Appearances
UPCOMING TALKS
Gray Brechin delivering a talk.Feb 26, 2021 “Ponderosa Way: Rediscovering the World’s Longest and Most Forgotten Fire Break in California”
Rumsey Map Center
3:15pm – 4:30pm
The David Rumsey Map Center will host Stephen Pyne and Gray Brechin at a virtual mini-symposium on fire, fire mapping and fire breaks. The speakers will discuss American fire history and policy from the late 19th century to the present, as well as the importance of the Ponderosa Way fire break as a prototype for slowing and stopping fires. Register
May 1, 2020 “New Deal Contributions to Marin and Sonoma Counties”
Ross Valley Historical Society
Details being finalized
Nov 6, 2020 “New Deal North Bay”
Ross Valley Historical Society 'First Friday Forenoon'
11:00am
Registration: moya-rhs.org
President Franklin Roosevelt intended his work relief agencies to extricate the U.S. from the Great Depression but their public works also catapulted the nation into the mid twentieth century while improving the lives of millions and generations to follow.
This is a free presentation, but you must register here.
May 1, 2020 “New Deal Contributions to Marin and Sonoma Counties”
Ross Valley Historical Society
Details being finalized
March 24, 2020 “Megafollies Past, Present, and Future” for UCB College of Environmental Design Archives
6:30pm-8:00pm
112 Wurster Hall
U.C. Berkeley
Ephemeral archival documents reveal a plethora of zany proposals once touted as inevitable and necessary progress to keep the Bay Area growing and prosperous. Many were defeated by citizen activism, yet growth continued anyway. Have planners and architects learned from a past of which few seem aware even as the world we’ve known becomes another one? More info
March 14, 2020 'A Renaissance of the Arts & Crafts: Herbert Maier Promotes “Parkitecture” During the Great Depression'
2:45–4:15
Swedenborgian Church
2107 Lyon Street at Washington Street
San Francisco
The economic catastrophe of the last great depression allowed U.C. graduate Herbert Maier to revive a stylistic tradition in the national, state, and regional parks that had largely winked out twenty years earlier. As much therapy for those who built them as style, these rustic expressions of the Arts & Crafts Movement still grace our parks, although their continued existence — like everything else — is now endangered by negligence and climate change.
Feb 22, 2020 “Life and Era of Washington” A talk for the College of Environmental Design Archives
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
San Francisco
A community discussion with Native American leaders of the controversy surrounding the WPA murals at George Washington High School (Livestreamed)
December 13, 2019 “John Ruskin: 19th Century Visionary, 21st Century Inspiration”
8:30-5:30Rothenberg Hall
Huntington Library & Art Gallery
San Marino, CA
Gray Brechin will talk on Ruskin’s influence on the New Deal (huntington.org/john-ruskin)
November 22, 2019 “Imperial San Francisco At 20: More Relevant Than Ever”
12:00 noon
Mechanics Institute
When U.C. Press published ISF in 1999, it spent 16 weeks on the Chronicle’s best-seller list and has never gone out of publication. Now considered a classic of urban studies, it uses San Francisco as an example of how all great cities wreck the hinterlands upon which they depend for the sake of those who own and run them, especially — in the modern world — the “thought-shapers” who control the mass media. Author Gray Brechin will revisit its thesis in light of the self-inflicted crises that today confront the world’s cities in light of climate chaos, wealth inequality, and human overpopulation.
November 18, 2019 “The Lost Ethical Language of New Deal Public Works in the Context of Security”
1-2 PM
Jackson Theater
Ohlone Community College, Fremont
November 8, 2019 “The Waterboys: O’Shaughnessy, Mulholland, and the Delivery of ‘Liquid Gold’ with Gray Brechin and Myles Dungan”
2:30-3:30
Mechanics’ Institute
One of California’s leading historians and activists, Gray Brechin (Imperial San Francisco) on the controversial Hetch Hetchy dam project and its motive force, Irish engineer Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy - and Myles Dungan (How the Irish Won the West) on the parallel and equally divisive drive of Dubliner William Mulholland to bring vital supplies of water to Los Angeles. Learn More
November 6, 2019 “Celebrating the East Bay Regional Park District’s 85th Anniversary: Honoring Our Founders”
6 PM
Environmental Education Center
Tilden Regional Park
Gray Brechin will talk about architect Herbert Maier and the CCC contributions to our national, state, and regional parks systems.
October 17, 2019 “Party to Preserve the Murals at Specs' Bar”
5:30-8:30 pm
October 17, 2019
Sponsored by The Living New Deal & Coalition to Protect Public Art.
May 21, 2019 “New Deal Public Works as a Model for the Green New Deal”
Montclair Presbyterian Church
Metropolitan-Greater Oakland Democratic Club
May 13, 2019 “Conversations About Landscape: Deal or No (Green New) Deal?”
6:00–8:30 p.m.
Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery
Free, RSVP required. Email reserve@exploratorium.edu, or call 415.528.4444 and choose option 5.
The Green New Deal calls for eliminating fossil fuels and switching to renewable energy sources within a decade—a large-scale investment in jobs, infrastructure, and technology. Is this plan ambitious and achievable…or not economically or technically feasible? Are there precedents in American history that can shed light on this debate? What will it take to decarbonize our energy economy and address climate change? Join us in a discussion about how the United States has confronted grand challenges both past and present.
Learn More
May 10, 2019 “Rediscovering Architect Herbert Maier: A New Deal Renaissance of Arts & Crafts Architecture in the National Parks”
Discover how and where the Sierra Club’s Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center fits into “Rustic Architecture.” The return of a great historic program.
Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center - Programs 2019, Yosemite Valley
Interpretive Programs are held in the YCHC, Shuttle Bus Stop #12. Free and open to the public, all programs are limited to 50 guests, due to NPS restrictions and space limitations. No advanced tickets are available. Tickets are distributed at 7:15 pm on the evening of the program. Doors open at 7:45 pm.
