Architecture and City Planning
Jessie Tarbox Beals. Ellen Shipman Landscape Design, ca. 1920. Toned gelatin silver print.
Cornell's collection of architects and city planners stems from Cornell's program in landscape architecture, which was established early in the twentieth century. Given a continuing interest in teaching and researching city planning at Cornell, the Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections has been active in acquiring the papers of city planners and landscape architects since the mid-1960s. In total, we hold the papers of approximately 150 planners, including those of John Nolen, Clarence Stein, Henry Churchill, Walter Thabit, Russell Black, and Carl Feiss to mention only a few. In addition, our holdings include the papers of approximately forty architects and a dozen landscape architects, including the papers of the renowned Ellen Shipman. Complementing the papers of individuals and firms, are the records of a number of associations devoted to urban and regional planning such as the Regional Plan Association records.
Individually and collectively, these papers offer researchers an opportunity to explore the historic preservation movement, the relationship between planners and social action, the process of urban renewal, and the historical context within which emerged.
The Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photographs comprise a collection of approximately 13,000 nineteenth- and early twentieth-century photographs of American, European and Middle Eastern architecture, decorative arts and sculpture. For more information about the collection and to search the image database, see the A. D. White Architectural Photographs Website.
For questions concerning reproducing Cornell University building plans and drawings, please contact Planning, Design and Construction (PDC).