William Hersey and John Kyrk collection
Scope and Content of the collection
The William Hersey and John Kyrk collection documents their joint professional work as renderers during the 1970s and 1980s for architects, firms, and developers around the United States. Included are over 700 sheets of perspective sketches, design studies, and presentation drawings done in ink, pencil, or watercolor on trace paper, mylar, or other media. A box of manuscript and typescript material contains some business-related correspondence though it primarily comprises diary snippets, poetry, illustrated musical scores, calendars, lettering, engravings, ornithological and botanical illustrations, exhibit announcements and fliers, and other unrelated artistic output from both Hersey and Kyrk.
Dates
- Creation: 1970s-1980s
Creator
- Hersey, William P., 1940-1989 (contributor, Person)
- Kyrk, John, 1938 (contributor, Person)
Policies Governing Use and Access
This collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using archival materials. As all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site, advance notice of at least three working days is required for retrieval. Certain items may require additional time for flattening or humidifying before they can be viewed. Access is by appointment only. Please contact the archives’ reference staff for further information.
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasions of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual’s private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person).
The Alexander Architectural Archives operate in accordance with applicable federal or state laws and regulations, providing unrestricted access to university records not covered by state and federal right to privacy acts.
The Alexander Architectural Archives, The University of Texas Libraries, and The University of Texas at Austin, assume no responsibility for infringement of literary property rights and copyright or for liability to any person for defamation or invasion of privacy that results from a researcher’s use of collections.
Researchers agree to indemnify and hold harmless The University of Texas at Austin, and their officers, employees, and agents from and against all suits, claims, actions, and expenses arising out of use of collections held by the libraries. Please alert staff if anything inappropriate is found during research.
Copyright interests in this collection may not have been transferred to the University of Texas. Researchers assume full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply. Additionally, the public use of material must be cited. See citation information below.
Biographical Sketch of William Hersey and John Kyrk
William P. (Bill) Hersey was a writer, teacher, photographer, and illustrator who earned wide professional acclaim in the 1970s and 1980s working, in partnership with John Kyrk, as a renderer for William Turnbull, Jr., Robert A. M. Stern, Charles W. Moore, and the Urban Innovations Group, among other architects, firms, and developers in the United States. Hersey, born in Boston in 1940, received undergraduate and master's degrees in architecture from Princeton University (1963) and Yale University (1967), where he studied under Moore, while Kyrk, born in the Catskills of New York in 1938, pursued architecture at Syracuse University as an undergraduate and received a master's in biology from Harvard University (1967), afterwards working as a botanical illustrator.
Hersey and Kyrk met in Massachusetts in 1965, and by the early 1970s both had moved to California. There they began a nearly two-decade artistic and professional collaboration rooted in shared passions for traditional crafts, science, and the natural world. As contracted freelancers, the two journeyed coast to coast across the United States making architectural illustrations, often traveling in a Volkswagen bus transformed into a mobile studio with a cooking stove and printing press. In a diary entry, Hersey explained, "I convert the architectural notions and designs of my clients into perspective drawings which are used to explain the design to the public, to other clients, bankers, etc." In 1989, Hersey suffered a fatal heart attack while working on a drawing. Since then, John Kyrk, who lives in San Francisco and is also a pianist, dancer, and printmaker, has produced and published a series of computer animations of cell biology.
Partial Extent
0.4 Linear Feet
Partial Extent
783 drawings
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
William P. (Bill) Hersey and John Kyrk worked together as architectural illustrators from the early 1970s until Hersey's death in 1989. Based in California, the two traveled across the United States, often in a Volkswagen bus they operated as a mobile studio, producing contracted renderings for architects, firms, and developers. In addition to architectural drawings, the collection includes other visual material like travel sketches and botanical illustrations, fliers, rubbings, and wood engravings as well as manuscript ephemera such as diary snippets, printed parables, and poetry.
References to works by or about William Hersey and John Kyrk
- Bloomer, Kent C., and Charles W. Moore. Body, Memory, and Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977.
- Johnson, Eugene J., ed. Charles Moore: Buildings and Projects, 1949-1986. New York: Rizzoli, 1986.
- Kyrk, John. "Drawings for Architects." Accessed September 1, 2016. http://www.johnkyrk.com/architecture.html
- "Memorial: William Prescott Hersey '63," Princeton Alumni Weekly. Accessed September 1, 2016. https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/william-prescott-hersey-'63
- Phelps, Barton. "Bill Hersey (1940-1989)." L.A. Architect (June 1989): 4.
- Raven, Peter H., and Helena Curtis. Biology of Plants. New York: Worth Publishers, 1970.
- Sheppard, Nathan. "'To Design = To Draw = To Make Architecture'," Battle Hall Highlights (blog), The University of Texas at Austin Architecture and Planning Library, April 17, 2015. Accessed September 1, 2016. https://battlehall.lib.utexas.edu/2015/04/17/to-design-to-draw-to-make-architecture/
- Vannette, Anthony. "Tracking the Hersey and Kyrk VW Bus," Battle Hall Highlights (blog), The University of Texas at Austin Architecture and Planning Library, August 5, 2016. Accessed September 1, 2016. https://battlehall.lib.utexas.edu/2016/08/05/tracking-the-hersey-and-kyrk-vw-bus/
Processing Information
Processing is not completed. Please see Archives' staff for more information.
Collection Processors
Drawings processed by: Nathan Sheppard, spring 2015, and Anthony Vannette, spring and summer 2016
Papers processed by: Tim Kindseth, summer 2016
Subject
- Hersey, William P., 1940-1989 (contributor, Person)
- Kyrk, John, 1938 (contributor, Person)
- Moore, Charles Willard, 1925-1992 (contributor, Person)
- Stern, Robert A. M. (contributor, Person)
- Turnbull, William, Jr, 1935-1997 (contributor, Person)
- August Perez & Associates (contributor, Organization)
- Moore, Lyndon, Turnbull, and Whitaker (contributor, Organization)
- Moore, Ruble, Yudell, Architects & Planners (contributor, Organization)
- Princeton University. School of Architecture (contributor, Organization)
- University of California, Los Angeles. School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Urban Innovations Group (contributor, Organization)
- Yale University. School of Architecture (contributor, Organization)
Genre / Form
- Calendars
- Contract drawings
- Contract negotiations
- Design drawings
- Illustrations
- Letterpress works
- Pastels (Visual works)
- Relief prints
- Watercolors
- architectural drawings (visual works)
- correspondence
- manuscripts (documents)
- measured drawings
- renderings (drawings)
- travel sketches
Topical
- Title
- William Hersey and John Kyrk collection
- Author
- Finding aid created by Tim Kindseth
- Date
- 2016
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Alexander Architectural Archives Repository
University of Texas Libraries
101 E. 21st Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4621
apl-aaa@lib.utexas.edu