This subseries primarily contains letters concerning McCoy's career in architectural history and criticism. Her career in fiction writing is covered to a lesser degree. Among the correspondents are researchers, writers, professors, architects, art professionals, publishers, and professional associations. Topics covered include research and writing projects, Los Angeles area preservation and restoration projects, and grant projects.
Major correspondents in this series include the American Institute of Architects, the Graham Foundation, City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board, Domus Magazine, Los Angeles Times, editor Monica Pidgeon, architectural critics Reyner Banham, David Gebhard, William Jordy, Robin Middleton, Allan Temko, and Nathan Shapira, and architects J. R. Davidson, Craig Ellwood, Joseph Giovannini, Hans Hollein, A. Quincy Jones, and Bruno Zevi. Also found is extensive correspondence with the University of California, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. Correspondence for 1959 contains a letter from Albert Camus requesting McCoy's assistance with helping Spanish refugees, and correspondence for 1989 contains photographs of Esther McCoy and others at the Athenaeum at Caltech for the third annual gala of the Historical Society of Southern California.
See Appendix for a list of selected correspondents from Series 2.3.
Arrangement note:
Material is arranged chronologically. The bulk of McCoy's correspondence with architects is arranged in Series 6: Architect Files. Additional correspondence pertaining to specific projects can be found in Series 4: Architectural Writings and in Series 5: Project Files. Correspondence in this series complements the files found in these other series and they should be consulted together for a better understanding of McCoy's career.
Appendix: Selected Correspondents from Series 2.3:
Abbot, Mary Squire (McIntosh and Otis, Inc.), 1949, 1950, 1953, 1957
Adahura, Yuki, 1942
Adams, Christopher, 1962
Albinson, Don, 1989
Alexander, Christopher, 1965
Allen, Albert, 1968
Amantea, Kirjah, 1982
Ambre, Reuth, 1986
American Academy in Rome, 1970
American Federation of Arts, 1966
American Film Institute, 1975
American Institute of Architects, 1959, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989
American Institute of Interior Designers, 1974
Anderson, Sherwood, undated
Andrews, Wayne, 1983
Architecture -- , 1985
Architecture in Australia, 1974
Architectural Forum -- , 1965, 1966, 1968
Architectural History Foundation, Inc., 1982, 1983, 1984
Architectural Publishing Co., 1967
Architectural Record -- , 1959
Archive of Women in Architecture, 1975
Archives of American Art, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989
Arizona Quarterly -- , 1949
Arizona State University, 1969
Arts in Society -- , 1964
Ashton, Raymond J., 1948
Ashton, Ruth (KNX Radio), 1964
Atkinson, Janet Irene, 1980, 1985
Author and Journalist, 1951
Bailey, Van Evera, 1953
Baldauf, Lisa, 1989
Balint, Dr. D. P., 1963
Banham, Reyner (Peter) and Mary, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1989, undated
Barnette-Stratford, Mrs. Lou, 1968
Barsocchini, Michael, 1970
Beach, John, 1984
Beebe, Tina, 1989
Behrman, S. N., 1960
Belluschi, Pietro, 1949
Beltram Carla, 1966
Bendixson, T. M. P., 1961
Bennett, Janey, 1986
Berkeley, Ellen Perry, 1975, 1987, 1988, undated
Bicknell, Catherine, 1985
Birkmeyer, Karl, 1968
Blanton, John, 1988
Blau, Milton, 1947
Boaz, Joseph N., 1949
