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Edmund N. Bacon records
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Architectural Archives [Contact Us]220 South 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19094
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Architectural Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Edmund Norwood Bacon was born May 2, 1910 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Ellis W. and Helen (Comly) Bacon. He married Ruth Holmes on September 16, 1938. He and Ruth had six children and lived on the 2100 block of Locust Street in Philadelphia. The Bacon's also had another family home in Chester County, Pa where they would spend weekends with the Stonorov's who were close family friends.
Bacon graduated from Cornell University in 1932 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. He worked as an architectural designer in Shanghai, China under Henry Killam Murphy in 1934. In 1935 he returned to Philadelphia to work with W. Pope Barney. He was accepted to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1936 where he studied under Eliel Saarinen. His earliest planning related projects focused on Flint, Michigan and from 1937-1939 he served in various planning roles culminating with his selection as the Superintendent of City Planning for the city of Flint. Bacon's first published work, "A Comprehensive City Plan for Flint, Michigan" (1937), was a product of his experience working in Flint on traffic and housing related issues.
Upon his return to Philadelphia, Bacon served as Managing Director of the Philadelphia Housing Association from 1940 to 1943. He also participated in the development of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission during this period. In 1943, Bacon left Philadelphia to enlist in the US Navy, and served in the South Pacific until 1945.
Bacon returned to Philadelphia in 1945 to work with Oskar Stonorov, Robert Mitchell and Louis I. Kahn in designing the Better Philadelphia Exhibit. The exhibit, which opened in 1947, was arranged to inform the public about the possibilities of city planning. From 1946 to 1949 he served as the Senior Land Planner of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, and in 1949 he was made Executive Director. During this period, Bacon led the redevelopment of notable Philadelphia landmarks such as Society Hill, Penn Center and Market East among other projects. He achieved national notoriety during this period and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1964. He continued to serve as Executive director until 1970.
Following his retirement from the Philadelphia City Planning Commission in 1970, Bacon remained active in teaching, lecturing and writing about city planning. He served as the vice-president of Mondev USA, a private planning firm, during much of this period.
Edmund Bacon is the author of Design of Cities, published in 1967. He also narrated as series of films titled Understanding Cities where he described the development of Rome, Paris, London and the Urban American Experience in 1982-83. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania both before and following his retirement from the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and continued to teach there intermittently for 20 years.
Edmund Bacon died on October 14, 2005.
Edmund N. Bacon Collection 292 contains materials that were removed from his fourth floor office in his home on the 2100 block of Locust Street in Philadelphia, Pa. Most materials in this collection are related to his work before and after his association with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. While some materials related to this period can be found in the collection, the bulk remains with the city of Philadelphia.
Related collections in the Architectural Archives are Edmund N. Bacon Collection 095 (1940-1970) and Edmund N. Bacon Research Collection 278 (1973-2004) assembled by Madeline L. Cohen.
Edmund N. Bacon Collection 292 is arranged in seven series representing the different aspects of Bacon's life that are documented in this collection. The series are as follows: I. Personal Files; II. Professional Files; Writings; IV. Scrapbooks; V. Photographic Materials; VI. Audio-visual Materials and VII. Materials Stored in Flat Files.
Series I. Personal Files consists of two subseries: A. Correspondence and B. Subject Files. Subseries A is arranged by the author of the correspondence. This subseries contains correspondence from Edmund Bacon (ENB) and Ruth Bacon (RHB). Subseries B. Subject Files is an alphabetical arrangement of all non correspondence related personal materials in the collection. Included in this subseries are materials related to Bacon's education, biographies, family history and residences. Of particular note is the Phoenixville property where the Bacon's and Stonorov's would spend weekends in the country.
