Collection Guide
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Henry J. Kaiser Pictorial Collectionbulk 1930-1960
BANC PIC 1983.001-.075
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Henry J. Kaiser pictorial collection
Creator:
Kaiser, Henry J., 1882-
Creator:
Henry J. Kaiser Company
Creator:
Kaiser Industries Corporation
Creator:
Kaiser Motors Corporation
Creator:
Kaiser Steel Corporation
Creator:
Kaiser Shipyards (Richmond, Calif.)
Creator:
Kaiser-Frazer Corp.
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1983.001-.075
Physical Description:
200000 photographs
(approximately 200,000 items (photographic prints, negatives, and albums), some design drawings and plans, and 909 digital
objects)
Date (bulk): bulk 1930-1976
Abstract: The Henry J. Kaiser Pictorial Collection contains an estimated 200,000 items, chiefly photographs, documenting the activities,
projects, and products of the various companies that comprised Kaiser Industries, as well as photographs of Kaiser family
members and associates. Subjects pictured include the Hoover, Parker, Bonneville, Grand Coulee, and Shasta Dams; the Kaiser
shipyards in Richmond, California, including its products, workers and workers' housing conditions; Kaiser-Frazer automobiles,
Kaiser Willys, Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Hospitals, and other Kaiser corporations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii, with
some international content as well.
Physical Location: Many Bancroft Library collections are stored off-site and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English
Collection stored, in part, off-site. Advance notice required for use.
Some portions of the collection are unprocessed and unavailable for use. Consult the library's catalog for details, and direct
inquiries to The Bancroft Library (bancref@library.berkeley.edu).
Restricted glass and film negatives and transparencies. Use by appointment only.
NITRATE NEGATIVES ARE CLOSED TO RESEARCH DUE TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RESTRICTIONS.
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
The Henry J. Kaiser pictorial materials were transferred from the Henry J. Kaiser Papers (BANC MSS 83/42 c). The Henry J.
Kaiser Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. in 1983, with additions in 1985 and
1986.
Digital Representations Available
Digital representations of selected original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Digital image
files were prepared from selected Library originals by the Library Photographic Service. Library originals were copied onto
35mm color transparency film; the film was scanned and transferred to Kodak Photo CD (by Custom Process); and the Photo CD
files were color-corrected and saved in JFIF (JPEG) format for use as viewing files.
The collection has been divided by the library into 75 subject-based collections represented by the call number range BANC
PIC 1983.001-.075.
The first online finding aid, made avaialble in the 1990s, described just four of the subject-based collections (or "series".)
All four (1983.017, .018, .019, and .027) dealt with the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, California during World War II. Digitial
images were linked within item listings.
This finding aid was expanded in 2021, providing an overview of each of the 75 series, and "preliminary listings", when available,
for some of the series. The added descriptions were from pre-existing paper files, usually for portions of the collection
that were given item numbers during collection processing work in the 1980s. The item-numbering work was never completed,
and some portions of the collection remain unprocessed and are not available for use. Negatives have not been thoroughly surveyed
and inventoried, and their presence is only noted generally in this finding aid. Inquiries concerning access to the remainder
of the collection should be directed to The Bancroft Library.
