Collections : [Avery Drawings & Archives]

This collection documents the life and career of J. Max Bond, Jr., one of the most influential and prominent African-American architects and educators in the United States. The collection primarily documents Bond's professional activities rather than his building projects; however, the collection does contain project records and office records. The collection is made up of six series: Office Records, Personal Papers, Faculty Papers, Professional Papers, Project Records, and Reference Materials.

The collection contains primarily architectural drawing reproductions documenting the site history of Columbia University's Geology Library from Schermerhorn Hall on Columbia Unversity's Morningside campus to, later, the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory in Palisades, N.Y. The drawings are largely floor plans and some building elevations of both the early and later sites, but the collection also includes a survey map of the Palisades, N.Y. site, and site plans for the Thomas W. Lamont, Esq. Country Residence and Gardens. Also included are 9 student drawings of the Geology and Zoology Library in Schermerhorn Hall by School of Mines student Eugene B. Sieminski, Jr. dated 1958. Architects represented include McKim, Mead, and White, Paver & Wildfoerster, and Olmstead Brothers Landscaper Architects.