Reginald R. Isaacs papers
name: label: Creator
content: Isaacs, Reginald R., 1911-
label: Names
content: Bauhaus
label: Names
content: Gropius, Walter, 1883-1969
label: Names
content: Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956
topic: label: Topic
content: Architecture and society
label: Topic
content: Schools of architecture
label: Topic
content: Architectural writing
label: Topic
content: Architecture, Modern
label: Topic
content: Architects and community
label: Topic
content: Architects and housing developers
label: Topic
content: Architects in government
label: Topic
content: Architects
label: Topic
content: International style (Architecture)
label: Topic
content: Authors
label: Topic
content: Industrial designers
label: Topic
content: City planning
label: Topic
content: Architecture, Modern -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: City planners
label: Topic
content: Educators -- Massachusetts
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: 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.
creator: label: Creator
content: Isaacs, Reginald R., 1911-
setName: label: See more items in
content: Reginald R. Isaacs papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: 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.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: 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.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 22.54 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1842-1991
label: Date
content: bulk 1928-1991
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.isaaregi
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Exhibition catalogs
label: Type
content: Writings
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: 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)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed by Kym Wheeler in 1994 with funding provided in part by a grant from The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts. The finding aid was revised by Stephanie Ashley in 2001 prior to conversion to EAD. Glass plate negatives were re-housed in 2015 with a grant provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund. The finding aid was further updated in 2015 by Kimberley Henze.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Exhibition catalogs
label: Genre/Form
content: Writings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers of of architect, instructor, writer, and city planner Reginald R. Isaacs (1911-1986) measure 22.54 linear feet and date from 1842 to 1991 with the bulk of the material dating from 1883 to 1985. The collection includes Isaacs's personal and professional papers, as well as extensive research material he collected and created for his two volume two-volume biography of Bauhaus architect, Walter Gropius: Walter Gropius: The Man and His Work. The bulk of Walter Gropius' papers are housed at the Busch Reisinger Museum at Harvard University, and the Bauhaus Archiv in Germany.

Series 1 to 12 contain contain biographical, legal, and financial material; personal and professional correspondence; project and subject files; writings and publications; teaching files; works of art; scrapbooks; printed material; and photographs relating to Isaacs' personal and professional career.

Series 13 forms the bulk of the collection and pertains specifically to the writing and publication of Isaacs' biography of Gropius. It contains research material, correspondence (much of it with Gropius), drafts of the manuscript, publication correspondence, photographs and illustrations, and printed material. Some of the research material, including some of the photographs and illustrations that were used in the biography, appear to have been original documents of Walter Gropius, while large portions of the material are photocopies of the originals, many of them in German.