Bowlby, Bob, 1983, 1989
Boyer, John, 1982
Brant, Sandra, 1975
Brooks, Allen, 1975
"The Bradbury Girls," 1972
Brunati, Mario, 1963, 1965, 1966
California Coastal Commission, 1977, 1978
California Council of Architects, 1957
California Department of Parks and Recreation, 1973
California Historical Society, 1979
California Magazine -- , 1985, 1986
California Polytechnic State University, 1978, 1984
California State Office for Historic Preservation, 1978
Camus, Albert, 1959
Carrott, Richard, 1973
Carson, Sam, 1969
Casabella (Gian Antonio Bernasconi), 1965
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930
Chang, Ching Yu, 1977, undated
Chase, John, undated
Chermayeff, Serge, undated
Choate, Forrest, 1986
Christian Science Monitor -- , 1987
City Attorney, Santa Monica, California, 1968
City of Beverly Hills, 1982, 1983, 1984
City of Los Angeles, Cultural Heritage Board, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988
Clark, Alson, 1984, undated
Cochran, Victor E., 1953
Cohen, Elaine Lustig, 1985
Cohen, Stuart, 1979
Colgan, Susan, 1979
Collier's -- , 1953
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 1947, 1948
Columbia University, 1972, 1973
Communication Dynamics, 1963
Compagnia Nazionale Artigiana, 1956, 1960
Contini, Edgardo, 1963
Correa, Frederico, 1975
Craft and Folk Art Museum, 1983
Cragar, Robert, 1949, 1950
Craig, Mary, 1945
Crosbie, Michael, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989
Cross, Paula, 1981
Culot, Maurice, 1972, 1973
Curtis, William, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1989
Dailey, Gardner A., 1948
Dale, John R., 1989
Davidson, Barnaby, 1984
Davidson, Carlos, 1984
Davidson, Erica, 1983, undated
Davidson, J. R. and Greta, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, undated
Davidson, Tom, 1981, undated
Day, Peter, 1985
De Bretteville, Peter and Sheila (The Woman's Building), 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978
De Long, James, 1947
Dearborn-Massar, 1961
Delano, Leonard H., 1949
Design Quarterly -- , 1975, 1987
Dictionary of American Biography -- , 1975
Dictionary of Art -- , 1986
Diefenbach, John, 1973
Dimster, Frank, 1966
Dixon, John Morris, 1979
Domus -- (Lisa Licitra Ponti), 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1982
Donohoe, Victoria, 1965, undated
Dorman, Richard, 1970
Dougherty, Carole, 1989, undated
Downing, Holly, 1974
Dudley, George, 1984, 1988, undated
Dukeminier, Jesse, Jr., 1967
Dyson, Arthur, 1985, 1987
Easton, Bob, 1977
Eckbo, Gerrett, 1977, 1982
Eder, Richard, 1987, 1988
Edilizia Moderna, 1965
Eisner, Richard K., undated
Elliott, James, 1986
Ellwood, Craig, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1984, 1988
Elwyn, Adolph, 1946
Emanuel, Muriel, 1979
Emmons, Donn, 1975
E. P. Dutton and Co., 1975
Favro, Diane, 1987
Fetherson, Kate, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1988
Feiss, Carl, 1948, 1949
Field, Ellen, 1964
Filler, Martin, 1986
Fisher, Shirley, 1978
Flack, Peter, 1975
Fonda-Bonardi, Mario, 1989
Ford, Edward R., 1986
Foreign Service of the United States of America, 1959, 1962
Forsyth, Robert J., 1961, 1962
Fortune -- , 1936
Francis, Marcia, 1979
Franks, Milton, 1962
Franzen, Ulrich, 1968, 1969
Frey, Albert, 1988
Friends of Cast Iron Architecture, 1972, 1974, 1977, undated
Friends of Kebyar, 1984
Fulton, Weldon, undated
Gebhard, David, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, undated
Geddes, Robert L., 1977
General Services Administration, 1973