| 1882 | Henry John Kaiser born in Sprout Brook (near Canajoharie), New York, on May 9, son of Francis J. and Mary Yops Kaiser, German immigrants. |
| 1895 | Left school at age 13, to help support his parents and three sisters, by working in a dry goods store in Utica, New York |
| ca. 1903-1906 | Became a salesman and partner in a photographic business in Lake Placid, New York; bought out his partner, and opened stores in Daytona Beach and Miami, Florida, and Nassau. |
| 1906 | Moved to Spokane, Washington, and worked as a hardware and sand and gravel salesman. |
| 1907 | Married Bessie Fosburgh on April 8 in Boston. |
| 1912 | Began a road paving business in Washington and British Columbia. The Henry J. Kaiser Company, Ltd. established in Vancouver, B.C., in 1914. |
| 1921 | Won his first California paving contract, between Redding and Red Bluff, and established headquarters in Oakland. |
| 1923 | Started sand and gravel quarry at Radum (near Livermore), to supply the Livermore-Pleasanton paving job. This was the beginning of Kaiser Sand and Gravel Company. |
| 1927 | Worked on a 200 -mile, 500 -bridge highway in Cuba. |
| 1929 | Formed a consortium called Six Companies, Inc., with Henry J. Kaiser as chairman of the executive committee, to build Hoover (Boulder) Dam on the Colorado River. Also collaborated on the building of Bonneville, Grand Coulee, and Shasta Dams, natural gas pipelines in the Southwest, Mississippi River levees, and the San Francisco -Oakland Bay Bridge underwater foundations. |
| 1939 | Built the Permanente Cement plant near Los Altos, California, in seven months, to provide cement and aggregates for the construction of Shasta Dam. |
| 1940-1945 | During World War II, coordinated production of liberty ships, "baby flat top" aircraft carriers, aircraft, cement, steel, magnesium for bombs and artillery shells, as well as laying the ground work for post war production of housing, cars and consumer goods. |
| 1942 | Granted loan by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to build a steel plant at Fontana, California, the first in the western United States. Broke ground in April, and the first blast furnace was blown in on December 30, 1942. |
| 1944 | Considered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as his fourth-term vice presidential running mate. |
| 1944 | Chairman of the Non-Partisan Association for Franchise Education, to promote voting. |
| 1945 | Kaiser-Frazer Corporation incorporated in Nevada, and produced 750,000 automobiles in its ten years of production. |
| 1945-1946 | Served as national chairman of the Victory Clothing Collection, the Civilian Production Administration Emergency Food Collection, and the United States Relief Administration. |
| 1946 | Began making aluminum at five rented plants, and showed a profit of $5.3 million in less than one year. |
| 1951 | Bessie Fosburgh Kaiser died in Oakland. A month later, on April 10, Henry J. Kaiser married Alyce Chester in Santa Barbara. |
| 1955 | Turned over day to day operation of Kaiser Industries Corporation to son Edgar F. Kaiser, and moved to Hawaii. There he developed the Hawaiian Village Hotel, and a $350 million real estate development and resort called Hawaii Kai. |
| 1958 | Opened Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Honolulu. |
| 1961 | Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. died in Oakland. |
| 1961 | Awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by University of California, Berkeley. |
| 1963 | Received the International Broadcast Free Enterprise Award. |
| 1965 | Given the AFL-CIO Murray Green Humanitarian Award, "in recognition of notable accomplishments in voluntary medical care, housing and labor-management relations." |
| 1967 | Died on August 24 in Honolulu. By the time of his death at age 85, Henry J. Kaiser had founded more than 100 companies, which operated 180 major plants in 32 states and 40 foreign countries, employing 90,000 people and making 300 products and services, with assets of $2.5 billion. |
| 1882 | Henry John Kaiser born in Sprout Brook (near Canajoharie), New York, on May 9, son of Francis J. and Mary Yops Kaiser, German immigrants. |
| 1895 | Left school at age 13, to help support his parents and three sisters, by working in a dry goods store in Utica, New York |
| ca. 1903-1906 | Became a salesman and partner in a photographic business in Lake Placid, New York; bought out his partner, and opened stores in Daytona Beach and Miami, Florida, and Nassau. |
| 1906 | Moved to Spokane, Washington, and worked as a hardware and sand and gravel salesman. |
| 1907 | Married Bessie Fosburgh on April 8 in Boston. |
| 1912 | Began a road paving business in Washington and British Columbia. The Henry J. Kaiser Company, Ltd. established in Vancouver, B.C., in 1914. |
| 1921 | Won his first California paving contract, between Redding and Red Bluff, and established headquarters in Oakland. |
| 1923 | Started sand and gravel quarry at Radum (near Livermore), to supply the Livermore-Pleasanton paving job. This was the beginning of Kaiser Sand and Gravel Company. |
| 1927 | Worked on a 200 -mile, 500 -bridge highway in Cuba. |
| 1929 | Formed a consortium called Six Companies, Inc., with Henry J. Kaiser as chairman of the executive committee, to build Hoover (Boulder) Dam on the Colorado River. Also collaborated on the building of Bonneville, Grand Coulee, and Shasta Dams, natural gas pipelines in the Southwest, Mississippi River levees, and the San Francisco -Oakland Bay Bridge underwater foundations. |