Series II. Professional Files is divided into 5 subseries. These subseries represent Bacon's different professional associations throughout his career and are as follows: A. Materials Associated to Flint, Michigan; B. Materials Associated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; C. Confidential Memos to the Mayor of Philadelphia; D. Materials Associated to Mondev; E. Teaching Files. The Materials Associated to Flint, Michigan subseries covers the period between 1935-46 and relates to his early planning projects in Michigan including his first published report the "Flint Traffic Study". Materials associated to Philadelphia are divided into two subseries: II.B.1 General Correspondence 1961-2005 and II.B.2 Subject Files which are organized alphabetically. C. Confidential Reports to the Mayor includes bound correspondence and reports to mayors Clark, Dilworth and Tate from 1952-1970. D. Materials Related to Modev contains all correspondence and project related material from Bacon's association with Mondev a private planning firm beginning in 1970. E. Teaching File includes papers, syllabi and course related materials associated to his role as a teacher at the University of Pennsylvania.
Series III is divided into three subseries: III.A Files Related to Bacon's Writings, III.B Files Related to Writings About Bacon and III.C Philadelphia Reports. Series III.A Files Related to Bacon's Writings contains drafts, correspondence and publications related to Bacon's many writings. These files are arranged alphabetically by title. III.B Files Related to Writings About Bacon contains articles about Bacon arranged chronologically. Series III.C Philadelphia Reports is subdivided into two subseries III.C.1 Standard Size Reports and III.C.2 Oversize Reports which are both arranged chronologically.
Series IV. Scrapbooks is related to the work of Gregory Heller and Edmund Bacon in preparation of Bacon's memoir. This series is subdivided into two subseries: IV.A Bound Materials and IV.B Subject Files. The bound materials subseries consists of booklets made by Heller and Bacon which relate to projects and publications by Bacon. The bound booklets contain writing, correspondence and photographic materials related to a geographic location or publication associated to the work of Edmund Bacon. IV.B Subject Files also contains writings, correspondence and photographic materials related to a geographic location or publication associated to the work of Edmund Bacon, however, these materials are arranged separately in file folders.
Series V Photographic Materials contains slides, negatives and photographic prints related to Bacon's personal files and professional files arranged alphabetically.
Series VI Audiovisual Materials contains an inventory of audio and audiovisual recordings of Bacon's lectures, speeches and documentaries. Included in this series are video recordings of Understanding Cities, an instructional documentary about the growth and development of large world cities.
Series VII Materials Stored in Flat Files contains architectural drawings related to Bacon's early architectural projects in China and the United States, historic maps, lecture posters, awards and oversize photographs. Ruth Bacon's photographs of housing in Flint Michigan from 1938-39 can be found in this series.
- Series I. Personal Files
- Subseries A. Correspondence
- Subseries B. Subject Files
- Series II. Professional Files
- Subseries A. Materials Associated to Flint, Michigan
- Subseries B. Materials Associated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Subseries C. Confidential Memos to the Mayor of Philadelphia
- Subseries D. Materials Associated to Mondev
- Subseries E. Teaching Files
- Series III. Writings
- Subseries A. Files Related to Bacon Writings (lectures, articles and books)
- Subseries B. Files Related to Writings About Bacon
- Subseries C. Reports
- Series IV. Scrapbooks
- Subseries A. Bound Materials
- Subseries B. Subject Files (by location)
- Series V. Photographic Materials
- Subseries A. Slides
- Subseries B. Photographic Prints
- Series VI. Audio-visual Materials
- Series VII. Materials Stored in Flat Files
Gift of Edmund N. Bacon, 1995-2005. Additional materials gift of J. Wesley Edwards, 2004.
Original audiovisual materials, as well as preservation and duplicating masters, may not be played. Researchers must consult use copies, or if none exist must pay for a use copy. Please contact the Architectural Archives for more information.
Collection was processed and the finding aid was written by Nancy Thorn and Bill Whitaker around 2010.
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Architectural Archives
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is available for research by appointment only.
- Use Restrictions
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The Edmund N. Bacon records (COLLECTION 292) are the physical property of the Architectural Archives, Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. Materials in the collection may be subject to copyright not held by the Archives. Researchers are responsible for determining the identity of those rights holders and obtaining their permission for publication and for other purposes where stated.