Donald Olsen Collection
Scope and Contents
The Donald Olsen Collection spans the years 1941-1998 (Bulk dates 1952-1989) and includes files created by Olsen while working with Vernon DeMars and Joseph Esherick on Wurster Hall. The collection is organized into six series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Faculty Papers, Office Records, Project Records, and Major projects. The collection is extensive and contains a wide range of materials documenting Olsen's long career as an architect and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His career focused heavily on designing residences, of which many are well documented in this collection.
The Personal Papers contains biographical material, personal correspondence, financial records, student work, and certificates/degrees. The Professional Papers includes correspondence with other architects, awards, and a mixture of records that include correspondence and presentation notes related to professional organizations, committee work, juries, as well as research and reference files. The Faculty Papers contain material related to Olsen's professorship at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. Primarily, this series contains official correspondence with other members of the UC Berkeley Architecture faculty, committee work documentation, and course materials such as syllabi, lecture notes, and slides from classes he taught.
The Office Records document administrative operations, public relations efforts, financial transactions, and correspondence. Clippings from newspapers and tear sheets from magazines in which Olsen’s projects were featured, and some photographs are included. The majority of the Projects Records series documents Olsen's projects spanning the years 1942-1994, and documents his work through drawings, photographs and slides, administrative files, and one model. The majority of projects are residential in nature. Major Projects within this series include UC Berkeley, Le Conte Hall (1964-1968) and UC Berkeley, Wurster Hall (1960-1964), where a significant number of plans and drawings are retained. Additionally, a large amount of material includes the School of Arts and Sciences (1970-1974) and Richmond Sanitary Service Company (1973-1974).
Dates
- 1941-1998
Access Statement
Collection is open for research. Many of the Environmental Design Archives collections are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the Curator.
Biographical Note
Donald E. Olsen was born in Minneapolis in 1919 to Clarence Edward and Thea Olsen. He married Helen Ohlson in 1944 and had one son, Alan Edward Olsen. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Minnesota in 1941. He won a scholarship to Harvard’s Graduate School of Design but had to defer due to the outbreak and United States’ involvement in World War II. During the war years Olsen found himself in Richmond, CA where he worked at the Kaiser Ship Yard designing large manufacturing and office buildings as well as housing, railway systems, fire stations, and schools. Once the war ended obtained his Master’s in Architecture from Harvard and graduated in 1946. He continued his education doing post-graduate work in England, studying civic design at the University of Liverpool in 1953 and the philosophy of Science at the London School of Economics, 1962-63.
After a brief stint in the office of Eliel and Eero Saarinen in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Olsen returned to Berkeley where he worked for a brief time for Ernest Kump, SOM, and finally Wurster, Bernardi, & Emmons. In 1954 Olsen began his own practice and remained for decades a much-esteemed and sought after architect. The same year that he began his own practice he was approached by William Wurster, then Dean of the School of Architecture at UC Berkeley, and asked to join the faculty.When the new College of Environmental Design was established in 1959, Olsen was a founding member of the Department of Architecture. During his tenure at Berkeley, Olsen taught studios, theory courses, and supervised doctoral candidates. Olsen’s career lasted thirty-five years, until 1989 when he retired from teaching.
Though Olsen’s work included a number of large-scale buildings, his focus was primarily residential. These elegantly economical homes dispersed around the Bay Area are celebrated examples of Olsen’s unique style influenced by both California regionalism and the Modern Movement of 20th century Europe.
Extent
40 Linear Feet: (14 Cartons, 18 Document Boxes, 5 Flat Boxes, 91 Tubes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Donald Olsen Collection spans the years 1941-1998 and includes files created by Olsen and his work with Vernon DeMars and Joseph Esherick. The collection is organized into five series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Faculty Records, Office Records, Project Records. These records contain correspondence, project files, drawings, photographs, slides, research notes, articles, and lectures.
System of Arrangement
This collection is organized into five series: Personal Papers, Professional Records, Faculty Papers, Office Records, Project Records.
Funding
Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by a grant from the Architecture Department at UC Berkeley.
- Title
- Donald Olsen Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Katie Riddle
- Date
- March 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives Repository