Guide to the Lilian Bridgman Papers, 1881-1977

Processed by Whitney Carrico; completed by John Hawk and Mary Morganti

The Bancroft Library.

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California, 94720-6000

Phone: (510) 642-6481

Fax: (510) 642-7589

Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu

URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu

Note

Arts and Humanities --Architecture History --History, California --History, Bay Area Social Sciences --Area and Interdisciplinary Studies --Women's Studies

Guide to the Lilian Bridgman Papers, 1881-1977

Collection number: BANC MSS 85/102 c

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu

Processed by:: Whitney Carrico
Completed by:: John Hawk and Mary Morganti
Date Completed:: 1989
Date Revised:: November 1994
Encoded by:: Xiuzhi Zhou

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Lilian Bridgman Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1881-1977

Collection Number: BANC MSS 85/102 c

Creator: Bridgman, Lilian

Extent: Number of containers: 2 boxes, 3 oversize folders (size A and B), 5 oversize flat boxes Linear feet: ca. 1.25

Repository: The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Abstract: Includes a small amount of personal correspondence, manuscripts of Bridgman's short stories and poetry, clippings, and miscellaneous personalia, including diplomas, teaching credentials, and letters of recommendation. The bulk of the collection spans the years from 1881 to the 1940s, and focuses on Bridgman's career as an architect in Berkeley, Calif., including drawings and sketches of much of her work, as well as 2 watercolor paintings.

Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Lilian Bridgman papers, BANC MSS 85/102 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Materials Cataloged Separately

Photographs have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
Commencement Issue, 1910 of The Tiger (vol.vii, no.iv) has been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library for separate cataloging.
One map has been transferred to the Map Collection of The Bancroft Library.
Case of drawing instruments has been transferred to the Objects Collection of The Bancroft Library.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Lilian Bridgman papers were given to The Bancroft Library in July 1985 by Elton Davies.

Biography

Lilian Bridgman was born in eastern Kansas in 1866 to Israel Noble Bridgman and Sarah Ezilda. She attended the Kansas State Agricultural College, graduating in 1888 with a degree in science, although her transcripts also reveal an interest in drawing, literature, and music. In 1891, she came to the University of California, Berkeley where she studied under Professor Joseph Le Conte. Her thesis, titled The Origin of Sex in Fresh-water Algae, earned her a master's degree in science in 1893.

From 1893 to 1912, Bridgman taught physics and chemistry at various high schools and junior colleges in California, including the California School of Mechanical Arts in San Francisco. During this time she also wrote short stories and poetry which were published in magazines such as Overland Monthly, Harper's, and Century Magazine. In 1899, drawing upon her natural artistic abilities, she designed her first home, her own, near Blackberry Canyon in Berkeley.

In 1912 Bridgman again enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, this time to study drawing and architecture. In 1915 she was licensed as an architect by the State of California. While not as well-known as architects like Julia Morgan, Bridgman worked steadily, designing more than fifteen homes during her career. After the Berkeley fire of 1923, which devastated much of North Berkeley, she, along with other local architects, was instrumental in rebuilding the area. Her work was influenced by the writings of the English philosophers John Ruskin and William Morris, embracing a simplicity which they felt had been interrupted by the Industrial Revolution.

Lilian Bridgman died at her Berkeley home in 1948 at the age of eighty-two.

Scope and Content

This collection of Papers of Lilian B. Bridgman includes a small amount of personal correspondence, manuscripts of short stories and poetry by Bridgman, and clippings and tearsheets of interest to Bridgman and which may have had some influence on her architectural work. The bulk of the collection spans the years from 1881 to the 1940s and focuses on Bridgman's career as an architect in Berkeley, with architectural drawings and sketches of much of her work, as well as two watercolor paintings.

Series 1: Correspondence and Personalia, 1881-1977.

Box 1, folder 1

Letters by Lilian Bridgman 1910-1947

folder 2

Letters to Lilian Bridgman 1894-1947

folder 3

Letters of recommendation, testimonials 1887-1910

folder 4

Letters from Miss Millicent Shinn 1916

folder 5

Letters from magazine editors 1892-1907

folder 6

Letters to Mrs. Davies (her niece) certifying education of LLB 1976-1977

folder 7

Letters to Mrs. Davies re Dr. Will's house 1977

folder 8

Letter to Elton Davies from his wife July 3, 1948

folder 9

Stuart Hogg's obituary March 3[31?], 1947

folder 10

Notebook

folder 11

Transcript, other papers re college education 1881-1924

folder 12

Teaching credentials and other information 1893-1941

oversize Oversize, folder 1 B

Diplomas

Kansas State Agricultural College, B.S. 1886

University of California, M.S. 1893

State of California High School, Life Diploma for High Honors in Teaching 1904

oversize Oversize, folder 2 A

State of California Certificate of Architecture 1915

oversize Oversize, folder 3 A

Manuscript musical score of Autumn, words by Bliss Carmen, dedicated to LLB n.d.

Box 1, folder 13

The Tiger, California School of Mechanical Arts 1909

folder 14

Obituary 1948

folder 15

Art in House Building in Relation to the Community and to Purposes of a Home (outline and text of talk) n.d.

folder 16

Research on architecture, history of art n.d.

folder 17

Lilian Bridgman's drawing instruments (photocopy) n.d.

Clippings and tearsheets

folder 18

Drawings of figures

folder 19

Leaded glass mosaics

folder 20

A Little Nonsense

folder 21

Old missions

folder 22

Painters and paintings

Box 2, folder 1

Portraits

folder 2

Stage settings

folder 3-4

Unclassified

folder 5

Books of interest n.d.

Series 2: Writings, 1892-1928 & n.d.

Box 2, folder 6

List of stories by L. Bridgman appearing in magazines n.d.

folder 7

Between the Lines of Henry Maclin's Diary, manuscript n.d.

folder 8

A Charcoal Sketch, carbon and tearsheet 1894

folder 9

The Eliminated Factors, typescript n.d.

folder 10

Elvira's Chance, tearsheet 1895

folder 11

Fidelity, carbon typescript n.d.

folder 12

A Fool's Ladder, typescript n.d.

folder 13

A Garland of Laurel, manuscript n.d.

folder 14

How the Government Selects Its Foresters, carbon 1896-1897

folder 15

Janey, the Jester, typescript with revisions n.d.

folder 16

A Look-out for Victory, typescript n.d.

folder 17

The Lost Islands, carbon n.d.

folder 18

The Marital Victories of Sir Thomas More, carbon and typescript n.d.

folder 19

My Dream, carbon n.d.

folder 20

The Relapses of Pap, tearsheet 1895

folder 21

The Road to Arcady, carbon n.d.

folder 22

The Seventh Daughter, tearsheet 1898

folder 23

The Undoing of David Lemwell, tearsheet 1892

folder 24

A Wayside Harvest, tearsheet 1896

folder 25

A Whetstone to Mirth, typescript 1928

folder 26

Unidentified manuscript n.d.

folder 27

Poetry n.d.

Series 3: Architectural Plans and Sketches, 1915-ca. 1931.

Processing/Project Information

* Photographs of these projects have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.

Box 3, folder 1

Unidentified drawing by Bridgman [1910 ?]

folder 2

Sketchbook of LBB n.d.

Box 4, folder 1

*Bioletti House, Cragmont Avenue / 2440 Martinez Avenue, Berkeley, Calif. ca. 1923

Sketch of exterior

Physical Description: Graphite and watercolor on paper, 12 x 8 1/2

Kitchen floor plan and elevation

Physical Description: Ink on paper, 12 3/4 x 9 3/4

folder 2

Haynes House [no address indicated] n.d.

East frontage

Physical Description: Graphite on onion skin paper, 12 x 9 1/2

folder 3

*Hill House, Jewelry Workshop for Susan L. Hill, 3132 Eton Avenue (near Garden), Berkeley, Calif. n.d.

Sketch of exterior

Physical Description: Graphite and watercolor on board, 8 x 5 1/2

Floor plan and view

Physical Description: Graphite, ink and watercolor on paper, 9 3/4 x 7

folder 4

McFaud House [no address indicated] n.d.

Sketch of house with lawn

Physical Description: Watercolor on board, 10 x 5 1/2

folder 5

Mrs. Robinson's House [no address indicated] n.d.

3 Sketches of kitchen

Physical Description: Pencil & watercolor on paper, ca. 9 x 11

folder 6

Furniture and wrought iron design by LBB n.d.

Physical Description: 12 Sketches on paper, ca. 9 x 12:

Carved and painted bellows

Physical Description: Graphite and crayon

Carved and painted couch for Mrs. Bioletti's Sunroom