Learn More
May 7, 2019 "A New Deal for New York City"
The symposium will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, in Manhattan. The event is free and open to the public, but is now over-subscribed. Author Kevin Baker will deliver the keynote on what New Deal programs did for NYC and the U.S. and how they can serve as models for a Green New Deal. Gray Brechin will be on a panel of discussants.
SOLD OUT
October 10, 2018 "The Lost Ethical Language of New Deal Public Works"
OLLI class in Berkeley
Learn More
October 2, 2018 "The New Deal and Labor"
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
A talk for Fred Glass’s CCSF Labor History class
City College of San Francisco
Mission District campus
September 15, 2018 "Bringing the giant WPA relief model of San Francisco back to life"
Details to be announced
Public Knowledge @ SF MoMA
Learn More
September 12, 2018 The Cal Stadium, "A Monumental Memorial to Denial"
7:00 pm – 9:15 pm
California Studies Dinner Seminar
2521 Channing Street
Berkeley, CA
Learn More
September 9, 2018 "Storms, Droughts, Floods: Classic Documentaries"
Gray Brechin will be providing commentary on two great New Deal films
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Koret Auditoriaum
San Francisco Main Public Library
Learn More
August 1, 2018 "First Wednesday: Recovering from The Depression with Dr. Gray Brechin"
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Creekside Room
Mill Valley Public Library
375 Throckmorton Ave.
Mill Valley, CA 94941
Learn More
May 8, 2018 "Recovering from the Depression: How President Roosevelt's New Deal Catapulted Sonoma County into the 20th Century and our Retreat to the 19th"
6:00 pm
Free to the public
Roxy Stadium 14
85 Santa Rosa Avenue
Santa Rosa
Reserve Tickets
April 26, 2018 "SFMOMA Public Knowledge Talk: Reimagining the City "
6:00 pm
Free to the public
Floor 2, Koret Education Center
Learn More
June 2, 2017 "Rediscovering Architect Herbert Maier: A New Deal Renaissance of the Arts & Crafts Architecture in the National Parks"
8:00 pm
Yosemite Conservation Center (LeConte Memorial Lodge)
Yosemite Valley
May 18, 2017 "Revisiting New York’s New Deal" (with Professor Mason Williams and Curator Sarah Seidman)
6:30 pm
Museum of the City of New York
New York City
April 28, 2017 "Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin" (Cultural & Historical Awareness Program)
7:00 pm
Porterville College
Porterville
April 12, 2017 "The Living New Deal and Its Impact on Marin"
8:00 am
Corte Madera Rotary
Corte Madera
March 21, 2017 "Sending the Overhead Downstream: Hydraulic Mining and the Oroville Dam Disaster on California’s Feather River"
4:00 pm
Department of Geography and Earth Sciences
Aberystwyth University
Wales
September 7, 2016 “Recovering from the Depression: The Enormous and Invisible Legacy of New Deal Public Works in Sonoma County and Beyond"
6:00 pmForum Room, Central Library, 211 E. Street, Santa Rosa, CA (further information)
October 27, 2015 “Living New Deal"
Frank L. Klement Lecture, Milwaukee, Marquette UniversityAugust 24, 2015 "The Art & Architecture of the New Deal in San Francisco"
6:00 pm
In the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised the American people a “New Deal.” Over the decade 1933-43, a constellation of federally sponsored programs put millions of jobless Americans back to work and helped to revive a moribund economy. The result was a rich landscape of public works across the nation, often of outstanding beauty, utility and craftsmanship.
The Living New Deal is a UC Berkeley-based initiative dedicated to inventorying and mapping these works. It has created a guide to the Art and Architecture of the New Deal in San Francisco, a pocket map and guide to 18 spectacular New Deal sites in the city. Join us and geographer Gray Brechin as he discusses the impact of the New Deal on San Francisco and introduces the new map. Registration and further information.
July 23, 2015 "PPIE Citywide Celebration at Mechanics’ Instituter"
6:00 pm
The Grand Design: PPIE and the “City Within A City” - Panel discussion moderated by Laura A. Ackley, author of San Francisco’s Jewel City: The Pan Pacific Exposition of 1915, with Gray Brechin, Kerry Laitala, Therese Poletti and Christopher VerPlanck .
Architectural historians, writers, and artists will discuss the collaboration of Edward Bennett and the Exposition’s architectural committee whose vision of the Block Plan manifested the design of the PPIE. Innovation, fantasy and technology created this “city within a city” which included great architecture, urban design, and leaps of the imagination. The influences of this model city on San Francisco’s development will be brought into perspective.
July 22, 2015 “In the Age of Smart Growth, a Look Back at the 1915 Hegemann Plan for Berkeley”
Hillside Club, Berkeley 7:30 PM
Conventional orthodoxy—often referred to as “Smart Growth”—says that in order to achieve urban “vibrancy,” communities should fill their downtowns with high-rise residential towers and line their arterial streets with mid-rise, wall-to-wall apartment buildings above ground-floor commercial spaces. Can Berkeley’s city planning history show another way? Berkeley is one of the most densely populated cities in the United States with more than 10,000 residents per square mile, but has achieved this with: most buildings rising only one to three stories and surrounded by actual (not polemical) “green”: low rise but successful commercial avenues: sunlight, air, and views widely available, not just for the wealthy.
Join us on June 24 and July 22 for a two-part discussion of how Berkeley got to this point, and where we might go next. Against the backdrop of early Hillside Club efforts to maintain and enhance the natural beauty of the Berkeley hillside, we will look at Berkeley’s planning past, including the largely forgotten “Hegemann Plan” of 1913-15 which recommended a waterfront park, development of a civic center, and many farsighted neighborhood improvements for Berkeley and Oakland. The discussion leader on June 24 will be Steven Finacom, past president of the Berkeley Historical Society and a frequent writer on local history and preservation issues. At the July 22 Round Table the topic will continue, with noted author and geographer Gray Brechin as discussion leader.
Participants are encouraged to take an advance look at the Hegemann plan and the related Burnham plan for San Francisco. Go to Google Books online and search for “Hegemann plan, formerly titled “Report on a City Plan for the Municipalities of Oakland and Berkeley;” it should be one of the first links to appear. Additionally, google Burnham Plan San Francisco” for short articles on this 1905 project. Short online readings on the “Garden City” and City Beautiful” planning movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that are relevant to the development of the Burnham and Hegemann plans can be found here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_city_movement, xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/citybeautiful/city.html
July 19, 2015 "Building Bridges and Labor Maritime History Boat Tour"
With members of the Committee to Save the Berkeley Post Office
5:45 pm boarding, 6:00 pm departure (see below)
San Francisco, Pier 41—left of Pier 39 near outside ticket booth
Join LaborFest again this year when the ILWU-IBU/MMP crew takes us out on the bay to enjoy the beauty of the San Francisco Bay. We will learn about the San Francisco General Strike, Maritime Strike, how unions built the bridges and how they keep the bay clean. We honor the workers who built the bridges.
Labor process photographer Joseph Blum will talk about the building of the new Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge. Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith will talk about the history of the WPA and how it has shaped the Bay Area. There will be speakers about ongoing union struggles for worker rights and what we can do to support these workers. We will also have labor music from the US and around the world including Chinese migrant workers musicians.
You can’t afford to miss this great time on the bay.
Boat leaves promptly at 6:00 pm.
Please arrive 30 minutes before the departure time. Tour lasts 3 hours.
A complimentary meal will be provided, however, if you are on a special diet, please bring your own food.
(Sorry, we do not take any special orders for food.)
To make your reservation:
By E-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net
Or call: (415) 642-8066
and leave (1) your name, (2) phone number and (3)number of people in your party. (We prefer e-mail.)
We will contact you to confirm your reservation. Then, you should mail a check ($45/person, children under 6 - free, 6 to 12 $25) to LaborFest, P.O.Box 40983, San Francisco, CA 94140.
We don’t send out tickets, but we will either e-mail or call you back to let you know that we received your check, and as soon as we receive your check, your reservation will be confirmed. You will get your ticket at the pier before you get on the boat.
We will be gathering to the left of Pier 39, toward Pier 41 (Blue & Gold Fleet). Please be there at least 30 minutes before departure time in order to go through paper work. We expect the tickets to be sold out quickly, so please make your reservation early.
July 13, 2015 "A Victory in the Fight to Save Our Historic Post Offices"
With members of the Committee to Save the Berkeley Post Office
7:00 pm (Free)
San Francisco, Canessa Gallery
708 Montgomery Street
The U.S. Postal Service, now headed by those favoring privatization, is closing and selling off many post offices listed on the National Register of Historic Places, reducing postal services and cutting public sector union jobs. Many of these historic post offices have murals and art created during the New Deal. The City of Berkeley, however, prevailed in federal court saving the historic post office building and setting a precedent for others. The case promises to save union jobs by requiring the USPS to follow the law. Come hear the story of how a spirited group of Berkeley residents set a national precedent.
Citizens to Save the Berkeley Post Office fought for their historic building and art for three years. They made the nation aware of the issue with articles in the New York Times, theWashington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
For information: harveysmithberkeley@yahoo.com or call 510-684-0414
July 12, 2015 "New Deal Bus Tour for LaborFest"
WPA Bus Tour
With Gray Brechin & Harvey Smith
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Join Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith as they travel through history on a bus tour of sites built by the New Deal’s “alphabet soup” agencies. You will learn about the major contribution government-paid workers made during the depression era New Deal programs. Gray and Harvey will discuss the art, architecture and social programs that effectively dealt with the period’s economic meltdown in contrast with today’s response. Please be aware that the tour will take about 5 hours depending on the traffic and the discussions.
Meet in front of Bill Graham Auditorium, between City Hall and the Main Library (99 Grove, SF Civic Center).
Reservation required:
Send e-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net or call: (415) 642-8066, and leave your name, number of reservations and phone number (this is to let you know that we have space for your reservation and contact you in case of any changes.)
Make reservation, then send check ($25/person) to: LaborFest, P.O. Box 40983, SF, CA 94140
Please bring your own lunch. For those who can’t bring one, we will have sandwiches and drinks on the bus for a small cost. Bus will return to Civic Center.
Tour lasts about 5 hours.
July 2, 2015 "Birth of the United Nations”
San Francisco, Main Library 6:00 – 7:00June 25, 2015 “Follow the Money: That Happened to the Comstock Lode Fortunes?”
Carson City, Nevada State Museum 6:30 – 7:30
June 24, 2015 “In the Age of Smart Growth, a Look Back at the 1915 Hegemann Plan for Berkeley”
Hillside Club, Berkeley 7:30 PM
Conventional orthodoxy—often referred to as “Smart Growth”—says that in order to achieve urban “vibrancy,” communities should fill their downtowns with high-rise residential towers and line their arterial streets with mid-rise, wall-to-wall apartment buildings above ground-floor commercial spaces. Can Berkeley’s city planning history show another way? Berkeley is one of the most densely populated cities in the United States with more than 10,000 residents per square mile, but has achieved this with: most buildings rising only one to three stories and surrounded by actual (not polemical) “green”: low rise but successful commercial avenues: sunlight, air, and views widely available, not just for the wealthy.
Join us on June 24 and July 22 for a two-part discussion of how Berkeley got to this point, and where we might go next. Against the backdrop of early Hillside Club efforts to maintain and enhance the natural beauty of the Berkeley hillside, we will look at Berkeley’s planning past, including the largely forgotten “Hegemann Plan” of 1913-15 which recommended a waterfront park, development of a civic center, and many farsighted neighborhood improvements for Berkeley and Oakland. The discussion leader on June 24 will be Steven Finacom, past president of the Berkeley Historical Society and a frequent writer on local history and preservation issues. At the July 22 Round Table the topic will continue, with noted author and geographer Gray Brechin as discussion leader.
Participants are encouraged to take an advance look at the Hegemann plan and the related Burnham plan for San Francisco. Go to Google Books online and search for “Hegemann plan, formerly titled “Report on a City Plan for the Municipalities of Oakland and Berkeley;” it should be one of the first links to appear. Additionally, google Burnham Plan San Francisco” for short articles on this 1905 project. Short online readings on the “Garden City” and City Beautiful” planning movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that are relevant to the development of the Burnham and Hegemann plans can be found here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_city_movement, xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/citybeautiful/city.html
June 8, 2015 “New Deal Oakland — and Beyond”
Talk for docents, Oakland Museum of CaliforniaMay 7, 2015 Reception for rollout of New Deal San Francisco map
San Francisco, California Historical SocietyMay 1, 2015 Tour of Coit Tower murals for continued learning class
Coit Tower, San FranciscoApril 23, 2015 “The Living New Deal: Excavating a Civilization Worthy of the Name”
Preserving Historic Places: Indiana’s Statewide Preservation ConferenceKokomo, Indiana 3 PM
March 30, 2015 Recipient of Oscar Lewis Prize for outstanding contributions to Western history
San Francisco, Book Club of CaliforniaNovember 15, 2014 “Ruskin’s Influence on the New Deal”
Keynote address, Guild of St. George annual Fellowship, Sheffield, UKOctober 16, 2014 “Recovering from Depression: The New Deal’s Contributions to San Francisco"
San Francisco Art Institute800 Chesnut Street, San Francisco
August 17, 2014 “That Morning in the Far West: The Reverend Joseph Worcester's Bay Area Circle presented by Dr. Gray Brechin"
5 PM, Swedenborgian Church, 2107 Lyon Street (at Washington), San FranciscoJuly 21, 2014 “The Selloff of Historic Post Offices and New Deal Art”
National Association of Letter Carriers convention, PhiladelphiaJuly 8, 2014 “The Living New Deal”
Lunch talk for Mill Valley Rotary ClubMay 31, 2014 “The Rev. Joseph Worcester’s Circle at San Francisco’s Swedenborgian Church”
Talk for daylong symposium Helping in the Work of Creation: Ruskin and Morris Today atHillside Club, Berkeley
April 25, 2014 “How Good are Post Office Presrvation Covenants?”
California Preservation Foundation conference, AsilomarApril 18 , 2014 “The Living New Deal”
History Forum, CSU Bakersfield, 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.March 21, 2014 “The Living New Deal”
Moral-Ethical & Legal Issues Roundtable at College of MarinMarch 20, 2014 “The Living New Deal”
Lunch talk for San Rafael Rotary ClubMarch 14, 2014 “Geology and Genealogy”
A walking tour of downtown San Francisco for the American Society for Environmental HistoryMarch 7, 2014 “Ruin in Progress: How Its Buildings Reflect the University’s Changing Mission”
5 PM, 315 Wheeler Hall (Maud Fife Room)U.C. Berkeley campus
March 4, 2014 Commentary on new book of Peder and Jane Sather’s contributions to U.C. with Dean Carla Hesse and author Karin Sveen
5:30, Durant Hall atriumMarch 1, 2014 “On the Ropes: The WPA at the Treasure Island World’s Fair”
Selected Past appearances:
2014
October 16, 2014 “Recovering from Depression: The New Deal’s Contributions to San Francisco"
Dr. Gray Brechin will delve into the history of San Francisco’s Depression-era architecture and public art, including iconic places such as Coit Tower, the Mother’s Building, and Aquatic Park. Presented in partnership with the Living New Deal.
San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chesnut Street, San Francisco
August 17, 2014 “That Morning in the Far West: The Reverend Joseph Worcester's Bay Area Circle presented by Dr. Gray Brechin"
The major key of the Anglo conquest of the West was a reckless conversion of its natural resources into legendary fortunes, but a few envisioned possibilities in its landscape and climate for intellectual and spiritual expansion available nowhere else. Chief among them was Swedenborgian minister Joseph Worcester whose charismatic personality attracted a circle of designers whose creations continue to influence thought and lifestyle in California long after Worcester's death.
Dr. Gray Brechin is a historical geographer and author of the popular book on urban studies, Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. Closely associated with the University of California at Berkeley for the past forty years, he currently serves as a visiting scholar in the department of geography and project scholar of California's Living New Deal.
5 PM, Swedenborgian Church, 2107 Lyon Street (at Washington)
San Francisco
March 14, 2014 “Geology and Genealogy”
A walking tour of downtown San Francisco for the American Society for Environmental HistoryMarch 7, 2014 “Ruin in Progress: How Its Buildings Reflect the University’s Changing Mission”
5 PM, 315 Wheeler Hall (Maud Fife Room)U.C. Berkeley campus
March 4, 2014 Commentary on new book of Peder and Jane Sather’s contributions to U.C. with Dean Carla Hesse
5:30, Durant Hall atriumMarch 1, 2014 “On the Ropes: The WPA at the Treasure Island World’s Fair”
San Francisco History Fair, Old Mint, 3 PMFebruary 12, 2014 Talk for UC art history class on New Deal art projects
Februrary 12, 2014 "The Two Hearst Plans for U.C."
Lunch talk for Century Club, San Francsico
2013
May 13 A Monumental Act of Revenge: The Two Hearst Plans for U.C. Berkeley
Disney Family Museum, SF Presidio
April 13 Excavating the New Deal -- In Archives and in the Field
Keynote speaker for Society of California Archivists conference, Berkeley, CA
April 12 'The Greatest of These is Charity:' The Lost Ethical Language of New Deal Public Works
American Association of Geographers Convention, Los Angeles (A paper read by Rachel Brahinsky because of unexpected surgery)
2012
September 13 Rediscovering the New Deal — In Libraries and in the Field
Berkeley City Club
June 21A New Deal for Los Angeles: David Kipen and Gray Brechin in conversation
Los Angeles Central Library's Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
February 28 Time in the Palace: Bernard Maybeck’s Palace of Fine Arts in Context
Celebrating the 150th Year of Bay Area Architect Bernard Maybeck
Sponsored by the INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE & ART,
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER
2011
October 28 Development of California and Australia Water Systems
Australian International Council on Monuments and Sites (AICOMOS), Melbourne, Australia
November 10 Development of California and Australia Water Systems
Australian International Council on Monuments and Sites (AICOMOS),
Sydney, Australia
November 11 A Dazzling Range of Styles: The Public Architecture of the New Deal in the United States
Australian Institute of Architects, Sydney, Australia
September 15 Imperial San Francisco talk for Olympic Club Book Club
Private event
July 23 The California Living New Deal
Focusing on New Deal work in and around Long Beach.
July 16 New Deal bus tour of San Francisco for LaborFest
Start at Double Play Restaurant, 16th & Bryant Streets.
July 11 The Lost Ethical Language of New Deal Public Works
San Francisco State University
July 8 The California Living New Deal
Piedmont Gardens, Oakland
July 7 The Unremitting War on Labor and History: The Trial of Anton Refregier's Murals at Rincon Annex to the Censorship of the Maine Labor Murals Today
Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center Street, Berkeley
Apr 7 Standing in the Ruins of What We Built: New Deal Expansion of Public Education During the Great Depression and Its Contraction Today
Conference: 1935: The Reality and the Promise. Hofstra Cultural Center, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
Feb 26 Overcoming Depression: The Need for a National New Deal Inventory
Guest lecture for docents of USS Potomac
Feb 22 Climbing Out of Depression: New Deal Contributions to San Francisco and the Bay Area
San Francisco History Association, St. Philip's Church, 725 Diamond Street, San Francisco.
Feb 18 Another World Was Possible: What Enlightened Government Can Do
The Mendocino Coast: An Eco-Communitarian Conference, at the Caspar Community Center, Caspar, California.
2010
Nov 8 Mining’s Toxic Legacy in the Sierra Nevada
Nevada City, California — Mr. Brechin will speak during the first-ever public conference on how to address the ongoing human health, environmental and cultural impacts of over a century of mining in the Sierra Nevada.
Oct 24 1935 and the Enduring New Deal: A Public Forum on the 75th Anniversary of the WPA and Rural Electrification Agency
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York — In honor of the 75th anniversary of the enactment of the Social Security Act, the Works Progress Administration, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Rural Electrification Administration, the FDR Presidential Library and Museum and the Roosevelt Institute present “1935 and the Enduring New Deal,” a series of free public forums in the fall of 2010.
Sept. 27 Forming the Modern City: Gold Rush, Beaux Arts, and the Panama Pacific Exposition
American Institute of Architects San Francisco — San Francisco is often described as an instant city because of its abrupt birth with the Gold Rush. But like other U.S. cities, its architecture and layout have reflected to international fashions over time. Geographer Gray Brechin will examine how it did so, what keeps it unique among world cities, and how the Panama-Pacific International Exposition served as the apotheosis of its leaders' dreams of dominating the Pacific Basin and surpassing New York City in the process.
Sep 18 Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio Interview
Gray Brechin is interviewed about his book, Imperial San Francisco: is San Francisco as bohemian as it seems?
July 24 Coit Tower Mural Walk
Dozens of artists were hired by the Civil Works Administration to decorate the public spaces and staircase of the new Coit Tower at the time of the San Francisco General Strike. Gray Brechin and Peter Driscoll will show how those artists left colorful vignettes of city and country life at that time as well as pushing the envelope of what was politically acceptable in publicly financed art.
July 22 Another World Was Possible: New Deal Expansion of Public Education During the Great Depression, and Its Contraction Now
We have been living for 75 years on the long-term investment in the future made by the Roosevelt administration in times harder than ours. Berkeley City Auditorium, 2050 Center Street, Berkeley.
July 18 Laborfest Bay Boat Tour
A three-hour narrated tour of labor on and around SF Bay, including work on the new Bay Bridge span.
July 17 New Deal Bus Tour
Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith will give their annual day-long bus tour of New Deal sites in San Francisco.
July 15 Mechanics’ Institute Building Centennial Celebration
A day-long series of evnts celebrating one of the last remaining Mechanics’ Institutes, still going strong in San Francisco. Gray Brechin will moderate a panel discussion on the rebuilding of the city after the 1906 fire at 6 PM. Visit www.milibrary.org for schedule of events.
July 10 Opening Reception: Art and Labor
As part of July’s LaborFest, Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith will talk about New Deal art projects in Northern California at a new exhibition of labor art. Expressions Art Gallery, 2035 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley
Apr 13 Against the Grain: KPFA-FM Radio Interview
Gray Brechin contrasts the New Deal’s energetic commitment to education with current efforts to eviscerate public education. And Ross Eisenbrey describes how unpaid interns are used and abused in the private sector.
Apr 9 New Deal Contributions to Public Education
Oregon State University, Corvallis.
Apr 8 Imperial San Francisco
Eugene, Oregon: Lane Community College, Lane County Museum, and University of Oregon.
Apr 7 New Deal Contributions to Public Education
Willamette University, Salem, Oregon.
Apr 6 San Francisco & Empire
Portland State University, Oregon.
Mar 9 Against the Grain: KPFA-FM Radio Interview
Gray Brechin contrasts the government's extraordinary commitment to education during the New Deal with current efforts to eviscerate public education.
2009
Oct 24 Moderating panel: Urban Cultural Landscapes Boomed and Busted
California Council for the Promotion of History conference, Monterey, California
Oct 24 Introduction to San Francisco
American Academy of Ophthalmologists (not open to the public)
Sep 29 California’s Living New Deal
“Soul of a People” conference, San Jose State University, California
Sep 16 Sowing vs. Eating Our Seed Corn: The Expansion of Public Education During the Great Depression Compared to the Schwarzenegger/Yudof Trajectory Today
McCone Hall, U.C. Berkeley Campus. All units of California’s once model public education system are undergoing an unprecedented contraction in response to the most severe recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. California’s Living New Deal has discovered that during the latter crisis, however, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal did precisely the opposite, expanding public education in all of its manifestations from schools to libraries, museums, and teaching hospitals. That expansion did much to end the Depression and has benefitted unwitting generations for over seventy years. What has changed?Aug 9 California’s Living New Deal
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, Berkeley, California
July 19 California’s Living New Deal
American Association of State Colleges and Universities conference, La Jolla, California
July 12 New Deal Bus Tour for LaborFest with Harvey Smith
More info: LaborFest 2009 Schedule
July 7 Jobs for Artists! Building Momentum for a New Deal for the Arts in the 21st Century
Audre Lorde Room, Women's Building, San Francisco. Cosponsored by the CCSF Department of Labor and Community Studies Program and the Center for Political Education.
In the 1930s, the "New Deal" Works Progress Administration created jobs for tens of thousands of artists and writers, including authors such as John Cheever, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, radio journalist Studs Terkel, and painters like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Rockwell Kent. In the 1970s, the CETA program funded artist-organizers who helped create the Cultural Centers that now exist in San Francisco's neighborhoods. Today a new movement is emerging to promote a 21st century New Deal for the arts. Jobs for Artists! will feature a panel discussion on the rich legacy of federal jobs programs for artists and writers, and build support for a larger effort timed with the 75th anniversary of the WPA in 2010. Featuring WPA historian Gray Brechin, cultural journalist Jeff Chang, and Arlene Goldbard, organizer of a May 2009 White House briefing on federal arts funding. With short readings and original performances by local poets honoring the great work of WPA-sponsored artists and writers.
About the speakers:Gray Brechin is a Research Fellow for the Living New Deal of the Department of Geography at UC Berkeley, and the author of Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin.
Jeff Chang is the author of Can't Stop Won't Stop, A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. His recent article in The Nation, "The Creativity Stimulus" described the importance of public culture to social change.
Arlene Goldbard is a writer, speaker and consultant currently based in Berkeley. Information about her latest book, New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development and other writings is available at www.arlenegoldbard.com.
July 2 The History of Public Funding and the Arts — The Legacy of the New Deal
Gray Brechin moderating. California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco
Jun 20 Day-long Symposium on World’s Fairs
Sponsored by Historic Seattle
Apr 23 PM San Francisco and the New Deal
San Francisco Natural History Group. Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, San Francisco
Apr 2 Historic Causes and Responses to Homelessness in America
Panel discussion. California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco
Apr 1 From Riches to Rags: Hollywood and the New Deal
Series begins. Gray Brechin will narrate Gabriel Over the White House (1933) Apr 15. Pacific Film Archives,
Hearst Annex,
U.C. Berkeley
Mar 21 California’s Living New Deal
Friends of the Eastern California Museum Annual Meeting.
Owens Valley High School Mulit-Purpose Room,
Independence, California
Mar 16 Will We Miss the Chronicle?
Panel discussion. Graduate School of Journalism, North Gate Hall, U.C. BerkeleyMar 4 Urban Parasitism: The Case of Imperial San Francisco’s Impact on the Pacific Basin
U.C. Davis Geography Group Distinguished Speakers Series on The History of California's Landscapes
2008
Oct 21 The Indispensable New Deal
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Oct 16 Reviving the New Deal: A Time When Government Helped the People
A conference at San Francisco City College.
Sep 24 Progress Report on the California Living New Deal
California History Dinner, Institute for Research on Labor & Employment
July 29 WPA-PWA Bus Tour With Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith
Join Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith as they travel through history on a bus tour of historic sites built by New Deal labor. You will learn about the major contribution workers made during the Depression era in San Francisco. The tour is sponsored by LaborFest.
July 15 The New Deal in San Francisco’s Sunset District
West Portal Branch Library (WPA-built), 160 Lenox Way, San Francisco
Jun 27 Lessons of the Living New Deal for New York City
New York Society for Ethical Culture, New York City
Jun 21 The California Living New Deal
Keynote at annual Roosevelt Reading Festival, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, NY
Jun 12 The New Deal in San Francisco
Koret Auditorium, Main Library, San Francisco
Jun 9 Adolph Sutro’s Tunnel to the Comstock Lode
Luncheon address for American Tunneling Association convention, Hyatt Regency Hotel, San Francisco
May 14 Bus tour of New Deal sites in East Bay and San Francisco
Oakland Museum History Guild, CA
Apr 11 What the New Deal Has to Teach Us
California Federation of Teachers convention,
Oakland Marriott Hotel, CA
Feb 29 War, Nuclear Power, and the Environment: Past and Future
In discussion with Norman Solomon and Mark Dowie, The Dance Palace, Point Reyes Station, CA
Feb 25 The Living New Deal
With tour of PWA-built campus between talks. Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA
Feb 10 Last of the Gilded Age Fairs: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition
The Flagler Museum,
West Palm Beach, Florida | View this lecture online (audio with slides)
2007
Dec 13 The Living New Deal in the East Bay
Oakland Heritage Alliance lecture series, Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland, CANov 2 In conversation with Dr. Christopher Breiseth on the relevance of the New Deal today
Dr. Breiseth is the President and CEO of the Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Ceremonial Hall, New York Society for Ethical Culture, New York City
Nov 1 In conversation with Professors Neil Smith and David Harvey on the Living New Deal
Graduate Center, City University of New York
Oct 31 The Living New Deal
Lecture for Professor Harvey Molotch class at New York University, New York City
Oct 30 The Living New Deal
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Lecture for Professor Andy Lamas class, “Community and Economic Development”
Oct 29 The Living New Deal: Excavating the Public Landscape of the Great Depression
University Seminar On The City, Faculty House, Columbia University, NYC
Oct 25 The Living New Deal, with Harvey Smith
Oral History Association Annual Meeting, Oakland, CA
Oct 26 The Living New Deal Three Years On
California Council for the Promotion of History Annual Meeting, Embassy Suites, Arcadia, CA
May 31 The Living New Deal
Alameda History Museum, Alameda, CA
May 23 Against the Grain
Acclaimed analyst and author Chalmers Johnson talks with Gray Brechin about Johnson's new book Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.
