Richard and Dion Neutra papers, 1904-1987, bulk 1925-1970

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Summary

Creators:
Neutra, Dion, Neutra, Richard Joseph, Neutra, Richard Joseph, Neutra, Dion, Neutra, Raymond, and Neutra, Dione
Abstract:
Richard Josef Neutra (1892-1970) was born in Vienna. He was the city architect for Luckenwalde, then worked as a draftsman-collaborator with Erich Mendelsohn in Berlin before immigrating to the United States in 1923. He worked with Frank Lloyd Wright (1924) before settling in Los Angeles. His most productive years were during the 1930s and 1940s. From 1949 to 1958 Netura had a partnership with Robert E Alexander. The collection consists of correspondence both personal and professional belonging to Richard J Neutra as well as his wife Dione Neutra, travel records and sketches, publications, drawings, blueprints, oversized rolled plans, audio recordings, and photographs.
Extent:
3192.2 linear feet (663 boxes, 895 oversize boxes, and 379 oversize folders), 3.75 linear feet (1 unprocessed document box, 1 unprocessed flat file), and 600 linear feet (1 unprocessed oversize record carton, 12 unprocessed record cartons, 34 unprocessed rolls, 296 unprocessed flat folders)
Language:
Materials are in English, German, French, and Spanish.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Richard and Dion Neutra papers (Collection 1179). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of travel sketches, papers, drawings, rolled plans, blueprints, audio recordings, photographs, speeches, research notes, and publications related to the career of architect Richard Joseph Neutra. Includes office files containing correspondence, client files, manuscripts, architectural models, clippings, magazines, and photographs generated by Neutra and his architectural firm. Also includes awards and honors received by Neutra. The earliest pieces in the collection, pencil drawings of Baroque interiors from Neutra's student trip through Italy in 1913, reveal his developing skills as a delineator of architectural space. The collection also includes records related to Richard J Neutra Institute, papers of his wife, Dione Neutra, as well as records of Richard J Neutra's partnership with Robert Alexander.

Biographical / historical:

Richard Josef Neutra was born in 1892 in Vienna. He immigrated to the United States in 1923 to work with the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Neutra's wife Dione Neutra (1901 – 1990) and their eldest son Frank immigrated in 1924. During the fall of 1924, Frank Lloyd Wright invited Richard Neutra to his Taliesin Estate located in Spring Green, WI where Wright resided and worked. Neutra subsequently moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1925. His most productive years were during the 1930s and 1940s. During his last decade, Richard Neutra worked in partnership with his son Dion (1926 – 2019), who worked on numerous projects in the Neutra and Neutra and Alexander offices. Dione Neutra was involved with her husband's career and served as his executive assistant and publicist. Richard Neutra published several books, including Wie baut Amerika? (1927) and Survival Through Design (1954). He died in 1970.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Richard Neutra, 1954. Gift of Dione Neutra, 1976-86. Gift of Dion Neutra, 1981-97. Gift of Raymond Neutra, 1994.
Processing information:

This collection was processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff over the course of many years from the initial donation in the late 1950s up through the 2020s. 600+ boxes of project files, correspondence, travel sketches and audio tapes were processed by Kenneth Holsley, 2005-2007. Correspondence in Series 4, Subseries 4.6 was processed by Yana Demeshko, under the supervision of Courtney Dean, in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), 2020-2021. Finding aid updated by Kelly Besser, 2021.

Processing of the Richard and Dion Neutra papers was funded in part by a grant from the Getty Research Institute.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's Library Collections and Archives.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged in the following series:

  • Series 1: Personal Papers, 1909-1971
    • Subseries 1.1: Biographical Information, 1910-1971
    • Subseries 1.2: Correspondence, 1943-1970
    • Subseries 1.3: Photographs, undated
    • Subseries 1.4: Travel Records, 1925-1970, undated
    • Subseries 1.5: Travel Sketches, 1909-1970
  • Series 2: Professional Papers, 1904-1977, 1987
    • Subseries 2.1: Associations and Committees, 1939-1970, undated
    • Subseries 2.2: Awards and Honors, 1955-1970
    • Subseries 2.3: Correspondence, 1945-1970, undated
    • Subseries 2.4: Presentations Series
    • Subseries 2.5: Recordings, 1955-1970
    • Subseries 2.6: Reference Files, 1904-1977, 1987
    • Subseries 2.7: Research Material, 1945-1970, undated
    • Subseries 2.8: Writings, 1926-1970, undated
  • Series 3: Office Records, 1910-1980
    • Subseries 3.1: Administrative Records, 1927-1980, undated
    • Subseries 3.2: Construction Reference Files, 1946-1967, undated
    • Subseries 3.3: Correspondence, 1910-1977
    • Subseries 3.4: Financial Records, 1968-1976
    • Subseries 3.5: Presentation Materials, 1931-1967, undated
    • Subseries 3.6: Product Literature/Vendor and Contractor Correspondence, 1950-1959, undated
    • Subseries 3.7: Prospects, 1941-1971
    • Subseries 3.8: Public Relations Material, 1930-1971
    • Subseries 3.9: Scrapbooks and Clippings, 1928-1976, undated
    • Subseries 3.10: VDL Research House, 1950-1969
    • Subseries 3.11: Visual Material, undated
  • Series 4: Project Records, 1915-1975
    • Subseries 4.1: Client Files, 1915-1975
    • Subseries 4.2: Drawings, 1920-1959, undated
    • Subseries 4.3: Models, undated
    • Subseries 4.4: Oversized Rolled Plans, 1946-1949, 1966, undated
    • Subseries 4.5: Photographs, 1966-1969, undated
    • Subseries 4.6: Correspondence, 1932-1969
  • Series 5: Richard J. Neutra Institute Records
    • Subseries 5.1: Administrative Records
    • Subseries 5.2: Correspondence
  • Series 6: Dione Neutra Papers, 1924-1971
    • Subseries 6.1: Correspondence, 1930-1971, undated
    • Subseries 6.2: Office Records, 1936-1957
    • Subseries 6.3: Personal Records, undated
    • Subseries 6.4: Travel Correspondence, 1924-1967
    • Subseries 6.5: Writings, 1932-1968
  • Series 7: Neutra and Alexander Office records, 1942-1968
    • Subseries 7.1: Administrative Records, 1942-1956, undated
    • Subseries 7.2: Correspondence, 1947-1968, undated
    • Subseries 7.3: Models, undated
    • Subseries 7.4: Prospects, 1951-1957, undated

Physical / technical requirements:

CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed audiovisual materials. For information about the access status of the material that you are looking for, refer to the Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed audiovisual materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Physical location:
Portions of the collection stored off-site. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Physical facet:

accession LSC-2024-002

accession LSC-2021-006

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through our electronic paging system using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Copyright to portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library Special Collections. The library can grant permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. Commercial use may require additional rights that must be determined and obtained by the researcher. All requests for copyright permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Library Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: The Regents of the University of California on behalf of the UCLA Library Special Collections.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Richard and Dion Neutra papers (Collection 1179). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website