Résumé

Researcher, Marshall Field and Company, Advertising Department, Chicago, IL, c. 1939-1940. Baer worked in the main store at State and Randolph Streets in Chicago's Loop.

Employee, Photography studio, Chicago, IL, c. 1941.

Ensign, US Navy, World War II, 1941-1946. Baer enlisted in the US Navy on 12/19/1941. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed 01/28/2025.) Baer worked initially as a photographer, reconnaissance photography analyst, reporter, public relations official and teacher and at the Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, VA. He then transferred in 1945 to the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit, headed by the noted New York photographer, Edward Steichen (1879-1973).

Principal, Morley Baer, Architectural Photography, Carmel, CA, c. 1946-1952. Baer worked in partnership with his wife Frances Manney.

Principal, Morley Baer, Architectural Photography, Berkeley, CA, c. 1952.

Professional Awards

Recipient, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Denver, CO, Architectural Photography Medal, 06/1966.

High School and College

Graduate, Jessup W. Scott High School, Toledo, OH, c. 1933. Baer belonged to the Scott High School's Webster Literary Society during his second, third and fourth years. He was a member of the Thistle (student newspaper) staff in years three and four, the creative writing club in year four, the dramatic club in year four, and was part of the senior memorial committee. Baer was a columnist for the Thistle, writing "humor, out-of-school news and special feature articles." (See Jessup W. Scott High School Scottonian Yearbook, 1933, vol XX, p. 92.)

Coursework, University of Toledo (UT), Toledo, OH, c. 1933-1934.

B.A., English, University of Michigan (U of M), Ann Arbor, MI, c. 1935-1937.

M.A., Theater Arts, University of Michigan (U of M), Ann Arbor, MI, 1938.

Coursework, US Naval Photography School, Pensacola, FL, c. 1941-1942.

Relocation

Morley Baer was born in Toledo, OH, on 04/05/1916 to Blanche Schweitzer and Clarence T. Baer. At age three, Morley lived with his maternal grandfather Philip Schweitzer (born c. 1881 in Russia), in Manhattan, in a rented apartment at 102 119th Street. Phillip operated a dress shop, while Clarence was a clerk with an automobile company. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 19, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1220; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 1315, accessed 01/23/2025.) The Willys-Overland Company (for whom he worked in 1918) operated an automobile plant in Elizabeth, NJ, until 1921, so it is possible that Clarence worked for this entity.

In high school, Baer seems to have spelled his first name. "Morlye." He also had no middle name. (See Jessup W. Scott High School Scottonian Yearbook, 1933, vol XX, p. 58.)

In 1930 at age 14, Baer resided with his parents, younger sister Elaine and a household worker, Susie Hencher (born c. 1911 in PA), in a rented house at 442 Melrose Avenue in what became Toledo's Olde Towne neighborhood. The Baers paid $65 per month in rent, an average amount for their immediate environs. The neighborhood was filled with white-collar, upper-middle-class businessmen and their families, and composed of a mixture of owner-occupied and rented houses, many in the immediate vicinity worth over $10,000, a substantial sum for the time. Most neighbors were OH-born, but several living close to the Baers had immigrated from parts of the Russian Empire and were Jewish. Balanche's father Philip Schweitzer, lived next door at 440 Melrose Avenue in a residence that had an estimated value of $17,000. As per the 1930 US Census, Schweitzer immigrated to the US in 1900 and worked as a real estate broker in Toledo, OH. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Toledo, Lucas, Ohio; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 0036; FHL microfilm: 2341568, accessed 01/28/2025.)

Baer attended classes at the University of Toledo during the years 1933 and 1934, before transferring to the University of Michigan in 1935. Reflecting his high school interests in literature and writing, Baer earned a degree in English at the U of M by 1937. He then matriculated in a theater arts program at Michigan, graduating in 1937.

After school, he obtained employment with the Marshall Field and Company Department Store in Chicago, working in its advertising office. While working for Marshall Field, he had an assignment in the State of CO, where he traveled in 1939. Interested in cultural developments in CA, he also continued west to San Francisco, where his love of the state's creative energy and landscape began. Baer had seen a Chicago exhibition at the Katherine Kuh Gallery of the photography of Edward Weston (1886-1958) in 01/1939, and hoped to meet the photographer in Carmel, but this encounter did not take place. His interest in CA and the field of photography influenced his decision to enroll at an art school in San Francisco, but World War II intervened before he could matriculate.

