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New York City architectural renderer, artist, and printmaker. Born 1884 in Newark, New Jersey, Flanagan graduated from the School of Architecture at Columbia University in 1910. Flanagan taught drawing at Columbia from 1911 to 1912 and returned as an associate professor of design from 1920 to 1925. Flanagan also worked for several architectural firms, often as a renderer, including Trowbridge & Livingston, McKim, Mead & White, and Harvey Corbett. In 1927, Flanagan left Corbett's office and began full time work as a fine artist. From January 1928 until August 1929, Flanagan travelled in Europe, studying with painter Edouard Léon Cortès in Paris from the fall of 1928 through the spring of 1929. Flanagan was also one of the original members of the Society of American Etchers. Flanagan eventually returned to practicing architecture, associating with various firms until he retired in the mid-1960s. He died in New York City in 1969.

This collection includes primarily original etchings, engravings, and lithographs, as well as published images from a variety of sources, of individual architectural structures or the built environment. Most of the images are uncolored. The collection is especially strong in images from the United States and England. A significant number of images are plates from Walter Harrison's "A new and universal history, description and survey of the cities of London and Westminister, the borough of Southwark, and their adjacent parts." (London, J. Cooke, 1776). A small portion of the collection depicts decorative arts and interiors. Also included are a few ephemeral items--such as tickets, letterhead, receipts, and bills--that include architectural imagery.