Giella, Alfonso and Bobbi, 1967, 1974, 1982
Gill, Dorothy, 1985
Giovannini, Joseph (Gio), 1979, 1981, 1986, 1988, 1989, undated
Goldberger, Paul, 1972, 1973, 1975
Goldman, Shifra M., 1979, undated
Goldstein, Barbara, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1989, undated
Gordon, Don, 1980, undated
Gould, Jean, 1965
Graham Foundation for Studies in the Fine Arts (Carter Manny), 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, undated
Granger, Kathleen, 1981
Gray, Paul, 1977
Greenbaum, Katherine, 1980
Greene, Herb, 1971, 1972, 1976, undated
Greenhill, Nigel, 1973
Gregory, Dan, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987
Guss, Jack, 1961
Hall, Milly, 1970, 1976, 1977
Hanks, David, 1986
Harnish, John, 1960
Harper and Row, 1979
Harper's Bazaar -- , 1951, 1952, 1961
Harris, Robert, 1981, 1982
Harvard Architecture Review -- , 1977, 1979
Harvey, Harold E., 1972, 1973
Haupt, Peter, 1967
Hayden, Dolores, 1984, undated
Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, 1967, 1969
Hernandez, Diana, 1976, undated
Herron, Ron, 1969
Hess, Alan, 1985
Hillyer, Elinor, 1949
Hinerfeld, Susan and Robert, 1984
Hines, Tom, 1971, 1975
Historical Society of Southern California, 1988, 1989
Hitchcock, H. R., 1956
Hite, Garron S., 1972
Hoag, Paul Sterling, 1981
Hollein, Hans, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1976, 1984, undated
Hollywood Revitalization Committee, 1979
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977
Houvener, Robert, 1969
Howe, John H., 1980
Howe, Sanora Babb, 1980, 1982, 1989
Humanities West -- , 1984, 1985
Huxley, Aldus, 1960
Ingalls, David K., 1987
Interiors -- , 1984, 1985
Istituto Nazionale per il Commercio Estero, 1970
Jansen, Virginia, 1978
Japan Architect -- , 1968
Jarrico, Paul, 1971
Johnson, Mark R., 1981
Jokl, Magda, 1978
Jonas, Susan, 1963
Jones, A. Quincy and Elaine, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, undated
Jordy, William H., 1959, 1961, 1967, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1984
Jourdan, Erven, 1951
Jurney, David, 1957
Kahn, Louis, 1960
Kamerling, Bruce, 1980, 1985
Kappe, Raymond and Shelly, 1970, 1973
Kazin, Alfred, 1961, 1984
KCRW 89.9 FM, 1989
Kennedy, Jacqueline (letter to and reply from secretary), 1964
Kershner, Irvin, 1960
Khoury, E. M., 1960, 1963
Killingsworth, Edward, 1989
King, Jean, 1975, 1977, 1987, undated
King, Robert I., 1963
Kirsch, Jonathan, 1977
Koeper, Fred, 1980
Kotas, Jerry, 1971, 1973, undated
Kripacz, Francisco, 1985
Kultermann, Udo, 1967
Lagorio, Elena, 1975
La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, 1977, 1986
Lamb, Paul, 1982
Landau, Sarah B., 1971
Langer, Elinor, 1975, 1983
Lawson, John Howard (Jack), 1947
Lebovich, William, 1979
Lee, Joyce, 1975
Leedy, Walter, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, undated
Legorreta, Ricardo, 1971
Lehman, John, 1948
Le Veque, Ann, 1980
Library of Congress, 1983
Lindauer, Theodore, 1983
Lingeman, Richard, 1986, 1987
Longstreth, Richard, 1982
Lorman, William, 1954
Los Angeles Conservancy, 1984, 1986
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1966, 1967, 1982
Los Angeles Times, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985
Lovell, Gary, 1968, 1978
Lovell, Leah, 1960
Lovell, Philip, 1968, 1972
Lowenkopf, Anne, 1975
Lumsden, Anthony, 1969, 1974
Luna, Fernando, 1971, 1974
Lyman, Frederic, 1974, 1989
Lyndon, Maynard, 1983, 1984, undated
MacDowell Colony Fellows, 1988
Mangiarotti, Angelo, 1970
Manson, Grant, 1974
