Harper (Lawrence A.) Papers, 1660-1972

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Summary

Title:
Lawrence A. Harper Papers
Dates:
1660-1972
Creators:
Harper, Lawrence A.(Lawrence Averell),1901-
Abstract:
The Lawrence A. Harper Papers document Harper's activities as a professor of history at UC Berkeley and other research.
Extent:
115.2 linear feet
Language:
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Lawrence A. Harper Papers, D-271, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains materials from 1660-1972 including photostats, microfilm, and research notes relating to commercial shipping in the British Colonial ports of North America.

Biographical / historical:

Lawrence Averell Harper was a professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, innovative researcher pivoting to new reproduction methods and computers, and author of a landmark work studying the English Navigation Laws and their effect on the colonial United States. Harper was born in Oakland, California on May 18, 1901, and grew up there attending Fremont High School. Harper then continued on to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his B.A. (1922) and M.A. (1924) degrees in history, and a J.D. (1925). From 1925 to1926, Harper studied in the United Kingdom at King’s College in London, focusing on the creation, administration, and costs of the Navigation Laws, which would be his main academic, professional, and even post-retirement specialty. Harper married Anna McCune, a future Wimbledon champion, in 1925. Shortly after getting married and studying in the United Kingdom, Harper returned to the United States to work on his PhD at Columbia University, and passed the bar exam in 1927. Harper and his wife returned to the Bay Area, where Harper took up the position of Instructor of History at his alma mater of UC Berkeley, while also working in customs law at the firm Harper & Harper to support his growing family. Working both jobs, Harper continued to develop his doctoral thesis on the English Navigation Laws, during which he and research assistants made possible by WPA and NYA funds frequently traveled between the United Kingdom and the United States. Finally, after six revisions, Harper published The English Navigation Laws: A Seventeenth-Century Experiment in Social Engineering (New York: Columbia University Press, 1939) and earned his doctorate degree, being promoted to assistant professor at UC Berkeley. In 1943, Harper was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in United States history. Of note in his cohort was the revolutionary dancer and choreographer, Martha Graham. During his tenure at UC Berkeley, Harper served multiple roles on campus. These responsibilities included faculty advisor to the UC Berkeley chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, assisting in the formation of the Computer Center, serving on both the Central Services Advisory Committee (1950 to 1954) and the Audio-Visual Committee (1951 to 1956), and serving as Chair of the committee to draft the report on educational television (1953) for the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. Harper also served on the committee for California legal history for the state bar and as faculty advisor for Slate, a student publication on faculty evaluation. Harper even developed a new course for the University on constitutional history in the United States that focused on “students primarily being responsible for learning the subject themselves and being rewarded for helping their fellow students.” Following his retirement in 1968, Harper continued to pursue his research of colonial United States economic history, often collaborating with UC Berkeley. Funding had been a constant challenge throughout his career, and Harper estimated that of his approximately $31,500 earnings while teaching at UC Berkeley for a little over 13 years, he spent around $22,500 on research. Harper died June 14, 1989, at the age of 88.

Processing information:

The biography was written by Sacramento State Public History graduate student Jake Hargis. Michelle Trujillo updated this finding aid in 2026.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid created by UC Davis, Special Collections staff.
Date Prepared:
July 14, 2025, 2:55 p.m.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:55 p.m.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections, University of California, Library, Davis as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Lawrence A. Harper Papers, D-271, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library
100 NW Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292, US
Contact:
(530) 752-1621
speccoll@ucdavis.edu
Website