Search

The Oral Histories collection is made up of audio recordings, videotapes, and transcripts of interviews conducted by Foundation members. The oral histories document the life and activities of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship. Interviewees include apprentices, clients, family, friends and acquaintances, scholars, associates, and other architects.

The collection consists of 97 audio recordings from music concerts performanced at Taliesin West and Taliesin, Spring Green. The majority of the recordings are from the period after Wrights death, however, there are 12 recordings dated from 1950 to 1955. There are a few recordings of discussion groups sessions; these are likely recordings from the Movement participant's weekly philosophy group meetings held in tandem with Saturday Evening concerts.

The papers in this collection were gathered by architectural historian Jane C. Loeffler to be used in an unrealized biography on Frederick Gutheim. The bulk of the papers were given to Loeffler by Gutheim. The structure of the files is Loeffler's, except for the first four files in the collection ("Editorial and Publishing Files") which were removed from a file box maintained directly by Gutheim. The bulk of the collection documents Gutheim's professional activities and research. Included are materials on the Pennsylvania Avenue renewal project, Montgomery County preservation efforts, Frederick Law Olmsted Sesquicentennial activities, and research on Frank Lloyd Wright and Alvar Aalto. Additionally, the collection includes unpublished drafts of Gutheim's memoirs.

The majority of the collection's interviews were taken by Gail Mary Killian and document her life in the 1970s-1980s as a woman living with Down syndrome in Eastern Massachusetts. Killian recorded her birthday starting in 1970, and many recordings capture the conversations that took place at these celebrations, which were attended by family members and neighbors. Topics discussed at these parties include music-related gifts received by Killian; rock music and Polish folk music; television shows and movies; employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the region; work at the United States Postal Service (her father's employer); and happenings in their local community. The family also sings together, both in English and Polish. Also included are recordings made by Killian during her daily life. Killian was an avid music fan, and she records thoughts on rock bands such as the Beatles, Journey, and Van Halen. Portions of the local New Bedford, MA radio program "Polish Happy Hour" are captured on tape.

The George Chauncey papers include materials documenting Chauncey's research and activism related to LGBTQ+ history and activism. The collection reflects Chauncey's teaching, public speaking, and writing, including notes and other files related to his groundbreaking book, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. The collection also includes all the proposals submitted for a conference Chauncey organized in 2000, The Future of the Queer Past, (ultimately 200 papers, 50 panels, people from a dozen countries, funding from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations), which provides a fascinating snapshot of the LGBTQ+ history field as it was just beginning to take off.

This collection is composed primarily of correspondence, course material, writings, notes, photographs, slides, and audio tapes. Much of the material pertains to Collins' career as a professor at Columbia University. There is also a bulk of material regarding to the 1962, 1964, and 1966 Modern Architecture Symposiums held at Columbia University, as well as the publication of N.A. Miliutin's Sotsgorod: The Problem of building Socialist Cities, which was translated from Russian to English by Arthur Sprague. The basis for the series and subseries order was developed from Collins' own groupings. For the majority of the collection, Collins' folder titles have been maintained and the material has been arranged chronologically.