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Catalog Data

Creator:
Isaacs, Reginald R., 1911-  Search this
Subject:
Gropius, Walter  Search this
Pollock, Jackson  Search this
Bauhaus  Search this
Type:
Sketches
Scrapbooks
Exhibition catalogs
Writings
Photographs
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
22.54 Linear feet
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into fourteen series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers. Series 1: Biographical Material, 1935-1986, undated (Boxes 1, 22; 8 folders) Series 2: Legal Material, 1976-1984, undated (Box 1; 3 folders) Series 3: Financial Material, 1945-1969 (Box 1; 2 folders) Series 4: Correspondence, circa 1891, 1936-1986 (Boxes 1-2; 1.5 linear feet) Series 5: Project Files, 1948-1980, undated (Box 2, OV 23; 0.5 linear feet) Series 6: Subject Files, 1961-circa 1982, undated (Box 3; 2 folders) Series 7: Writings, 1940-1986, undated (Boxes 3-4, 22; 2.0 linear feet) Series 8: Teaching Files, 1954-1973 (Boxes 4-5; 1.0 linear foot) Series 9: Works of Art, 1965-1967, undated (Box 5, OV 23; 3 folders) Series 10: Scrapbooks, 1929-1969 (Box 5; 2 folders) Series 11: Printed Material, 1842-1844, 1913-1986, undated (Box 5; 0.5 linear feet) Series 12: Photographs, 1959-1981, undated (Boxes 5, 22; 7 folders) Series 13: Walter Gropius Biography, circa 1880s-1991, undated (Boxes 6-22, OV 23, MGP 1, MGP 2, MGP 4; 16.0 linear feet) Series 14: Unprocessed Addition, 1974-1985 (Box 24; 1.0 linear foot)
Access Note / Rights:
This collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
Summary:
The papers of Reginald R. Isaacs measure 22.54 linear feet and date from 1842 to 1991, with the bulk of the material from 1928 to 1991. The collection includes Isaacs's personal and professional papers, as well as extensive research material he collected and created for his two-volume biography, Walter Gropius: The Man and His Work .
Citation:
Reginald R. Isaacs papers, circa 1842-1991, bulk 1928-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Use Note:
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.
Biography Note:
Born in Canada in 1911, Reginald R. Isaacs began working in architectural offices at age 14, later coming under the influence of "Beaux-Arts diplomes" at the University of Minnesota and Harvard and subsequently under that of Walter Gropius at Harvard University. He later studied sociology and planning at the University of Chicago under Louis Wirth and Rexford Guy Tugwell.
Isaacs served on the staffs of city planning commissions in Minneapolis, Syracuse, and Chicago, and in the federal government in the National Youth Agency, Public Housing Authority, and Housing and Home Finance Agency. His architectural practice in Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and other cities included the design of housing, colleges, and hospitals. He was director of planning and development for Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, 1945-1953, where Walter Gropius, planner Walter Blucher, and sociologist Louis Wirth collaborated with him as consultants. He was a United Nations expert on regional planning in South America, and a planning consultant for the Ford Foundation, the U.S. State Department, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Recommended by Walter Gropius, Isaacs served as the Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning at Harvard University from 1953-1978. He was also Chairman of the Graduate School of Design's Departments of City and Regional Planning as well as Landscape Architecture. Throughout his career he lectured at universities throughout the United States and in almost every country of Central and South America and in the Caribbean.
In 1962 Isaacs and Gropius began their collaboration on Walter Gropius: The Man and his Work , until the death of Gropius in 1969. The first volume of the biography was published in German in 1983, with the second volume following in 1984. Isaacs died of a massive heart attack in 1986, never realizing his goal to see an English-language edition which was published posthumously in 1991 by the Estate of Reginald Isaacs.
1911 Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 1935 Received Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota 1939 Received Masters of Architecture degree from Harvard University, Graduate School of Design 1947-1950 Studied sociology and planning with Louis Wirth and Rexford Guy Tugwell at the University of Chicago 1945-1953 Director of planning at Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, Illinois 1951-1953 Guest lecturer at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design with Walter Gropius and also served a two-year term as a member of the Board of Overseers Committee to Visit the Graduate School of Design 1953-1978 Named the Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning 1953-1964 Chairman of the Department of City and Regional Planning 1953-1958 Chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture 1962 Began collaboration with Walter Gropius on the biography Walter Gropius - The Man and his Work 1969 Walter Gropius dies 1983 Walter Gropius, Der Mensch und Sein Werk, Volume 1 published by Gebr. Mann Nerlag, Berlin 1984 Walter Gropius, Der Mensch und Sein Werk, Volume 2, published by Gebr. Mann Nerlag, Berlin 1986 Isaacs dies 1991 Walter Gropius: An Illustrated Biography of the Creator of the Bauhaus, published by the Estate of Reginald Isaacs. The Papers of Reginald R. Isaacs donated to the Archives of American Art by his son, Henry Isaacs.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Henry Isaacs, son of Reginald Isaacs, in January 1991. An additional 1.0 linear foot was donated by Merry White, daughter of Reginald Isaacs, in 1997.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Architecture and society  Search this
Schools of architecture  Search this
Architectural writing  Search this
Architecture, Modern  Search this
Architects and community  Search this
Architects and housing developers  Search this
Architects in government  Search this
Architects  Search this
International style (Architecture)  Search this
Authors  Search this
Industrial designers  Search this
City planning  Search this
Architecture, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
City planners  Search this
Educators -- Massachusetts  Search this
Theme:
Architecture & Design  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)6425
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215547
AAA_collcode_isaaregi
Theme:
Architecture & Design
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_215547