Overview of the Collection
University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives
MG392
John Hancock
Callender, 1908-1995
John Hancock Callender Papers
1911-1990
3.0 linear feet
Correspondence, publications, articles by and about Callender
and his residential architecture designs. Also personal papers including scrapbooks of a
year spent as a visiting professor in Taiwan.
English
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 1967/1968 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.
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.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers
desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using
these headings.
Scrapbooks
City Planning
Callender, John
Hancock--Archives.
Architects -- New York (State) --
New York -- Records and correspondence
Detailed Description of the Collection
Series I. Professional Papers
1926-1968
1/1
Articles: General
1945
1 item
1/2
Architectural & Engineering News forum
1962
3 items
1/3-5
About Callender designed houses
1929-1957
25 items
1/6
John B. Pierce Foundation
1939-1941
10 items
1/7
By John H. Callender
1931-1943
12 items
1/8
The Builder's materials (typescript)
1943
3 items
1/9
Bertha Schaefer Gallery. The Modern house comes to
life
1947
3 items
os/10
Blueprints for Griffith, Sadi, and Dennet residences
1935-1937
31 items
1/11
Book: Callender, John H. Before you buy a house
1953
1 item
1/12
Curtain walls of stainless steel
1955
1 item
1/13
School building costs
1957
1 item
1/14-15
Space requirements of war housing
1944
2 items
1/16
Stainless steel uses in architecture
1968
1 item
os/16a
Time-saver standards for building types
1966
1 item
os/16b
Time-saver standards for building types
1973
1 item
1/17
Vitrolux spandrel glass for curtain walls
undated
1 item
1/18
Book on prefab
ca. 1936
1 item
1/19
Booklets: Family living as the basis for dwelling
design
1943-1944
2 items
1/20
Brochures: Revere Quality House Institute
1948
3 items
1/21
Business cards and stationery
undated
6 items
1/22
Certificates and registrations
1941-1950
3 items
os/23
New York license
1941
1 item
1/24
Construction reports
1939
2 items
1/25
Correspondence
1941-1945
10 items
1/26
Stainless steel curtain wall research, Princeton
University. Drawings
undated
7 items
1/27-28
Curtain wall research project studies, 1-9
1957
9 items
1/29
Drawings of Callender houses
ca. 1937-1940
7 items
1/30
Greeting cards designed by JHC
ca. 1926
18 items
1/31
Printing block for triangular design
1 item
1/32
Photographs: Various JHC designed homes
ca. 1945-1955
24 items
os/33
Greene House, Syosset, N.Y.
1950
3 items
os/34
Lada-Mocarskis (Big-inch house), North Castle, New
York
1952
3 items
os/35
Molinoff Residence
undated
10 items
os/36
Old mission
undated
1 item
os/37
Rose Residence, Beechhurst, Queens
undated
1 item
os/38
Unidentified
ca. 1955
12 items
1/39
Pierce, John B. Foundation. Current activities
1943
1 item
1/40
Planning and Building Associates, promotional booklet
1941
1 item
Series II. Personal Papers
1911-1990
2/41
Appraisal of Callender donation to University of Idaho
library
1996
1 item
2/42
Certificates, diplomas
1920-1939
6 items
2/43
Hancock, T.C. Scraps of family history (photocopy)
1911
1 item
2/44
Military papers
1940-1944
19 items
2/45
Notebook: Course with Albert Schweizer
1934
1 item
2/46
Photographs: J.H. Callender
ca. 1953-1990
7 items
2/47
"The scribble in book"
1940-1941
1 item
2/48
Scrapbook: Collateral reading, class notes,
illustrations, personal prejudices
ca. 1928
1 item
os/49-50
Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
1967-1968
2 items
2/51
Yale University. Library Gazette, v.1, n.1
June 1926
1 item
os/52
Thirty year record, class of 1928
1958
1 item
2/53
"History of Modern Architecture" (lectures given at
Cheng Kung)
1967-1968
1 item