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1984
Maston, Carl, 1969, 1970, 1972
May, Cliff, 1983, 1985
McCoy, John, 1954, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1988
McCoy, Tori, 1974
McCulloch, Peter, 1962
McWilliams, Carey, 1980
Mendelsohn, Mrs. Eric, 1974, 1975
Meyer, Kurt, 1969
Middleton, Robin, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988
Mies Van Der Rohe Centennial Project, 1984
Miller, R. Craig, 1973
Miller, Donald M., 1986
Minister, Chancery of Pakistan, 1965
Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl, 1966, 1969
Mouton, Pierre, 1986, 1988, 1989
Muller, Louis, 1988
Murphy, William (Bill), 1969, 1970, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, undated
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1976
Museum of Modern Art, 1961, 1964, 1976
Mutlow, John, 1982
Nakamura, Toshio, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985
National Building Museum, 1981
National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners, 1933
National Endowment for the Arts, 1971, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982
National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977
Nelson, June Kompass, 1985
Nelson, Sara, 1974
New West -- , 1976
New Yorker -- , 1953, 1962, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1876, undated
Nichols, Henry L., 1982, 1987
Nishimoto, Kenneth, 1959, 1968
Nixon, Peg and Chuck, 1976, 1989, undated
North Carolina State University, 1983
Novotny, Norbert, 1973
Nunis, Doyce, Jr., 1989
Oakley, Susan H., 1974
O'Gorman, Brit and Peter, 1983
O'Gorman, James F., 1973, 1984
Ohannesian, Paul B., 1978, 1979
On Site -- , 1975
Owen, Tom, 1963, undated
Pacific Design Center, 1985
Palazzo Dell'Edilizia, 1963, 1964
Pan American World Airways System, 1955, 1956
Pardee, Clark, 1989
Park, Donald, 1986
Park, Helen, 1979
Paul, Stella, 1988
Peregrine Press, 1971, 1977, 1986, 1989
Perspecta (Jeff Limerick), 1961, 1975, 1976, undated
Pflueger, Donald, 1989
Pidgeon, Monica, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1986
Plantin Press, Ltd., 1984
Praeger Publishers, Inc., 1972
Price, Joe D., 1969
Price, Martin, 1964
Prinsloo, Ivor, 1988
Producer-Writers Guild of America Pension Plan, 1960
Pyne Press, 1974
Rand, Marvin, 1989
Read, Gardner, 1968
Reinhold Book Division, 1968
Reinhold Publishing Division, 1960, 1970
Rhode Island Historical Society, 1977
Rhode Island School of Design, 1977
Ricasoli, Bettino, 1960
Ricci, Leonardo, 1966
Rice Design Alliance, 1976
Richardson, Betty, 1982
Richardson, Sara, 1987
Riggs, Lutah Maria, 1978
Rinehart, Arley, 1977, 1978
Roark, I. L., Jr., 1948
Robertson, A. G., 1954
Robinson, Sidney, 1973
Roche, Kevin, 1968
Rosa, Joseph, 1987, 1988
Rose, Ronald, 1984
Rosenberg, George, 1952
Rosenstone, Robert, 1973, 1974
Ross, Michael Franklin, 1979
Ross, William D., 1952
Roth, Leland, 1978
Rouillard, Dominique, 1985
Rucker, Karen Conan, 1985, 1986
Ruff, Carl, 1977
Ruocco, Ilse, 1946
Russell, Julia, 1982
Rydell, Roy, 1974, 1976
Sadler, H. G., 1973
San Diego City Council, 1984
San Diego Museum of Art, 1979
San Francisco State College, 1968
Sanders, Terry, 1965
Sanguinetti, Vittorio, 1963, 1964
Santa Monica Landmarks Commission, 1981
Santini, Pier Carlo, 1964
Saturday Evening Post -- , 1959, 1960
Sauer, Louis, 1968
Sawelson-Gorse, Naomi, 1989
Secrest, Meryle, 1988
Serulnic, Mrs. George, 1967
Sewell, Elaine K., 1966
Shapira, Nathan, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1979, 1983, undated