| 1939 | Built the Permanente Cement plant near Los Altos, California, in seven months, to provide cement and aggregates for the construction of Shasta Dam. |
| 1940-1945 | During World War II, coordinated production of liberty ships, "baby flat top" aircraft carriers, aircraft, cement, steel, magnesium for bombs and artillery shells, as well as laying the ground work for post war production of housing, cars and consumer goods. |
| 1942 | Granted loan by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to build a steel plant at Fontana, California, the first in the western United States. Broke ground in April, and the first blast furnace was blown in on December 30, 1942. |
| 1944 | Considered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as his fourth-term vice presidential running mate. |
| 1944 | Chairman of the Non-Partisan Association for Franchise Education, to promote voting. |
| 1945 | Kaiser-Frazer Corporation incorporated in Nevada, and produced 750,000 automobiles in its ten years of production. |
| 1945-1946 | Served as national chairman of the Victory Clothing Collection, the Civilian Production Administration Emergency Food Collection, and the United States Relief Administration. |
| 1946 | Began making aluminum at five rented plants, and showed a profit of $5.3 million in less than one year. |
| 1951 | Bessie Fosburgh Kaiser died in Oakland. A month later, on April 10, Henry J. Kaiser married Alyce Chester in Santa Barbara. |
| 1955 | Turned over day to day operation of Kaiser Industries Corporation to son Edgar F. Kaiser, and moved to Hawaii. There he developed the Hawaiian Village Hotel, and a $350 million real estate development and resort called Hawaii Kai. |
| 1958 | Opened Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Honolulu. |
| 1961 | Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. died in Oakland. |
| 1961 | Awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by University of California, Berkeley. |
| 1963 | Received the International Broadcast Free Enterprise Award. |
| 1965 | Given the AFL-CIO Murray Green Humanitarian Award, "in recognition of notable accomplishments in voluntary medical care, housing and labor-management relations." |
| 1967 | Died on August 24 in Honolulu. By the time of his death at age 85, Henry J. Kaiser had founded more than 100 companies, which operated 180 major plants in 32 states and 40 foreign countries, employing 90,000 people and making 300 products and services, with assets of $2.5 billion. |
[Identification of item], The Henry J. Kaiser Pictorial Collection, BANC PIC 1983.001-.075, The Bancroft Library, University
of California, Berkeley.
Processed by Ollin Blue and other Bancroft Library staff in the 1980s. Selected portions on Richmond Shipyards processed for
digitization by Bancroft Library California Heritage Project staff, circa 1996.
Title: Photograph Archive of the XK Photo Company,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1993.003
Title: Henry J. Kaiser Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 83/42 c
Title: Edgar F. Kaiser, Sr. Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 85/61 c
Title: Eugene E. Trefethen, Jr. Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 87/35 c
Title: Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 88/205 c
Title: Henry J. Kaiser, Sr. Scrapbooks - Hawaii Activities,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 85/155 cp
Title: Kaiser Foundation Hospitals - Hawaii Region Collection,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 87/131 cp
Title: Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 91/12 c
The Henry J. Kaiser Pictorial Collection contains an estimated 200,000 items, including photographic prints, albums, glass
and film negatives, and some drawings and prints. The collection dates from approximately 1930 to approximately 1976, with
some earlier portraits present. The bulk of the collection, like the related manuscript collection (the Henry J. Kaiser papers),
dates from after World War II, by which time the affiliated Kaiser companies were producing an amazing array of building materials
(including steel, cement, aluminum, and gypsum), beginning engineering projects all over the world, and building affordable
housing and consumer goods (such as Kaiser-Frazer cars, Willys Jeeps, and even dishwashers.)
Subjects pictured include the Hoover, Parker, Bonneville, Grand Coulee, and Shasta Dams; the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond,
California, including its products, workers and workers' housing conditions; Kaiser-Frazer automobiles, Kaiser Steel, Kaiser
Hospitals, and other Kaiser corporations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii, some locations abroad, and the products
and projects of these Kaiser companies. Family photographs and portraits are also present.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Kaiser, Henry J., 1882--Archives
Kaiser Industries Corporation
Corporations -- California -- Photographs
Steel industry and trade
Shipbuilding -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs
Dams--Design and construction--Photographs
Shipyards
Construction industry
Bridges--Design and construction.
Automobile industry and trade--California.
Henry J. Kaiser Company -- Photographs
Kaiser Industries Corporation -- Photographs
Kaiser Steel Corporation
Kaiser family