The Doris Duke papers on the Shangri La residence (formerly SL.2 and SL.2.8) are part of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Historical Archives which were donated to the Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The collection tells the story of Shangri La, the most intimate of Doris Duke's residences. While the collection spans the years 1932 to 2003, the materials primarily begin in 1936, with correspondence relating to early discussions of architects to design Shangri La in what was then the U.S. Territory of Hawaii, and end in the mid to late 1990s with materials related to the handling of the Estate of Doris Duke after her death in 1993. The collection is arranged into three series: Correspondence, Administrative Records, and Architectural Records. Nearly half of the correspondence specifically pertains to the design, construction, decoration, and furnishing of Shangri La. The remaining materials in the series detail the activities of Shangri La and include correspondence and memoranda documenting the routine business matters of its daily operation. The materials included in the Administrative Records series primarily document the expenses and daily operations of running and maintaining the Hawaiian residence. Included in this series are invoices and receipts for repairs and renovations to the residence, expenses and expenditures, and inventories of furniture, fixtures, and other household items. Also included in this series are weekly security reports, location diaries of Doris Duke's whereabouts, and recipes for a variety of meals that were presumably prepared at Shangri La. A majority of the architectural records in this collection are related to the design and construction of Shangri La. The materials in this collection are arranged loosely in chronological order.
In 1935, when Doris Duke and her husband James Cromwell embarked on a honeymoon tour of the world, little did she know the trip would profoundly affect the rest of her life. Traveling through many Muslim countries and parts of India, she was fascinated by Islamic cultural traditions, art and architecture. A visit to the Taj Mahal inspired Duke to commission plans for a bedroom and bathroom suite in Florida but which eventually became the nucleus for the house she built in Hawaii. Duke engaged the architectural firm of Wyeth and King to design her Hawaiian home. Marion Sims Wyeth and supervising architect H. Drewry Baker worked closely with Duke to design the home, with Duke providing sketches and photographs of buildings and architectural details she had seen during her travels. Construction of the home began in early 1937 and the Cromwells moved into the main home in December of 1938. Completed at a cost of $1.4 million, the estate was at the time the most extensive residential project in the Territory of Hawaii. Furnishing the home was another major undertaking. Doris Duke and her husband traveled to Europe and the Middle East for four months in 1938 to acquire furnishings for their new home. Accompanied by Mary Crane, a graduate student at New York University, the purchases were deliberate and extensive and Duke was intimately involved in the decisions pertaining to their installation and display in the estate. Throughout her life, Doris Duke enthusiastically designed and redesigned her home and gardens, and in 1965 made a codicil in her will directing her executors to organize a foundation to manage and maintain Shangri La for the study and understanding of Middle Eastern art and culture.
