Paul Oppermann papers, 1926-1964.
Collection Number: 3161

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Paul Oppermann papers, 1926-1964.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
3161
Abstract:
Correspondence between Alfred Bettman and officials of the Federal Housing Administration; findings of committees; reports; legislative acts; proposals; agenda; proceedings of the Conference on City Planning Administration in Chicago; correspondence as Director of City Planning, City and County of San Francisco and of the Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission; speeches; and scrapbooks.
Creator:
Oppermann, Paul, 1903-1977.
Quanitities:
2 cubic feet.
Language:
Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

City planner and planning consultant.
In the 1940s, Oppermann advised on federal housing legislation as a planner for the Federal Housing Administration. He was planning director of San Francisco city and county from 1949-58, and was the first director of the Illinois planning agency, predecessor to the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission. He served as president of the American Institute of Planners and as assistant director of the American Society of Planning Officials. Oppermann lectured in metropolitan planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a member of the International Fraternity of Lambda Alpha, Ely Chapter.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Includes carbon typescripts of correspondence between Alfred Bettman and officials of the Federal Housing Administration, with copies directed to Oppermann; memoranda; findings of committees; reports and drafts; legislative acts; notes; proposals; agenda; studies; published proceedings of the Conference on City Planning Administration in Chicago, 1936; correspondence as Director of City Planning, City and County of San Francisco and as Director of the Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission; speeches, 1926-1964; and scrapbooks.

RELATED MATERIALS

Part of Lambda Alpha Literary Archives.

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:

Paul Oppermann Papers, #3161. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

SUBJECTS

Names:
Bettman, Alfred, 1873-1945.
United States. Federal Housing Administration
Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission
Lambda Alpha International. Ely Chapter
Conference on City Planning Administration (Location of meeting: Chicago). Date of meeting or treaty signing: (1936 :.)
Subjects:
City planners.
Housing policy.
Housing authorities.
City planning -- California -- San Francisco.
City planning -- Illinois.
City planning.

CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Box 1 Folder 1
Urban Redevelopment Law
1941
Scope and Contents
Correspondence on Program of the Committee on Housing and Blighted Areas, deteriorated districts, real estate assessment, causes of blight, population density, technological change, rapid transportation systems, land tenure and land use institutions, building codes, real estate mortgage system, loans and grants, public ownership of blight areas, interdependence of rural and urban economy. Includes Philip H. Cornick, Frederick Bigger, Frederic A. Delano, Earle Sumner Draper, National Resources Planning Board, Committee on Housing and Blighted Areas, National Association of Real Estate Boards.
Box 1 Folder 2, 3, 4
Urban Redevelopment Law
1942
Scope and Contents
Correspondence and drafts on Federal Agencies, U.S. Housing Act, terminology advantages and disadvantages of combination of existing agencies, City Realty Corporations, tax delinquency, Urban Redevelopment Corporations, amortizations, FHA staff activities, Decentralization study, urban population patterns, municipal fiscal instability, FHA policy limitations, planning agency, land acquisition agency, obsolete neighborhood demolition, municipal bonding, Decentralization study brochure, zoning and subdivision regulations, industry distribution patterns, essential elements for federal urban redevelopment legislation, community automony vs. federal control, Professor Hansen, planning stages, provisions of the new draft housing investment insurance. Includes Alfred Bettman, Frederick Bigger, Paul Oppermann, Herbert S. Colton, Earle Sumner Draper, Federal Agency of Urban Reconstruction and Development Committee to Examine and Report on Cornick's Decentralization Study, Federal Housing Administration, Department of Urban Affairs.
Box 1 Folder 5, 6
Urban Redevelopment Law
1943
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, reports, drafts on terminology, provisions of the Urban Redevelopment Act, federal agencies, district boundaries, development vs. redevelopment, program for city building and urban housing, city growth forecasts, Urban Land Institute Bill, population data use. Includes Herbert S. Colton, Alfred Bettman, Frederick Bigger, E. S. Draper, Alvin H. Hansen, Martin Myerson, National Housing Administration, Work Projects Administration, Federal Security Agency, American Society of Planning Officials.
Box 1 Folder 7
Urban Redevelopment Law
1944
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, reports on urban and regional planning technique, population planning, land use planning, circulatory planning, city functions, urban complex study. Includes Alvin H. Hansen, Charles S. Ascher, Communities Redevelopment Corporation.
Box 1 Folder 8
Bibliography of Collection Holdings
July 31, 1974
Box 1 Folder 8
American Institute of Planners. Committee on Education and Personnel Standards. Agenda for Discussion, Annual Meeting.
Jan. 22, 1943
Box 1 Folder 8
American Society of Planning Officials. Proceedings of the Conference on City Planning and Administration. Chicago, Ill.
1936
Box 1 Folder 8
Oppermann, Paul. "The Replanning and Rebuilding of Our Central Cities."
Sept. 11, 1952
Scope and Contents
Paper presented before City Planning Division, Centennial Conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Chicago, Ill.
Box 1 Folder 8
Oppermann, Paul. "A Planner's View of Express Highways." Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Dec. 3, 1947
Box 1 Folder 8
Oppermann, Paul. "Should Your Child be a City and Regional Planner?" Saturday Evening Post, pp. 44-45.
n.d.
Box 1 Folder 8
Oppermann, Paul. Progress Report Tri-Cities Planning Project. Report to the City Planning Commissions of Bristol, Johnson City, and Kingsport.
Feb. 12, 1942
Box 1 Folder 10
Letters from Bureau of Facilities, Federal Works, and re appointment as Director of Planning in San Francisco.
1930-1950
Box 1 Folder 11
Letters from Bureau of Facilities, Federal Works, and re appointment as Director of Planning in San Francisco.
1951-1955
Box 1 Folder 12
Primarily thank you notes as Director of the Department of City Planning.
1956
Box 1 Folder 13
Letters as Director of City Planning, San Francisco.
1956-1957
Box 1 Folder 14
Letters of congratulations re appointment to Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission.
1958
Box 1 Folder 15
Correspondence re appointment to Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission.
1958
Box 1 Folder 16
Letters as Executive Director of the Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission.
1958-1961
Box 1 Folder 17
Letter as Director of Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission.
1962-1963
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
1950-1954
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
1952-1958
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
1958-1959
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
1955-1963
Box 2 Folder 1
Certificates
Box 2 Folder 2
Clippings
Box 2 Folder 3
Photographs
Box 2 Folder 4
Speeches
1926-1936
Box 2 Folder 5
Speeches
1937
Box 2 Folder 6
Speeches
1938
Box 2 Folder 7
Speeches
1939
Box 2 Folder 8
Speeches
1940-1941
Box 2 Folder 9
Speeches
1942
Box 2 Folder 10
Speeches
1943-1944
Box 2 Folder 11
Speeches
1946
Box 2 Folder 12
Speeches
1947
Box 2 Folder 13
Speeches
1948
Box 2 Folder 14
Speeches
1949-1950
Box 2 Folder 15
Speeches
1951
Box 2 Folder 16
Speeches
1952
Box 2 Folder 17
Speeches
1953
Box 2 Folder 18
Speeches
1954
Box 2 Folder 19
Speeches
Feb. 1955 - June 1955
Box 2 Folder 20
Speeches
Sept. 1955 - Oct. 1955
Box 2 Folder 21
Speeches
Jan. 1956 - Mar. 1956
Box 2 Folder 22
Speeches
Apr. 1956 - Sept. 1956
Box 2 Folder 23
Speeches
Oct. 1956- Dec. 1956
Box 2 Folder 24
Speeches
Jan. 1958 - May 1958
Box 2 Folder 25
Speeches
June 1958 - Aug. 1958
Box 2 Folder 26
Speeches
Sept. 1958 - Dec. 1958
Box 2 Folder 27
Speeches
May 1959 - June 1959
Box 2 Folder 28
Speeches
Jan. 1959 - Feb. 1959
Box 2 Folder 29
Speeches
Mar. 1959 - Apr. 1959
Box 2 Folder 30
Speeches
July 1959 - Sept. 1959
Box 2 Folder 31
Speeches
Oct. 1959 - Dec. 1959
Box 2 Folder 32
Speeches
Jan. 1960 - May 1960
Box 2 Folder 33
Speeches
June 1960 - Dec. 1960
Box 2 Folder 34
Speeches
Jan. 1961 - Apr. 1961
Box 2 Folder 35
Speeches
June 1961 - Nov. 1961
Box 2 Folder 36
Speeches
Jan. 1962 - Mar. 1962
Box 2 Folder 37
Speeches
Apr. 1962 - June 1962
Box 2 Folder 38
Speeches
July 1962 - Sept. 1962
Box 2 Folder 39
Speeches
Oct. 1962 - Dec. 1962
Box 2 Folder 40
Speeches
Feb. 1963 - June 1963
Box 2 Folder 41
Speeches
July 1963 - Jan. 1964