the papers of Myron Hunt's son, Robert Nichols Hunt, and of the Boardman and Nichols families.

Prominent Southern California architect Myron Hubbard Hunt (1868-1952) was a native of Massachusetts. He studied at Northwestern University and the school of architecture at the Massachusetts School of Technology. In 1893 he married Harriette Hollond Boardman. They spent two years abroad while Hunt studied architecture in Europe. After the return of the young couple from Europe, Hunt joined the architectural firm of Hartwell & Richardson in Boston, before going to Chicago with Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge. In 1903, the Hunts moved to California hoping the climate would help Harriette's health. Hunt entered a partnership with the leading architect, Elmer Gray, from 1903 to 1908, had his own office from 1908 to 1920, and then joined H. C. Chambers. The important role that Myron Hunt played in the development of Southern California can be seen in the list of a few of the buildings he designed: The Huntington Library, the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, the Rose Bowl, the Pasadena Public Library, the Huntington Hospital, buildings at Occidental College and Pomona College, in addition to many other public buildings and private residences. Harriette Hollond Boardman Hunt, (1868-1913), was the granddaughter of Henry Augustus Boardman (1808-1880), a Presbyterian clergyman in Philadelphia, author, and a director of the Princeton Seminary. She married Myron H. Hunt in 1893, and they spent two years abroad in Europe, where Myron studied architecture and Harriette kept journals of their travels. The Hunts moved to Boston and then Chicago. During this latter period Harriette spent long periods in North and South Carolina because of her delicate health. In 1903, the Hunts moved to California hoping her health would improve. In 1913 Harriette Hunt passed away after a long struggle with tuberculosis, her last year spent in a sanatorium in Palm Springs. The Hunts had four children: Rear Admiral Charles Boardman Hunt (donor of the collection); Harriet (Hunt) Bard (who married Philip Bard, son of Senator Thomas R. Bard); Hubbard Hunt (motion picture producer); and Robert Nichols Hunt (Santa Fe poet and editor of a volume of poems by Witter Bynner). Virginia Pease (1871-1957) was the founder and principal of the Polytechnic Elementary School in Pasadena, California. She had been born in the town of Winnemucca, Nevada, and was left an orphan at an early age. She and her brother, Lute Pease (an editor of the Pacific Monthly Magazine, author, and Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist) were brought up in the home of their aunt, Mrs. Helen Webster. The children were well educated and Virginia (who originally had been called Caroline Virginia) became a teacher and community leader. Virginia married architect Myron Hunt in 1915. The Hunts were prominent in civic and philanthropic organizations in Southern California, and in 1932, Virginia received the City of Pasadena's Arthur Noble Award "for the woman who conceived of a way to fight the Depression ... was founder and first principal of Pasadena's nationally known Polytechnic Elementary School, member of the board of California Junior Republic, La Vina Sanatorium, and the Huntington Hospital."

4,156 pieces in 20 boxes + 15 oversize volumes and 1 oversize photograph.

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