The Baers moved to Chicago, IL, by 1940, where they dwelled at 1530 Thorndale Avenue midway between the Edgewater Glen and Magnolia Glen neighborhoods on the city's north side. At age 23, the 1940 US Census indicated that Morley did "research work" for a department store, Marshall Field and Company, at State and Randolph Streets in Chicago. This census also indicated that Clarence had a yearly income of $5,000, more than average for the neighborhood and that Morley brought in $1,300 from his position at the department store. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-01021; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 103-3189, accessed 01/23/2025 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Illinois, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 60, accessed 01/28/2025.)

After World War II, Baer got married to Frances Manney, whom he had met in Norfolk, and planned to enroll at Stanford University. Manney would work alongside Morley in the photography studio, assisting in the development of images. The couple dwelled in Carmel on Carmelo Avenue after the war, with Morley pursuing his own work and periodically assisting Weston on large projects at this Carmel studio. In 1947, Morley and Frances operated a commercial and portrait photography studio on 6th Avenue near Dolores in Carmel, CA. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Monterey, California, City Directory, 1947, p. 356.)

By the early 1950s, Baer's own photography work had begun to expand greatly in the Bay Area, necessitating a move to Berkeley, CA, to be closer to the architects and other designers whose work he was photographing for a wide variety of publications. He quickly became one of the most sought-after architectural photographers used by leading architects and landscape architects of the Bay Area. He worked closely with the firm of Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons during the 1950s and 1960s, for example. In 1953, Baer purchased a Rudolph Schindler-designed house on Greenwood Common from William Wurster (1895-1973), who lived in the Warren Gregory House across the street.

By the mid-1950s, Baer's work had also caught the eye of Nathaniel Owings (1903-1984), partner in the national architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, who also designed his own house in Big Sur, completed in 1958. During the late 1950s, Owings hired Baer to photograph US consulates in Europe, enabling Baer and his family to travel extensively on the continent and to take up residence in Spain for about two years. Addtionally, Baer had an exhibit

Parents

His father Clarence "Teddy" Baer (born 09/07/1896 in OH-d. 07/27/1955 in Alameda County, CA) worked in mulitple jobs during his life, including as a Willys-Overland automobile factory employee (c. 1918) in Toledo and, later, as a traveling salesman for a manufacturing company. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Registration State: Ohio; Registration County: Lucas Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 01/23/2025) Teddy Baer's parents were Jacob Baer and Frieda Gorowitz, both of whom were Russian-born Jews.

At age 18, he wed Blanche E. Schweitzer in 07/1915 in Charlevoix County, MI. Blanche's parents Philip (born c. 1879) and Rae Schweitzer (born c. 1879) were Jewish Poles who immigrated to the US in about 1897. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952; Film: 124; Film Description: 1915 Kent-1915 Oceana, accessed 01/23/2025 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 19, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1220; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 1315, accessed 01/23/2025.)

Morley had a younger sister, Elaine Gloria Baer Levin (born 05/02/1926 in Toledo, OH). She wed William Levin (born 04/15/1923 in Erie, PA-d. 04/14/1996 in Los Angeles, CA) on 04/14/1949 in Chicago, IL. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Cook County Clerk; Chicago, Il; Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages) Source Information Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008, accessed 01/23/2025.) In 1950, she lived in Washington, DC, and was a freelance editorial assistant. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: 3466; Page: 80; Enumeration District: 1-995, accessed 01/23/2025.)

Spouse

He wed Frances Hearn Manney (born 01/11/1917 in Parris Island, SC). This was Frances's second marriage. Her first occurred in 11/1939 to Camillus Albert Nash III (born c. 1916 in Norfolk, VA), then a salesman living in Norfolk, VA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, VA, USA; Virginia, Marriages, 1936-2014; Roll: 101167311, accessed 01/28/2025.) Her parents were Henry Newman Manney, Jr.. and Mary Wilson.

Morley and Frances divorced on 12/06/1979. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Divorce Index, 1966-1984 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007, accessed 01/28/2025.)

Children

He and Frances had a son.

Biographical Notes

His World War II draft registration card listed the photographer as being Caucasian with a ruddy complexion, brown eyes and brown hair. He stood 5-feet, 10-and-1/2-inches tall and weighed 150 pounds. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Illinois, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 60, accessed 01/28/2025.)

SSN: 323183147.