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Manuscript Group 392
Papers, 1911-1990
3.0 linear feet
The records of John Hancock Callender were transferred to the University of Idaho Library by his widow, Mary Carnwath, via Gifford Pierce, professor of architecture at the University of Idaho, between September 1996 and February 1997. They were processed by Judith Nielsen in January 1998.
John Hancock Callender was born in Kansas City, Missouri on January 18, 1908, the son of Alonzo Lee and Lola (Hancock) Callender. He was educated in the public schools of Kansas City before attending Yale University where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and from which he graduated with a B.A. degree in English in 1928. He then continued at Yale for two more years studying design. From 1935 to 1939 he attended New York University from which he graduated with a B.Arch.
In 1931 he went to work for the Housing Research Division of John B. Pierce Foundation researching the living habits of families, and designing and superintending the construction of low cost housing. He was an early advocate of prefabricated housing.
During his military service, 1943-1945, he was a consulting architect for the National Housing Agency, Staff Army Engineers, and supervised the remodeling of laboratories for the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Following the war he was in p rivate practice, specializing in private residences, before joining the faculty of Columbia University where he taught from 1953-1954. He then taught at Princeton University 1963-1973, and the Pratt Institute, 1970-1972. During the 1967/68 academic year he was visiting professor at Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. He was the author of several books and many articles, and was the editor of Time saver standards for architectural design data, a standard reference for architects. He held membersh ip in the American Institute of Architects, serving as chairman of the small home committee from 1948 to 1950.
He married Mary Carnwath on August 5, 1933; they had one daughter, Janet. He died of cancer in Lansdale, Pa., March 30, 1995.
The records of John H. Callender span the years 1911 to 1990, with the bulk of the material covering the decades of the 1940s and 1950s.
Included in the records are professional papers such as articles by and about Callender and the homes he designed, and scrapbooks and other personal material.
The records of John Hancock Callender were in no discernable order when received; therefore a series order was imposed during processing.
Series one is composed of papers relating to his professional career. Included are books and articles by Callender, articles about houses he designed, photographs and blueprints for several houses, and greeting cards which he designed.
The second series, Personal Papers, contains diplomas, military records, academic notebooks, personal photographs, two Yale University publications and two scrapbooks of his year at Cheng Kung University, one containing photographs, the other invitations and other mementos.
Articles on Callender houses were removed from the journals, which were discarded. Several Yale publications that did not contain information on Callender were also removed from the papers. This reduced the records by 2 cubic feet.
I. Professional Papers, 1926-1968 1 & oversize.
II. Personal Papers, 1911-1990 2 & oversize.
Box Folder Description Items
1 1 Articles: General, 1945 1 2 Architectural & Engineering News forum, 1962 3 3-5 About Callender designed houses, 1929-1957 25 6 John B. Pierce Foundation, 1939-1941 10 7 By John H. Callender, 1931-1943 12 8 The Builder's materials, 1943 (typescript) 3 9 Bertha Schaefer Gallery. The Modern house comes to life, 1947 3 o.s. 10 Blueprints for Griffith, Sadi, and Dennet residences, 1935-1937 31 11 Book: Callender, John H. Before you buy a house, 1953 1 12 Curtain walls of stainless steel, 1955 1 13 School building costs, 1957 1 14-15 Space requirements of war housing, 1944 2 16 Stainless steel uses in architecture, 1968 1 o.s. 16a Time-saver standards for building types, 1966 1 o.s. 16b Time-saver standards for building types, 1973 1 17 Vitrolux spandrel glass for curtain walls, n.d. 1 18 Book on prefab ca.1936 1 19 Booklets: Family living as the basis for dwelling design, 1943-1944 2 20 Brochures: Revere Quality House Institute, 1948 3 21 Business cards and stationery, n.d. 6 22 Certificates and registrations, 1941-1950 3 o.s. 23 New York license, 1941 1 24 Construction reports, 1939 2 25 Correspondence, 1941-1945 10 26 Stainless steel curtain wall research, Princeton University. Drawings, n.d. 7 27-28 Curtain wall research project studies, 1-9, 1957 9 29 Drawings of Callender houses, ca.1937-1940 7 30 Greeting cards designed by JHC, ca.1926 18 31 Printing block for triangular design 1 32 Photographs: Various JHC designed homes, ca.1945-1955 24 o.s. 33 Greene House, Syosset, N.Y., 1950 3 o.s. 34 Lada-Mocarskis (Big-inch house), North Castle, New York, 1952 3 o.s. 35 Molinoff Residence, n.d. 10 o.s. 36 Old mission, n.d. 1 o.s. 37 Rose Residence, Beechhurst, Queens, n.d. 1 o.s. 38 Unidentified, ca.1955 12 39 Pierce, John B. Foundation. Current activities, 1943 1 40 Planning and Building Associates, promotional booklet, 1941 1
2 41 Appraisal of Callender donation to University of Idaho library, 1996 1 42 Certificates, diplomas, 1920-1939 6 43 Hancock, T.C. Scraps of family history, 1911 (photocopy) 1 44 Military papers, 1940-1944 19 45 Notebook: Course with Albert Schweizer, 1934 1 46 Photographs: J.H. Callender, ca.1953-1990 7 47 "The scribble in book" 1940-1941 1 48 Scrapbook: Collateral reading, class notes, illustrations, personal prejudices, ca.1928 1 o.s. 49-50 Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, 1967-1968 2 51 Yale University. Library Gazette, v.1, n.1, June 1926 1 o.s. 52 Thirty year record, class of 1928, 1958 1
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