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The collection consists of papers related to the personal and professional life of American architect Ely Jacques Kahn. A small amount of personal papers was transferred from the Arendts Library at Syracuse University in 1992. Additional personal papers, including two large scrapbooks, were donated by Liselotte Kahn, wife of Ely Jacques Kahn, in 1992 and 1993. Also found in this collection are student drawings and an incomplete autobiographical essay, donated to Avery Library by Kahn himself in 1963. Completing the Kahn holdings are personal materials from Ely Jacques Kahn, including drawings done while Kahn was a student at the Ecole de Beaux-Arts in Paris (1907-1908), sketchbooks, diplomas, autographs from fellow students, a typescript of Kahn's autobiography, and scrapbooks containing clippings, photographs, telegrams and other ephemera. Additionally, there is a small holding for Liselotte Kahn within the collection, including her unpublished memoirs, some correspondence, and a watercolor painting. Liselotte Kahn's memoirs describe her childhood in Germany; her marriage to Dr. Ernst Müller and the birth of their sons; Nazi anti-Semitism; their emigration to Greece; her husband's medical practice in Athens; the Italian and German invasion of Greece; their escape to Palestine; and their emigration to and experiences in the United States.

Architectural drawings for three projects; photographs of architectural drawings and models; photographs of sites before construction, buildings under construction, and interiors and exteriors of completed buildings; and related clippings. The three projects, with original drawings, arethe McGraw-Hill building, New York, 1929-1934, by Raymond Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux, and alterations, 1942-1944, by Harrison, Fouilhoux, and Abramovitz; Hood's first studies for Rockefeller Center, drawn by Walter Kilham, Jr. in 1929; and the Daily News Building, New York, 1929-1947, by Hood and John M. Howells. Also included are the Chicago Tribune Tower, Chicago (Hood won the competition for the project in 1922 - a photograph of the drawing submitted to the competition by architect Eliel Saarinen is included); photographs of models for Rockefeller Center buildings; and miscellaneous and unrealized projects. Also, two albums containing interior and exterior photographs of completed buildings designed by Hood including his American Radiator building, New York, the Chicago Tribune Tower, and others. Biographical material on Hood includes clippings of obituaries, 1934; photographs of Hood and his family, ca. 1890s-1930s, and travel photographs, early 20th century; clippings of articles by and about Hood; and biographical notes on Hood. Of interest is a photograph by Berenice Abbott of the McGraw-Hill building showing the Sixth Avenue El, demolished in 1940.

Includes the publications of, and much correspondence about, the American Institute of Architects, as well as other organizations affecting the architect; copies of bills and correspondence about legislation affecting architectural practice; obituaries of architects, and certain material dealing with the World War, besides some personal correspondence and memorabilia.