Usage conditions may apply for digital images, video, and sound recordings linked within SOVA collections. While digital content may be restricted, SOVA collection descriptions and catalog records are available CC0 for re-use. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Archives of American Art
Oral history interview with Esther McCoy
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.mccoy87
- Creators:
-
McCoy, EstherGiovannini, Joseph
- Dates:
-
1987 June 7-Nov. 14
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
97 PagesTranscript
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
An interview of Esther McCoy conducted 1987 June 7-Nov. 14, by Joseph Giovannini, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
McCoy speaks of her childhood and early education; moving to New York in the 1920s; meeting and getting to know various writers including Theodore Dreiser; beginning her own writing career; her involvement in radical politics; the beginning of her interest in architecture; working as a free-lance writer; working with the builder, Tim Robert, as a draftsman; writing a novel about architecture; southern California's role in the development of modernism; writing for magazines in the 1940s; writing several books on architecture, including one on Richard Neutra; current trends in architecture.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Esther McCoy (1904-1989) was an architectural historian from Santa Monica, California. McCoy was interested in both Italian and Mexican architecture as well as the folk art and crafts of Mexico and South America. Although her professional interests ranged from writing fiction to studying the folk architecture and crafts of Mexico, McCoy achieved her most notable success for her numerous articles, books, and exhibitions about Southern California architecture and the architects associated with the modernist movement.
Administration
Sponsor
The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Digital Content
More Information
General
General
Originally recorded on 8 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 22 min.
Keywords
| Keyword Terms | Keyword Types | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Architectural writing -- California | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Architecture -- California | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Architectural historians -- California -- Interviews | Occupation | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Sound recordings | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Interviews | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Latino and Latin American artists | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945 | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970 | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Robert, Tim | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions
