PALMER, CHARLES F. (CHARLES FORREST), 1892-1973. Charles F. Palmer papers, 1903-1973 Emory University Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library Atlanta, GA 30322 404-727-6887 [email protected] Collection Stored Off-Site All or portions of this collection are housed off-site. Materials can still be requested but researchers should expect a delay of up to two business days for retrieval. Descriptive Summary Creator: Palmer, Charles F. (Charles Forrest), 1892-1973. Title: Charles F. Palmer papers, 1903-1973 Call Number: Manuscript Collection No. 9 Extent: 92.25 linear feet (182 boxes), 15 oversized bound volumes (OBV), 3 oversized papers boxes and 2 oversized papers folders (OP), and AV Masters: 6.5 linear feet (8 boxes) Abstract: Papers of housing developer Charles Forrest Palmer including correspondence, reports, manuscripts, speeches, diaries, photographs, scrapbooks, and films. Language: Materials entirely in English. Administrative Information Restrictions on Access Collection stored off-site. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access this collection. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction. Separated Material In Emory's holdings are books formerly owned by Charles Palmer. These materials may be located in the Emory University online catalog by searching for: Charles F Palmer (Charles Forrest), 1892-1973, former owner. Emory Libraries provides copies of its finding aids for use only in research and private study. Copies supplied may not be copied for others or otherwise distributed without prior consent of the holding repository. Charles F. Palmer papers, 1903-1973 Manuscript Collection No. 9 Source Gift, 1969 with subsequent additions. Citation [after identification of item(s)], Charles F. Palmer papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University. Processing Processed by S. Grabel; revised S. Stegall and L. Matthews, January 1982 This finding aid may include language that is offensive or harmful. Please refer to the Rose Library's harmful language statement for more information about why such language may appear and ongoing efforts to remediate racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic, euphemistic and other oppressive language. If you are concerned about language used in this finding aid, please contact us at [email protected]. Collection Description Biographical Note Charles Forrest Palmer (December 29, 1892 - June 16, 1973) was the son of Walter Millard Palmer and Jeannette (Seymour) Palmer, residents of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His father was a bookseller, postmaster, Republican mayor of the town and four-term President of the American Booksellers' Association which he helped to establish in 1900. Charles Palmer became a successful Atlanta real estate developer, office building owner and manager, and a noted authority on public housing and urban redevelopment. Although his family was unable to finance a university education, he attended Dartmouth College in 1914-1915 as a special admissions student in business; toward the end of Palmer's life, in 1970, Emory University awarded him the Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree. He married Laura Sawtell, an Atlanta native, on October 30, 1918. The couple had three children: Margaret (Mrs. Earl C. Moses, Jr.), Laura (Mrs. T.W. Benedict), and Jeanette (Mrs. Jacob M. Cath). Palmer's religious affiliation was with the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. Palmer worked as a realtor for the William R. Staats Company, a California firm, in Pasadena, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Chicago, Illinois, between 1912 and 1917, except for the year he spent at Dartmouth, from August 1917 to January 1919. From August 1917-January 1919 Palmer served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Cavalry stationed on the Mexican-Arizona border and was awarded the Mexican Campaign and Victory medals. Following his discharge in 1919, he returned to Santa Barbara, where he established the C.F. Palmer Company, a realty firm. Through his wife's social connections, Palmer met Judge John S. Candler, brother to Coca-Cola owner Asa Griggs Candler, who in 1920 persuaded the young businessman to relocate to Atlanta by extolling the possibilities for commercial investment that existed in the city. After completing this move in 1921, Palmer organized a local real estate firm, Palmer. Inc., which specialized in downtown office properties. From 1923 to 1924 he was President of the Southern Conference of Building Owners and Managers. Palmer served as Vice-President of the National Association of Building Owners and Managers in 1929-1930 and as President from 1931 to 1932. In order to compare American and foreign methods of office management and design, he traveled to Europe in 1930 to inspect commercial structures. 