Frank Lloyd Wright Miscellanea, 1905-1995, bulk 1940s-1960s

Summary Information

Abstract

The collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Miscellanea is composed of transcripts of speeches, interviews, magazine and newspaper clippings by and about the world-famous architect.

At a Glance

Bib ID:
8959995 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959; Kaufmann, Edgar J., 1885-1955; Wright, John Lloyd; Tafel, Edgar
Repository:
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Physical Description:
2 manuscript boxes; 2 print boxes; 1 folder (flat-file)
Language(s):
English .
Access:

This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please call (212) 854-4110 or email avery-drawings@libraries.columbia.edu.

Description

Scope and Content

The Frank Lloyd Wright Miscellanea is composed of transcripts of speeches, interviews, magazine and newspaper clippings by and about the world-famous architect. The collection also includes printed materials related to various Frank Loyd Wright-themed exhibitions, associations, building and house tours, restoration efforts and ephemera gleaned from disparate sources. The collection contains minimal personal correspondence from Frank Lloyd Wright (the collection contains only two examples) but does include correspondence about Frank Lloyd Wright from Lloyd Wright (son), Edgar Kaufmann, and Edgar Tafel.

Series I: Speeches and Interviews consists of transcripts of talks and speeches that Frank Lloyd Wright delivered on various occasions and locations including Princeton University (1947), University of Denver (1948), and Taliesin (1953). Only one page survives of an unidentified speech given at Taliesin in 1932. Transcripts from a two-part interview with Mike Wallace in 1957 and a transcript of an interview with Jink Falkenberg in 1957 are included.

Series II: Biographical Publications / Correspondence includes a photocopy of a letter from Frank Lloyd Wright to his daughter, Catherine and her husband Kenneth written in 1921 from the Imperial Hotel. This series contains correspondence from Lloyd Wright (FLW'son) to Linn Cowles in which Lloyd recounts a trip to Europe with his father and other reminiscences. This series also contains various biographies (drafts and completed works) and research notes by Harvey Einbinder, Thomas S. Hines, Jr., Thomas A. Heinz, and Robert C. Twomby. Recollections of days at Taliesin by Noverre Musson and a brief history of the Usonia Homes project by Priscilla J. Henken are included. Also includes correspondence relating to the Guggenheim Museum commission and various notes from former Taliesin Fellow, Edgar Tafel.

Series III: Associatons / Tours / Restoration Activities documents the various groups and organizations that have formed to honor and preserve Frank Lloyd Wright's work through house tours and preservation projects. Includes paint samples and contact sheets related to the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation and statistics related to visitors and venues generated by tours of Fallingwater.

Series IV: Exhibitions / Auctions contains exhibition catalogs, announcements, guest lists and sellers catalogs for various Frank Lloyd Wright themed exhibitions and auctions. Includes printed materials related to the Frank Lloyd Wright room exhibition at the V & A Museum in London.

Series V: Ephemera consists of a brochure with map, promotional pennant flag and room rate and meal tariff card from the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. Also includes a whimsical cut-and-fold model of the Robie House, issued by Monte Enterprises, and Frank Lloyd Wright postage stamps issued in 1966 as part of the "Prominent Americans" series.

Series VI: Newspaper Clippings includes numerous clippings from local and national newspapers grouped by theme or subject. Includes Frank Lloyd Wright obituaries, biographical portraits, articles about FLW's family (children, grandchildren), book reviews, critiques and criticisms. Also includes documentation of the Guggenheim Museum building and the public response to it.

Series VII: Photographs contains black and white photographs of the entrance to the Johnson Wax Company Building in Racine, Wisconsin, the Barnsdall House in Los Angeles, California and the John Pew House in Madison, Wisconsin. Also included is a group photograph taken in the interior of the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan in 1929 on the occasion of the World Engineering Congress.

Series VIII: Publications primarily consists of magazine and journal articles from the 1930s through the 1960s originally housed in the Ware Library vertical files. Some highlights include the complete, bound January 1938 and January 1951 issues of The Architectural Forum and the November 1955 issue of House Beautiful. Also includes typewritten bibliographies, one of which was prepared by James Muggenburg in 1970.

  • Series I: Speeches and Interviews

    consists of transcripts of talks and speeches that Frank Lloyd Wright delivered on various occasions and locations including Princeton University (1947), University of Denver (1948), and Taliesin (1953). Only one page survives of an unidentified speech given at Taliesin in 1932. Transcripts from a two-part interview with Mike Wallace in 1957 and a transcript of an interview with Jink Falkenberg in 1957 are included.

