David Reichard Williams:

An Inventory of his Photographs, Negatives, and Records, 1916-1978

Biographical Sketch of David R. Williams

David Reichard Williams (1890-1962) is perhaps best remembered as the leading proponent of the regionalist movement among Texas architects during the late 1920s and 1930s, although he also made enormous contributions as an administrator of public programs during the Depression and World War II.

Born in the prairie community of Childress in 1890, Williams had early interests in art and photography that led him to seek a career in architecture. In the first of many adventures, Williams abruptly left UT in 1916 and traveled to Mexico (the country was then undergoing a revolution) to work for American oil companies. Williams then traveled to Europe for a two-year tour, but the stay failed to inspire him to adopt the eclectic models then in vogue. Rather, upon his return to Dallas in 1923, he began to explore the vernacular (he called it “indigenous”) architectural vocabulary of Texas as the basis of his own unique style.

Williams was actively involved with a group of artists and artisans, including Jerry Bywaters, Tom Stell and Lynn Ford, who were then exploring the ideology of regionalism. This intellectual movement found a forum for its ideas in the pages of The Southwest Review, for which Williams served as associate editor in 1927. Williams' now-legendary travels across the state in search of a vocabulary of forms unique to Texas culminated in a series of articles in The Southwest Review. In them he argued that a true Southwestern style could evolve only through the study--not the slavish imitation--of the state's own regional building patterns.

Williams' extensive travels through Texas provided him with a wealth of images from which to draw inspiration--not unlike the pattern books available to architects working in the fashionable revival modes. The F.N. Drane House in Corsicana (1929), one of Williams' earliest houses, has strong horizontal lines tying it to the ground, and it contains a complex series of cloistered spaces with open courtyards and loggias, reminiscent of Mexican architecture. Subsequent designs became increasingly simplified as Williams incorporated elements of vernacular architecture and native materials in his houses, for example for F.B. McKie (1929) and Warner Clark (1930), both in Dallas. The Elbert Williams House (1932) combines the regional response to climatic conditions--informal plan oriented toward the prevailing breezes, shaded porches and patios, shuttered windows, ample fireplaces, and a standing-seam roof--with a specifically Texan iconography in its decoration, furnishings and an articulation of space.

Williams' entrance into public service in 1933 allowed him to apply his ideas of a regional response to design on a much broader scale and with greater social significance. During the next three years, Williams planned and organized new rural communities across the country for the Federal Relief Administration, including the Matanuska Valley project in Alaska and the Woodlake community outside Houston. Williams was appointed the Director of the Division of Works Projects for the National Youth Administration in 1936, eventually being named Deputy Executive Director of the entire organization. Although his project for La Villita in San Antonio is well-known, his other projects included such diverse educational opportunities for youth as the All American Youth Orchestra. As the nation's attention turned to the defense industry, Williams' genius at problem-solving was demonstrated in his designs for on-site prefabricated housing at Avion Village in Grand Prairie (1940-1941), with Richard Neutra and Roscoe DeWitt, as well as his innovative “demountable housing” at Multimax in Beaumont (1941).

Williams was assigned to the Institute of Inter-American Affairs in 1942, providing a broad range of technical assistance in Latin America, such as building roads, establishing health programs, and developing postwar rehabilitation plans. Injuries from a 1944 plane crash forced him to return to the United States although he later worked in Venezuela from 1947-1948, implementing rural and industrial development programs. Williams retired in 1952 to Lafayette, La., where he continued to study indigenous housing. It was during his travels in the South that he discovered Louis Sullivan's library in Biloxi, Miss., in 1954, thus ensuring its future preservation in the AIA's collections in Washington D.C.

Dave Williams had a profound effect upon architecture in Texas as well as the implementation of public policy on a national level. His designs have continued to inspire the architects of [Texas] and his photographs of [its] vernacular architecture captured images of [the] past that would otherwise have vanished.

-Lila Knight

From: “Texas 50.” Texas Architect (Nov./Dec. 1989), p 78.

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Scope and Content of the Collection

Photographs and negatives dominate this record group, numbering 1,757 pieces. Personal papers, correspondence, job files, drawings, visual materials and clippings, together measuring .83 linear feet, round out documentation of a portion of David R. Williams' life and work.

The 1,060 unique photographic images, which Williams took on his travels through central Texas in the 1920s, show examples of vernacular architecture. Williams donated the negatives to the UT's School of Architecture in 1961 and were subsequently transferred to the Alexander Architectural Archive; these prints were made soon after (as part of the Texas Architecture Survey project). Images are identified by type of structure, geographic location and view (interior or exterior). Some of the notable buildings or artfacts included in the series are as follows: the first capitol of the Republic of Texas (Independence; Stagecoach Inn (Independence); Pease Mansion (Austin); Neill-Cochran House (Austin); Governor's Mansion (Austin); French Legation (Austin); Lewis House (San Antonio), showing Robert E. Lee's Drafting Room from the Mexican War (1849); artifacts from the Pioneer Museum (Fredericksburg); Mission San Jose (San Antonio); Mission Concepcion (San Antonio); the Alamo (San Antonio); Navarro House (San Antonio) Keidal restoration group (Fredericksburg) and Sam Houston's Home (Independence).

The balance of the material in the record group is not original. The original materials are primarily part of the David R. Williams Papers, housed in the Southwestern Archives and Manuscripts Collection at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana. The Alexander Architectural Archive holds photocopies of a portion of those holdings.

The series Personal Papers contains copies of biographical information, reminiscences by Williams and a manuscript entitled “Indigenous Architecture of Texas.”

Correspondence falls into three categories: that of Williams, that to his wife (Mrs. Louise Lyle Williams), and that of Michael Glen Wade requesting information about Williams for his dissertation. The correspondence that relates to the photographs includes letters from Eugene George attempting to secure the negatives. He wanted to print them as slides to teach his class called “History of Architecture of the Southwest.” A letter and press release from UT's Board of Regents thank Williams for donating the images. Other correspondence is with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) regarding such topics as Williams' assistance in bringing Louis Sullivan's library to the AIA, letters to the Jury of Fellows of the AIA in support of Williams' nomination for fellowship, and a letter from Williams to the Jury of Fellows of the AIA nominating O'Neil Ford for fellowship.

The Job Files, Drawings and Visual Materials series all show examples of Williams' architectural design career. Significant projects in which he worked are documented here including La Villita (San Antonio) and Matanuska Colony (Matanuska, Alaska). The Visual Materials consists of photocopies of photographs of Williams' residential work.

The clippings series contains copies of news about Williams: personal information, true adventure, gossip, features on his architectural design work, articles about his study of regional architecture and several obituaries.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Access is by appointment only to any serious scholar. Rolled materials must be flattened before viewing. A three day advance notice is required to flatten rolled materials. Portions of this collection are not processed and may not be accessible.

Restrictions on Use

Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Alexander Architectural Archive's Use Policy.

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

David Reichard Williams (1890-1962) Photographs, negatives and archival records, 1916-1978. Vernacular Texas Architecture., the Alexander Architectural Archive, the General Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin

Acquisition Information

Transferred to the Alexander Architectural Archive from the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture.

Processing Information

Nancy Sparrow, January 1993, Laura Goettsman, 2000.

Processing is not completed. Please see Archive's staff for more information.

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Other Finding Aids

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References to works by or about David R. Williams (1890-1962)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

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