Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Lloyd Hoff Papers, 1936-1984
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Hoff, Lloyd
- Title
- Lloyd Hoff Papers
- Dates
- 1936-1984 (inclusive)19361984
- Quantity
- 4 cubic feet, (4 document cases, 1 flat box, 1 oversize folder)
- Collection Number
- Coll 241
- Summary
- Correspondence and artwork of Oregon artist Lloyd Hoff. The collection includes letters, newspaper clippings, illustrations, prints, and books.
- Repository
-
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org - Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open to the public.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Lloyd Henry Hoff was born on June 11, 1910 in Balko, Oklahoma. His parents, Benjamin Tobias Hoff and Margaret Holm Hoff, were farmers. Hoff had one younger brother named Louis and one older brother named Herman. The Hoff family moved to Walla Walla, Washington in 1917 and lived there for five or six years. They then moved to San Juan Batista, California, which is where Lloyd attended high school while also working on the family farm. Though he recognized its importance to his childhood, Lloyd never wanted a farm life for himself. Instead, he had a great interest in art, literature, and poetry. His brother once reported that Lloyd recited poetry to the cows while milking them. Lloyd's family was supportive of his artistic development during his adolescence, and his paternal aunt helped him through college. Hoff attended a junior college in California (possibly in Hollister) from 1929-1931 before attending the University of California at Berkeley for two years. He earned a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees in history and in art. While at Berkeley, he took a class from Mr. Obata, a Japanese man who taught him Sumi painting and Oriental brushwork. After attending the class, Hoff lived with Obata and his family for a year.
During his time in California, he illustrated books for friends, and created some illustrations for Communist newspapers at the request of his first wife. He sometimes signed his illustrations as “hans,” which was a family name but may specifically be a reference to a paternal uncle of whom he was fond. He also created the graphic design for a “Thank You” that would appear on a restaurant check. He worked at Walt Disney Studios but left after just two weeks, finding the copy work there uncreative and unfulfilling. He then applied for work in the civil service and did very well in the exams. He was placed in the Bonneville Power Administration as a graphic designer in 1939, which prompted him to move to Oregon. He eventually became chief of the graphics department there. He also worked for other departments of the Interior, such as the Indian Bureau.
By the time Hoff moved to Oregon, he had divorced his first wife. He met Clementine, his second wife, in 1939. They were married on November 29th, 1941, and Pearl Harbor was bombed on the last day of their honeymoon. Because Lloyd had no children, he was a probable candidate for the draft during World War II, but was not drafted until a year later. He went to Camp Adair for a year, where he nearly died from pneumonia. He then shipped out to the South Pacific and was stationed in New Caledonia and the Philippines. He started out as a private but became a mapmaker and was thus transferred to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Hoff made friends with local inhabitants in the Philippines who gave him culinary gifts upon his departure. This led to a bout of amoebic dysentery which would last for years. His next desination was Japan; however, his positive experience with the Obata family in Berkeley made him feel very conflicted about impending combat with the Japanese. Fortunately, the war ended while he was on his way to Japan. He stayed there for the first few months of the U.S. occupation, and was discharged in December of 1945.
After the war, Lloyd and Clementine Hoff had two children, named Ben and Laurie. Lloyd continued his work with the Bonneville Power Administration while also creating illustrations for other works. Near the end of his career, Hoff injured his hand while cutting wood, which made it very painful for him to draw. His wife reported that the illustrations for Marvin Rosenberg’s book jackets were particularly difficult. He retired in 1975, and died on November 29, 1982.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
This collection relates to a portion of Lloyd Hoff's art work and is comprised of correspondence, drawings, and prints. The correspondence deals mostly with Hoff's various illustration projects from the late 1930s through the early 1970s. There is very little material regarding Hoff's work with the Bonneville Power Administration. Most art pieces in this collection are prints that would later be published in books, particularly hand press books with limited runs. However, other prints, a few sketches, political cartoons, and advertisements can also be found here. Several drawings are of the South Pacific and Japan. A large portion of the art in this collection comes from Hoff's work for A Native American by William Saroyan. Also included are a number of newspaper articles about Saroyan which Hoff's wife collected.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library prior to any use of reproductions. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use of reproductions may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright holders.
Preferred Citation
Lloyd Hoff Papers, Coll 241, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
The collection has been arranged in two series:
- Series A: Correspondence
- Series B: Artwork
Acquisition Information
Acquired July 2011, Library Accession 27392.
Separated Materials
Wood block carvings used to illustrate William Saroyan's A native American have been transferred to the Artifacts Collection, Oregon Historical Society.
