Series II: General Reference

Scope and content:: Comprised of three subseries: Architects, Topical, and Cities, USA. The first subseries contains materials that reference twentieth century architects who designed structures within the United States, not exclusively limited to American-born architects. A majority of this material is newspaper and magazine clippings. The second subseries contains topical reference files regarding a wide-range of people, places, buildings, and subjects. Burnham maintained a series of file folders on architectural critics, architectural styles, and sculptors. This second subseries also contains the reference card catalogue Burnham used for his American Architectural Archive as well as miscellaneous reference material and photographs Burnham did not sort into file folders. The third subseries contains mostly newspaper and magazine clippings regarding architects, buildings, and subjects within or referencing cities in the United States. File folders are organized by the name of the city in alphabetical order.

Access and use

Parent restrictions:: 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, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Parent terms of access:: In addition to permission from Columbia University, permission of the copyright owner (if not Columbia University) and/or any holder of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) may also be required for reproduction, publication, distributions, and other uses. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of any item and securing any necessary permissions rests with the persons desiring to publish the item. Columbia University makes no warranties as to the accuracy of the materials or their fitness for a particular purpose.

Location of this collection:: Avery Drawings & Archives

Avery Home Page
300 Avery Hall
1172 Amsterdam Ave.
New York, NY 10027, USA
Before you visit:: Researchers are encouraged to request materials at least one month in advance. You will receive an email from the department within 2-3 business days confirming your request and currently available appointment times. Requests are limited to 8 boxes per day (or equivalent), with a maximum of 5 boxes for off-site materials, 5 folders of drawings, or 5 rolls or tube boxes.