Apr 28 The Living New Deal
Keynote address, California Studies Conference, Berkeley City College, Berkeley, CA
Apr 9 Living With Nature: The Hillside Club's Role in the Design of Berkeley
Berkeley Public Library Main Branch
Mar 20 The Living New Deal
College of Environmental Design, U.C. Berkeley
Mar 14 The Living New Deal
University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada
Mar 7 Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic
A conversation with Chalmers Johnson about his new book of that title, King Middle School Auditorium, Berkeley, CA
Mar 3 On the Edge of the Western World
Fundraising event for Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association at "Wildwood" in Piedmont, CA, the Maybeck-designed Frank C. Havens estate
Feb 6 The Living New Deal
Keynote address, CalTrans Cultural Workers Conference, Asilomar, CA
2006
Nov 5 The Road to Serendip: Adventures as a Bancroft Library Fellow
Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
Oct 22 Memorial address for Willa Baum
Doe Library Morrison Room, U.C. Berkeley, CA
Oct 17 The Living New Deal
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
Sep 16 Megafollies
Alameda Forum, Alameda, CA
Aug 16 The Diaspora of Fortunes and Technology from Nevada City
Keynote address, 150th Birthday of the National Hotel, Nevada City, CA
Jun 10 Excavating the Public Landscape of the New Deal in Marin
Point Reyes Dance Palace Fundraising Event, The Dance Palace, Point Reyes Station, CA
May 8 Excavating the Public Landscape of the New Deal in Berkeley
Vista College and Berkeley Public Library talk, Main Branch, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Apr 19 The City, The Mine, The Battlefield: Toward an Explanation for Urban Imperialism
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Mar 29 The New Deal Contribution to California’s Infrastructure
Society for Industrial Archaeology monthly meeting, Spenger’s Fish Grotto, Berkeley, CA
Mar 18 Excavating the Public Landscape: The New Deal Legacy Project
Keynote address, Sonoma County Historical Society Annual Banquet, Fountaingrove Golf & Athletic Club, Santa Rosa, CA
Mar 10 Learning from 1906, and from the New Deal
Hurricane Katrina/Environmental Justice Symposium, Boalt Hall School of Law, U.C. Berkeley, CA
Jan 24 New Deal Public Works as an Extension of the Arts & Crafts Movement
The Gamble House, Pasadena, CA
2005
Sep 14 Discussion of New Deal Legacy Project
Landscape Architecture Dept., College of Environmental Design, U.C. Berkeley, CA
Sep 11 The Value of Preservation
For the Folger Estate Stable Project, Fleishaker Estate "Green Gables", Woodside, CA
Sep 7 Mapping the Invisible Landscape: The New Deal Legacy Project
Geography Department Tea, U.C. Berkeley, CA
Selected Talks
10/25/02 Sierra Club Marin Group, Keynote Speaker
“Megafollies: Projects Stopped by Citizen Opposition”
10/24/02 UC Berkeley Art Museum
“Phoebe Apperson Hearst as Collector”
10/15/02 University of Wales, Aberystwyth
“The California Environment: Present Problems”
9/15/02 Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah
“Awakening from the California Dream: An Environmental History”
9/14/02 Contra Costa County Historical Society
“How Contra Costa County Played a Colonial Role to SF Industrialists”
8/7/02 Jack London Lecture Series, Sonoma State University
“The Myths of Wolf House”
7/6/02 NAMHO Conference, Aberystwyth, Wales
“The Comstock Lode and Sutro Tunnel”
5/9/02 Mendocino Land Trust
“The Destruction of the California Environment”
4/5/02 Pomona College
“Megafollies”
3/25/02 Foothill Club, Saratoga
“Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck”
1/18/02 Chico Museum
“Farewell, Promised Land”
11/15/01 Harvey Mudd College
“Imperial Urbanism: Elites and the Fiction of Nations”
10/25/01 National Society of Architectural Historians
“Bernard Maybeck and the First Bay Tradition”
7/29/01 Maybeck Foundation
“Bernard Maybeck’s Neighborhood”
7/11/01 Benjamin Ide Wheeler Lecture, U.C. Berkeley
“Phoebe Apperson Hearst as University Patron”
5/31/01 Alameda Historical Society
“Imperial San Francisco”
4/16/01 UCSF Founders’ Day
“Adolph Sutro”
4/3/01 Morning Forum, Palo Alto
“The Comstock Dynasties”
3/28/01 Mechanics’ Institute
“Imperial San Francisco”
3/24/01 Modesto Museum
“Farewell, Promised Land”
1/31/01 Victorian Alliance
“Imperial San Francisco”
1/28/01 Oakland Museum
“Arts and Crafts in San Francisco”
1/19/01 Word for Word, San Francisco
Discussion of Upton Sinclair’s Oil!