Shaw, Lawrence C., 1948
Shultz, Susan, 1969
Simo, Melanie, 1987, 1988
Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1963
Smith, C. Ray, 1972
Smith, Frank Folsom, 1967
Smith, Kathryn, 1979, 1987, 1988, undated
Smith, Robert, 1972
Smith, Whitney, 1970
Smithson, Alison, 1983, 1985
Snow, C. P., 1960, 1961
Solomon, Barbara Probst, 1984
Southern California Institute of Architecture, 1989
Southwest Review -- , 1952
Space Design -- , 1984
Speiss, Fred, 1977, undated
Stahlberg, Arlen, 1976
Stanfield, Cecil E., 1949
Stegner, Wallace, 1947, 1951
Steinbrueck, Victor, 1964
Stern, Robert and Lynn, 1965, 1966, 1973
Sterner, Carl John, 1974
Stickney, Charles, 1964, 1967
Stone Magazine -- , 1965
Strand, Janann, undated
Straub, Calvin, 1970
Sunset Magazine -- , 1981
Sussman, Deborah, 1987, 1989, undated
Super, Rob, 1974
Taylor, Crombie, 1967
Tazewell, E. Bradford, Jr., 1967
Temko, Allan, 1957, 1966, 1970, 1988, 1989
The Modern Quarterly -- , 1948
The Pacific Spectator -- , 1947
Thiry, Paul, 1949
Tigerman, Stanley, 1965, 1977
Toland, James, 1955, 1957
Travers, David, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1977, 1987, undated
Tulane University, 1982, 1983, undated
Turner, George P., 1960
Underhill, Anna A., 1941
University of California, Berkeley, 1974, 1978
University of California Extension, 1974
University of California, Santa Barbara, 1966, 1969, 1972, 1982, 1987
University of California, Santa Cruz, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1979
University of Cambridge, Department of Architecture, 1975
University of Oklahoma, 1949, 1985
University of Pennsylvania, 1984
University of Southern California, 1970
University Press of Kentucky, 1974
University Prints, 1957
University Women's Club, 1972, 1975, 1983
Vaccarino, Donna, 1989
Van Doren, Phyllis, 1984
Veret, Jean-Louis, 1960
Ventre, Francis T., 1985
Veronesi, Giulia, 1966, 1974
Via -- , 1976
Victor Gruen Foundation for Environmental Planning, 1972
Victor, Michael, 1983
Voelcker, John, 1968
Von Breton, Harriette, 1969
Von Eckardt, Wolf, 1981, 1983, 1984
Vreeland, Thomas, 1965, 1969, 1974, 1984
W. W. Norton and Co., 1966
Walker Art Center, 1975
Walker, Derek, 1982
Walker, Sam, 1985
Walton, Billy, 1986
Ward, Robert and Sandra Williams Photography of Architecture, 1977, 1978
Ward, Robertson, 1981
Wasserman, Steve, 1984, 1985, 1986
Waugh, Arthur B., 1959
Wayne, June, 1981, 1985
Weirick, James, 1970, 1974
Weiss, Peggy, 1982, 1984
Wemple, Emmet L., 1974, undated
Western Association of Art Museums, 1967
Wicks, Ebba L., 1949
Wight, Frederick S., 1966
Wilk, Christopher, 1987
William Morris Agency, 1957
William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1950
Williams, Alexander Kruse, 1985
Williams, Wayne R., 1952, 1953, 1972
Wills, David, 1969
Wilson, Forrest, 1972, 1975, 1983,1987
Wilson, Richard Guy, 1981
Winslow, Carleton Monroe, 1969, undated
Winter, Bob, 1964, 1975, 1976, undated
Woman's Building, 1987
Woman's Day -- , 1957
Women's Architectural League, 1981
Wood, Donna, 1981
Woodbridge, Sally, 1977, 1982
Woollen, Evans, 1983, 1984
Wright, Eric Lloyd, 1984
Writers Guild of America, West, 1967, 1969
Wurster, William, 1964
Zevi, Bruno, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1974
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of audiovisual recordings without access copies requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Esther McCoy papers, circa 1876-1990, bulk 1938-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.