2 Charles F. Palmer papers, 1903-1973 Manuscript Collection No. 9 Three years later in Atlanta, he organized Techwood Homes, one of the first efforts at slum clearance in the United States by the Public Works Administration and assisted in the development of its companion project, University Homes. While the two sites were under construction, Palmer returned to Europe in both 1934 and 1936 to investigate public housing programs. He gathered relevant facts and took photographs of the projects that he visited, utilizing this material to lobby for permanent housing legislation in the United States. In 1938, he also served as President of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. In addition, he was selected to represent the United States at the International Federation for Housing and Town Planning Conference held in Mexico City. Also during the same year, 1938, he succeeded in organizing the Atlanta Housing Authority, serving as its first Chairman until 1940. He was elected President of the National Association of Housing Officials in 1940 and, in addition, was appointed by President Roosevelt to the post of Defense Housing Coordinator (United States Office for Emergency Management, Division of Defense Housing Coordination) which he held until the end of 1941. From March through December 1942, he directed the Special Housing Mission to Great Britain, investigating English plans for post-war urban and economic recovery. After returning to the United States, Palmer devoted the next few years to his office management and realty business in Atlanta. In 1946, he again was the U.S. delegate to the International Federation for Housing and Town Planning Conference, this time held in Hastings, England. From 1947-1948, he served as Georgia's Rotary Club District Governor, and beginning in 1950, was Chairman of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Warm Springs Memorial Commission. In 1952, he traveled throughout Latin and South America investigating public housing and urban redevelopment projects. Returning to this country, he served from 1953 to 1954 as Chairman of Hall of Our History, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to erecting a stone monument which would illustrate, in sculpture, the achievements of American civilization. In 1959-1960, Palmer was a member of the National Committee on Urban Problems as well as the Advisory Council of the Democratic National Committee. From 1957 to 1965, he also served on the Board of Directors of Action, Inc. (American Council to Improve Our Neighborhoods) and was Vice-Chairman of the National Freedom Shrine Foundation between 1957 and 1966. In 1966, he was a consultant to James Roosevelt; American Ambassador to the United Nations, and worked to design a program intended to improve world-wide housing conditions. At the invitation of Greek planner Constantinos Doxiadis, Palmer participated in a seminar at the Athens Center of Ekistics in summer, 1968. Locally, he served as Vice-President of the Atlanta Historical Society in 1965-1966 and, in addition, was a member of the Housing Resources Executive Committee for the Atlanta Housing Authority from 1967 to 1969. He was an organizer and member of the Georgia World Congress Ad Hoc Committee in 1970 and Co-Chairman of the Executive Board from 1971 to 1973. Palmer also chaired the Advisory Committee of the Graduate City Planning Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology, 1957-1973. Palmer's publications include Adventures of a Slum Fighter (1955) and numerous articles and speeches on building management, public housing, and urban renewal. Between the 1930s and 1960s, he was invited on several occasions to lecture to classes at both Harvard University and Dartmouth College; in 1968, he made a presentation to the Graduate School of City Planning at the University of Nottingham, England. 3 Charles F. Palmer papers, 1903-1973 Manuscript Collection No. 9 In addition to the organizations mentioned above, Palmer's professional affiliations included: the Housing Centre (London); National Planning Association; Foreign Policy Association; American Society of Planning Officials; National Housing and Town Planning Council (England); International Federation of Housing and Town Planning (Belgium); American Legion; Military Order of Foreign Wars; and the English-Speaking Union. In Atlanta, he belonged to the Capital City, Piedmont Driving, Commercial, and Rotary Clubs. He also was a member of the Burning-Tree, Cosmos, and Army-Navy Clubs, located in Washington. D.C.; the Dartmouth Club of New York; and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland. Palmer died in Atlanta on June 16, 1973, at the age of eighty. Scope and Content Note The Charles Palmer papers include correspondence, reports, manuscripts,