Related Materials
Lloyd Hoff's artwork and other materials created for the Bonneville Power Administration are housed in the Administration's library in Portland, Oregon.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Series A: CorrespondenceReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
1/1 | 1955 publishing of updated “Sin”
which was given up for lack of funds. Also earlier correspondence for previous
work
This file contains letters that were addressed to people other
than Lloyd, but which concerned him or were sent to him for reference.
|
1948-1955, 1962, undated |
1/2 | General |
1939-1974, 1981 |
1/3-4 | Richard [Dick] Guggenheim
This file contains letters that were addressed to people other
than Lloyd, but which concerned him or were sent to him for reference.
|
1948-1956 |
1/5 | Helen King |
1962-1963, undated |
1/6 | Lloyd’s jobs of illustration (all
except for “Where to Sin”) |
1948-1953 |
1/7 | John [Jack] Lord
An outgoing letter from Lloyd Hoff is in this folder. This
file contains letters that were addressed to people other than Lloyd, but which
concerned him or were sent to him for reference.
|
1952-1956 |
1/8 | Ramsey Oppenheim |
1953-1956, undated |
1/9 | Marvin Rosenberg, UC Berkeley
Department of Dramatic Art |
1951-1975, undated |
1/10 | William Saroyan
Includes articles published about Saroyan after his death.
|
1938-1981, undated |
1/11 | Richard Volz, Custodian of Chapin
Library, Williams College
Includes a letter to Mr. Volz from an unknown sender who is
probably Clementine Hoff.
|
1984 |
Series B: ArtworkReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
OSA-1/1 | List of books, booklets and such
illustrated by Lloyd Hoff; newspaper clippings |
1937-1951, undated |
OSA-1/2 | Various prints and
sketches |
1941, undated |
OSA-1/3 | 6 illustrations from
The American Farmer printed on board |
undated |
Oversize folder | Various prints
Includes:
|
circa 1946; undated |
2/1 | 3 pages of a hand pressed
book |
undated |
2/2 | Announcement of limited edition
run of “Some Chinese Ghosts” |
1939 |
2/3 | Book Reviews (newspaper
clippings) |
1936-1983, undated |
2/4 | Holiday Greetings – Clementine
and Lloyd Hoff |
undated |
2/5 | Letter Heads done in the South
Pacific |
undated |
2/6 | “Our Garden Book” preliminary
sketches |
circa 1940 |
2/7-8 | Prints |
undated |
2/9 | Sketches for Rosenberg’s
Shakespeare books |
undated |
2/10 | Small hand press books from The
Hart Press |
1946-1951 |
2/11 | “The Cat and the
Cherub” |
1938 |
2/12-13 | Various illustrations, sketches
and prints – political cartoons, advertisements, books, etc |
1938-1944, undated |
Books |
||
Box/Folder | ||
2/14 |
Our Garden Book published by The Journal,
Portland, OR
2 copies
|
1941 |
3/1 |
A Vulcan Among the Argonauts, by John Carr,
edited by Robin Lampson |
1936 |
3/2 |
A Vulcan Among the Argonauts, by John Carr,
edited by Robin Lampson
Unbound copy, contains newspaper clippings within the leaves
of the book.
|
1936 |
3/3 |
The Adventure of Padre Vicentio: A legend of San
Francisco by Bret Harte |
1939 |
3/4 |
The Masks of King Lear by Marvin
Rosenberg |
1972 |
3/5 |
The Masks of Macbeth by Marvin
Rosenberg |
1978 |
3/6 |
The Masks of Othello: The Search for the Identity of
Othello, Iago, and Desdemona by Three Centuries of Actors and Critics
by Marvin Rosenberg |
1961 |
3/7 |
The Washoe Giant in San Francisco, heretofore
uncollected sketches by Mark Twain, edited by Franklin
Walker |
1938 |
A Native American by William
Saroyan
Before the Oregon Historical Society had acquired this
collection, some illustrations from the following folders had been moved to a
safety desposit box.
|
||
Box/Folder | ||
4/1 | 3 of the frontispiece, other
illustrations |
circa 1938 |
4/2 | 9 of the best opposite p. 23,
“One of Our Future Poets” |
circa 1938 |
4/3 | 11 of best of “Old Fashioned
Romance," p. 65 |
circa 1938 |
4/4 | Best of “Locomotive 38,” p.
56 |
circa 1938 |
4/5 | Best of “The Pomegranate
Trees,” p. 30 |
circa 1938 |
4/6 | Flyer for Saroyan book (only
one)
This file also contains prints of various illustrations from
the book.
|
circa 1938 |
4/7 | Not so good of “An Old
Fashioned Romance,” p. 65 |
circa 1938 |
4/8 | Not so good of “Locomotive 38,”
p. 56, |
circa 1938 |
4/9 | Not so good of “The Circus,” p.
49 |
circa 1938 |
4/10 | Not so good of “The Fifty Yard
Dash,” p. 72 |
circa 1938 |
4/11 | Off-register, “The Summer of
the Beautiful White Horse” |
circa 1938 |
4/12 | “One of Our Future Poets,” p.
23, some off register but not all |
circa 1938 |
4/13 | Originally chosen
best |
circa 1938 |
4/14 | “The Circus,” p. 49 (5
difficult/best of) |
circa 1938 |
4/15 | “The Fifty Yard Dash,”, p
72 |
circa 1938 |
4/16 | “The Journey to Hanford,” p.
14 |
circa 1938 |
4/17 | “The Journey to Hanford,” 19 of
the best |
circa 1938 |
4/18 | “The Pomegranate Trees,” p. 30,
off register |
circa 1938 |
4/19 | Various
illustrations |
circa 1938 |
4/20 | Xeroxes from “A Native
American,” a Christmas card |
circa 1938 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Artists--Oregon.
- Prints--Technique.
Personal Names
- Hoff, Lloyd--Archives
Form or Genre Terms
- Art prints
- Letters (correspondence)
Titles within the Collection
- A native American
Other Creators
-
Personal Names
- Saroyan, William, 1908-1981. (creator)