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Julian Edison Department of Special Collections

Harland Bartholomew and Associates (HBA) Collection

 Collection
Identifier: LH-wua00357
This collection primarily contains city planning reports issued by Harland Bartholomew and Associates (Series 1 and 2). Other items in the collection include correspondence and data files; speeches and articles by Harland Bartholomew; and research notes related to Norman John Johnston's Ph.D. dissertation work on Harland Bartholomew.

Dates

  • 1919-1991

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

7 reels of the microfilmed correspondence in Series 11 are open only by permission of Harland Bartholomew and Associates or their successor. Researchers should contact Special Collections staff for further information. Other parts of the collection are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Users of the collection must read and agree to abide by the rules and procedures set forth in the Materials Use Policies.

Providing access to materials does not constitute permission to publish or otherwise authorize use. All publication not covered by fair use or other exceptions is restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder, which may or may not be Washington University.

If you wish to publish or license Special Collections materials, please contact Special Collections to inquire about copyright status at (314) 935-5495 or spec@wumail.wustl.edu. (Publish means quotation in whole or in part in seminar or term papers, theses or dissertations, journal articles, monographs, books, digital forms, photographs, images, dramatic presentations, transcriptions, or any other form prepared for a limited or general public.)

Extent

133.00 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Historical Information

Harland Bartholomew was born in Stoneham Massachusetts in 1889 and died in St. Louis in December 1989. He came to St. Louis in 1916 at the invitation of the Civic League of St. Louis, with the charge of creating a comprehensive plan for the city of St. Louis. In 1919 he was appointed City Planning Commissioner, the first full-time planner employed by an American city. He served in that capacity until 1950. In 1919, he established Harland Bartholomew and Associates and served as its chairman until his retirement in 1962.

Harland Bartholomew and Associates designed city plans for several hundred cities across the United States. Many of these plans are represented in the collection. The firm's projects in the St. Louis area included the 1920 Comprehensive Plan, the 1932 Major Street Plan, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, and the 1920 Comprehensive Plan for University City. The firm also helped plan the Metro system and the George Washington Parkway, in Washington D.C. In 1984 the firm was purchased by the Parsons Corporation, and its flagship offices were moved from St. Louis to Memphis, Tennessee.

One of Harland Bartholomew's business partners, Eldridge Lovelace, authored the book Harland Bartholomew: His Contributions to American Urban Planning (Urbana, IL: Dept of Urban & Regional Planning, 1993), which provides a history of Bartholomew's life and career. The full-text of this book can be downloaded in PDF format from: http://stlouis-mo.gov/archive/harland-bartholomew/

Copies of this title are also available from the Washington University Libraries.

Arrangement

This collection has been arranged into fourteen series, as follows.

Series 1: Unbound city planning reports, 1920-1969, arranged alphabetically by city name. 11 boxes.

Series 2-8: Bound city planning reports, 1919-1977. over 90 volumes. Organization within each volume is alphabetical by city, but there is a great deal of alphabetical and chronological overlap among the volumes.

Series 2: Bound city planning reports: Labeled Black Binders, 1919-1958

Series 3: Bound city planning reports: Red Binders, 1947-1964

Series 4: Bound city planning reports: Unlabeled Black Binders, 1957-1966

Series 5: Bound city planning reports: Blue Binders, 1957-1966

Series 6: Bound city planning reports: White Binders, 1965-1969

Series 7: Bound city planning reports: Brown Binders, 1967-1977

Series 8: Bound city planning reports: Oversized Volumes, 1932 - 1975. Divided into 6 subseries, based on color. Please note color when requesting access.

Series 9: Norman Johnston Dissertation materials. Correspondence and research notes re: Norman John Johnston, "Harland Bartholomew: His Comprehensive Plans and Science of Planning" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1964). 1 box.

Series 10: Speeches, articles, and reprints of Harland Bartholomew. 1 box, consisting of 3 bound volumes. Each volume arranged chronologically.

Series 11: Correspondence and Data files. 48 reels of microfilm. Finding aid not available online; paper finding aid available from the Washington University Archives.

Series 12: Historical Information, 1917 - 1991. Primarily compiled by Eldridge Lovelace while researching his book Harland Bartholomew: His Contributions to American Urban Planning.

Series 13: Slides

Series 14: Awards and Artwork

Processing Information

Processed by University Archives Staff. Updated in Spring 2016 by Miranda Rectenwald. Updated in May 2017 by Sarah Schnuriger.

Related Names

Creator

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Harland Bartholomew and Associates (HBA) Collection
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
eng

Revision Statements

  • 2021 March 11: Resource record updated in ArchiveSpace by Sarah Schnuriger.

Collecting Area Details

Collecting Area Details

Part of the Local History Collecting Area

https://library.wustl.edu/collecting-area/local-history/
Contact:
Miranda Rectenwald
Olin Library, 1 Brookings Drive
MSC 1061-141-B
St. Louis MO 63130 US
(314) 935-5495