  • Series II: Biographical Publications / Correspondence

    includes a photocopy of a letter from Frank Lloyd Wright to his daughter, Catherine and her husband Kenneth written in 1921 from the Imperial Hotel. This series contains correspondence from Lloyd Wright (FLW'son) to Linn Cowles in which Lloyd recounts a trip to Europe with his father and other reminiscences. This series also contains various biographies (drafts and completed works) and research notes by Harvey Einbinder, Thomas S. Hines, Jr., Thomas A. Heinz, and Robert C. Twomby. Recollections of days at Taliesin by Noverre Musson and a brief history of the Usonia Homes project by Priscilla J. Henken are included. Also includes correspondence relating to the Guggenheim Museum commission and various notes from former Taliesin Fellow, Edgar Tafel.

  • Series III: Associations / Tours / Restoration Activities

    documents the various groups and organizations that have formed to honor and preserve Frank Lloyd Wright's work through house tours and preservation projects. Includes paint samples and contact sheets related to the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation and statistics related to visitors and venues generated by tours of Fallingwater.

  • Series IV: Exhibitions / Auctions

    contains exhibition catalogs, announcements, guest lists and sellers catalogs for various Frank Lloyd Wright themed exhibitions and auctions. Includes printed materials related to the Frank Lloyd Wright room exhibition at the V & A Museum in London.

  • Series V: Ephemera

    consists of a brochure with map, promotional pennant flag and room rate and meal tariff card from the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. Also includes a whimsical cut-and-fold model of the Robie House, issued by Monte Enterprises, and Frank Lloyd Wright postage stamps issued in 1966 as part of the "Prominent Americans" series.

  • Series VI: Newspaper Clippings

    includes numerous clippings from local and national newspapers grouped by theme or subject. Includes Frank Lloyd Wright obituaries, biographical portraits, articles about FLW's family (children, grandchildren), book reviews, critiques and criticisms. Also includes documentation of the Guggenheim Museum building and the public response to it.

  • Series VII: Photographs

    contains black and white photographs of the entrance to the Johnson Wax Company Building in Racine, Wisconsin, the Barnsdall House in Los Angeles, California and the John Pew House in Madison, Wisconsin. Also included is a group photograph taken in the interior of the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan in 1929 on the occasion of the World Engineering Congress.

  • Series VIII: Publications

    primarily consists of magazine and journal articles from the 1930s through the 1960s originally housed in the Ware Library vertical files. Some highlights include the complete, bound January 1938 and January 1951 issues of The Architectural Forum and the November 1955 issue of House Beautiful. Also includes typewritten bibliographies, one of which was prepared by James Muggenburg in 1970.

Publication Date

1905-1995

This collection was donated in various gifts (accession number 1000.095)

Magazine and newspaper articles are mainly from the Ware Library vertical files

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in eight series: I. Speeches and Interviews. II. Biographical Publications and Correspondence. III. Associations, Tours and Restoration Activities. IV. Exhibitions and Auctions. V. Ephemera. VI. Newspaper Clippings. VII. Photographs. VIII. Publications (Journal and Magazine Clippings).

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please call (212) 854-4110 or email avery-drawings@libraries.columbia.edu.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Permission to publish must be obtained in writing from the Director, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, 1172 Amsterdam Ave., MC 0301, New York, NY 10027.

Preferred Citation

Frank Lloyd Wright Miscellanea, circa 1905-1995 (bulk 1940s-1960s), Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--Various gifts. Accession number--1000.095.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library

Processing Information

Processed; Emilie Anderson 2011.

Revision Description

2011-08-25 File created.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Biographical / Historical

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an American Architect internationally recognized for his distinctive Prairie Style houses, innovative building design, Taliesin school and fellowships, and philosophy of "organic architecture.".

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form
Exhibition Catalogs CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
black-and-white photographs CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Name
Dana House (Springfield, Ill.) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Fallingwater (Pa.) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Frank Lloyd Wright Association CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Robie House (Chicago, Ill.) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Taliesin (Spring Green, Wis.) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Taliesin Fellowship CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Taliesin Fellowship -- Interviews CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Taliesin West (Scottsdale, Ariz.) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Teikoku Hoteru. Imperial Hotel CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Unity Temple (Oak Park, Ill.) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Subject
Architects -- Homes and haunts CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Awards CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Exhibitions CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- New York (State) -- New York CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture, Domestic -- Pennsylvania -- Bear Run CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Art museum architecture -- New York (State) -- New York CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Usonian houses CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID