Gordon Bunshaft (1909-1990) was an American architect who, as a partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, had a significant impact on large-scale corporate architecture. His projects include such significant urban office towers as the Lever House in midtown Manhattan, as well as modern office campuses set in natural landscapes, including such examples as the American Can Company in Greenwich, Connecticut or the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company headquarters in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Additionally, his interest in art caused him to actively integrate work by well-known modern artists into the public plazas and interiors of SOM's projects. The professional aspects of this collection can be found in clippings, project photography, oral history records, and publications, however, the majority of the collection is personal and reflects the life of Gordon and his wife Nina Bunshaft. Through correspondence, snapshots, objects, and personal papers the collection focuses on the Bunshafts' friends, their travels, and their impressive art collection of both modern and ancient sculptures and paintings.
The Morningside Area Alliance is an organization working for community improvement on behalf of its member institutions in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in New York City. The organization was founded as Morningside Heights Inc. in 1947 through joint action of fourteen Morningside Institutions--Columbia University, St. Luke's Hospital, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Teacher's College, Barnard College, Corpus Christi Church, Home for Old Men and Aged Couples, International House, Jewish Theological Seminary, Juilliard School of Music, St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's School, The Riverside Church, Union Theological Seminary, and the Women's Hospital of St. Luke's Center--with the expressed purpose of "[promoting] the improvement of Morningside Heights as an attractive, residential, educational, and cultural area." The collection includes much, if not all, of the material that was created by the organization as part of its daily business from 1947 to 1992, when the materials were accessioned into University Archives at Columbia University. This includes records of the Board of Directors and the various Committees within the Alliance; assorted publications, reports, pamphlets, and theses both acquired and created by the organization; files of the different offices within the organization; maps, plans, and photographs used and created by the Alliance for its work; and the collected materials and files created for the organization's projects in different subject areas--specifically buildings, community services and programs, public safety, schools, and the Morningside General Neighborhood Renewal Plan. The collection also includes a large quantity of material rearranged into subject files on different areas of concern within the organization.