William W. Wurster founded the Environmental Design Archives (originally the Architectural Archives) in 1953; the records of Bernard Maybeck comprised the first significant donation. The archives has become Northern California’s premiere collection of architecture and landscape architecture records. Holding more than one hundred collections documenting the built and landscaped environment. These records span a century, 1890-1990, and contain primary source material such as correspondence, reports, specifications, drawings, photographs, and artifacts. Though the archives’ primary architectural focus is Northern California, the landscape focus is international. Collections include the records of Julia Morgan, Charles Sumner Greene, Joseph Esherick, William Wurster, Lockwood deForest, Garrett Eckbo, Beatrix Farrand, and Thomas Church. The Environmental Design Archives, in conjunction with the Environmental Design Library and the Architecture Visual Resources Library all of University of California at Berkeley, form one of the nation’s major resources for architectural research.

The Charles Sumner Greene Collection contains a wide range of material from his Carmel, California home and studio, donated by the Charles Greene family in 1959. These records document Greene’s personal and professional life, and include items from the period 1862-1956, as well as correspondence and project records from Henry Mather Greene and the Greene & Greene firm. The Personal Papers series is comprised largely of correspondence with family members, family photographs, education materials (mostly from MIT), records of Charles Greene’s travels, honor awards, professional memberships, and material documenting his creative interests. The Office Records and Project Records series document the Greenes' professional life and contain professional correspondence, standard office material such as time sheets and receipts, catalogs, samples, vendor and craftsmen correspondence. Drawings, specifications, sketches, photographs, client and firm correspondence make up the largest part of the collection. The Additional Donations series contains ancillary material related to the Greene collection such as Roy Flamm photographs of Charles’ Carmel studio commissioned by the College of Architecture.

Environmental Design Archives
University of California, Berkeley
230 Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820
510-642-5124
archives@socrates.berkley.edu
http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/