1/18/01 Chico Museum
“Farewell, Promised Land”
1995 – 2000, taught numerous classes on San Francisco history and architecture for the San Francisco Elder Hostel
12/2/00 Willa Baum Retirement, Morrison Room
“Using ROHO Interviews”
11/16/00 Notre Dame University, Belmont
“The Ralston and Sharon Families at Belmont”
11/2/00 Stegner Center for the Environment
“Remembrances of Bob Walker, Photographer”
10/30/00 National Trust tour of San Simeon
“William Randolph Hearst”
9/27/00 Berkeley Pathwnderers
“The Legacy of the Hillside Club”
9/16/00 Tulare County History Museum
“Farewell, Promised Land”
9/9/00 Rededication of restored Sunol Water Temple
“The Meaning of the Temple”
7/12/00 University of Nevada symposium for schoolteachers
“Imperial San Francisco”
6/23/00 Environmenta Action Committee of West Marin, Keynote speaker
“Megafollies, and the Saving of West Marin”
6/14/00 Institute of Classical Architecture, New York
“The Architecture and Planning of Imperial San Francisco”
6/11/00 San Mateo Historical Society, Keynote speaker
“Imperial San Francisco: The San Mateo Dynasties”
5/18/00 Santa Cruz Museum Association
“Waking from the California Dream”
5/13/00 UC Berkeley, Geography Department, Commencement speaker
“Do We Learn?”
5/9/00 University of California, Davis
“Imperial San Francisco”
5/4/00 National Trust for Historic Preservation tour
“San Francisco Architecture”
4/14/00 California Preservation Conference, Keynote Speaker
“The Development of Bay Area Architecture”
3/25/00 Huntington Museum
“San Francisco Dreams of Pacific Empire”
3/20/00 Microsoft Reseach Group, Seattle
“High Technology Control of the Hinterland”
3/19/00 Berkeley Art Museum
“Inverting Space, Inviting Nature: John Galen Howard’s vs Bernard Maybeck’s Competing Visions for the Berkeley Campus”
2/23/00 Friends of Free Speech Radio, Sonoma
“Media Dynasties”
2/10/00 UC Berkeley Art Museum
“The Phoebe Hearst Architecturla Competition for U.C. Berkeley”
1/28/00 Elliott Bay Book Co., Seattle
“Imperial San Francisco”
1/25/00 Powell’s Bookstore, Portland
“Imperial San Francisco”
11/22/99 Town & Gown Club, Berkeley
“Megafollies”
11/14/99 California Library Association, Coulter Lecture
“Mining the Commons: The Privatization of Everything in the Age of the Silicon Gold Rush”
11/13/99 Dawson’s Book Store, Los Angeles Salon
“Farewell, Promised Land”
10/27/99 UC Department of History
“Following the Bloodlines: Dynastic Research for Imperial SF”
9/16/99 Bancroft Library Roundtable
“Crime and Reward: The Untimely Death of William Chapman Ralston, the Triumph of Senator Sharon, and the Birth of the Bureau of Reclamation”
9/23/95 Ed Hardy Seminars
"Julia Morgan and Her Times"
7/29/95 Micahel H. deYoung Museum
"Healing Landscapes"
7/8/95 Labor Conference, San Francisco
"Labor Murals in San Francisco"
2/17/95 U.C. Planners
"The Phoebe Hearst Memorial for U.C."
2/4/95 California Studies Conference
"Energy Shapes the City"
3/30/94 American Association of Geographers
"Destiny's Gunsight: Symbolism of the Golden Gate"
3/29/94 American Association of Geographers
"The Conquering Grid" [Keynote address to national convention]
3/26/94 Ishi Symposium at Oakland Museum
"Ishi Meets 'The End of the Trail'"
2/24/94 New College of California
"San Francisco's Oligarchy"
2/20/94 California Studies Conference
"Suicidal Utopias: California Cities in 1915 and Now"
11/9/93 San Francisco Historical Society
"Imperial San Francisco"
9/30/93 Foundation for San Francisco's Architectural Heritage
"The Imperial Dynasties"
5/30/93 Association of International Educators, National Convention
"Development of San Francisco"
1/28/93 Art Libraries Society of North America, National Convention
"The Architecture of San Francisco"
10/23/92 California History Center, DeAnza College
"The World We Lost: California in 1915 and Now"
9/14/92 Friends of Filoli
"Olmsted in California."
6/28/92 College of Notre Dame @ Belmont
"Quicksilver: California's Forgotten Bonanza"
5/9/92 Humanities West
"Imperial San Francisco"
4/22/92 Stanford Humanities Center
"Imperial San Francisco"
5/1/91 New York Academy of Sciences
"Imperial San Francisco"
3/19/91 National School Boards Association, National Convention "Building A City On Gold"
11/12/90 Exploratorium, 75th Anniversary
"The Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the Palace of Fine Arts"
Other Engagements
Commonwealth Club
U.C. Committee for Arts and Lectures
College Art Association
College of Marin
Smithsonian Associates
American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architectural Students
American Society of Interior Designers
American Institute of Urban Planners
American Association of Neuroscience Nurses
American Bankers’ Association
SPUR
Diablo Forum
Levi Strauss
Crown Zellerbach
Associated General Contractors of America
San Francisco Architecture Club
Berkeley Architectectural Heritage Association
Hearst Corporation
The Gamble House, Pasadena
San Francisco Tomorrow
San Francisco Beautiful
Friends of the San Francisco Public Library
Friends of the Orinda Public Library
Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights
Sons of Harvard
Coalition of San Francisco Neighborhoods
Strybing Arboretum Society
San Francisco Natural History Group
California Creeks Conference
California Water Policy Group
Institute for Historical Research
Scotch Whiskey Information Center
Oakland Heritage Alliance
Headlands Center for the Arts
San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum