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The collection consists primarily of correspondence, photographs, project records, architectural drawings, legal documents, periodicals, news clippings and exhibition materials. The material held in this collection relates to architectural projects for Edgar J. Kaufmann by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the bulk of the material relates to Kaufmann's home, Fallingwater, at Bear Run, Pennsylvania. The collection documents the professional and personal relationship between the Kaufmann family and Wright, from the 1930s until the years preceding Wright's death in 1959.

Correspondence, specifications, contracts, invoices, financial statements, memoranda, and architectural drawings pertaining to the construction of St. Paul's Chapel (Columbia University, New York, N.Y.), a project designed by Howells & Stokes, and by Stokes independently. Correspondence is between Howells & Stokes and Columbia University officials, contractors, and suppliers, including Nicholas Murray Butler, R. Guastavino Co., Tiffany Studios, Coppède, Paul Manship, and McKim, Mead & White, as well as Stokes' aunts Olivia Egleston Phelps Stokes and Caroline Phelps Stokes.

Collection contains watercolor renderings, sketches, technical drawings (ground plans, elevations and details), photographs, glass plate and acetate negatives, scrapbooks, set models and some related papers covering Urban's career in Vienna and New York as an architect, set designer, decorator and illustrator. There is a thorough representation of his New York career including his set designs for Florenz Ziegfeld (1915-1932) and the Metropolitan Opera (1917-1933). The collection also contains information on Urban's work for William Randolph Hearst as art director for Cosmopolitan Studios, his exhibitions including his 1921 Wiener Werkstätte store, and his many architectural projects. Biographical information and research gathered by Richard Cole and Randolph Carter including contributions from his daughter,Gretl Urban, and biographical notes and some letters from his widow, Mary Urban, are also present.

Personal and professional correspondence, including 25 long letters from Professor Henry F. Herbig; manuscripts (mainly speeches); specifications for patents in electrical fields; technical and personal photographs; and memorabilia. Included is a copy of the famous "shot in hand" x-ray photograph, ca. 1896, one of the first ever to be taken. This collection also contains the correspondence, manuscripts, documents, and memorabilia of Professor Pupin's daughter, Varvara Smith, and his son-in-law, Louis Graham Smith. His daughter's letters and documents deal with her financial difficulties, her administration of Pupin's estate and her claims against Columbia University. Louis G. Smith's letters deal with his anti-Communist sentiments and his manuscripts are mainly ideas for popular songs and plays. There are three letters (photostatic copies) to Smith from Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The collection provides primary documentation of the material design and construction of a mansioned commissioned by the lawyer A. Frank B. Chace and located at 5 Willard Place in Hudson, N.Y. Included are two versions of Croff's "General specifications for the enaction, construction and all requiste material.." (June 1874); two draft proposals and final 26 page contract, with detailed specs, for building the house made with Morris & O'Connor, of Rhinebeck, N.Y. (October 1874); 18 pieces of correspondence, both brief and detailed, from Croff to Chace, with one regarding his book and including a printed prospectus of it; a full run of payment receipts from builders Morris & O'Connor; and a small batch of bills for various materials relating to the house.

In detail. Roof, framing, floors, doors, shutters, plastering, windows, closets, glazing ("best Boston Crown Glass"), built-in dresser in the china closet, papering, painting, fireplaces & cranes, silver-tipped lightning rods.

Correspondence, manuscripts, typescripts, contracts, legal briefs, patents, and other documents, music scores, cartoons, technical drawings, account books, blueprints, photographs, clippings, printed legal briefs & transcripts, proofs, scrapbooks, and other printed materials of William M. Speer.

The William Muschenheim collection spans from 1929 to 1957, with bulk dates from 1931-1950. The collection documents approximately 130 separate jobs and is made up of architectural drawings, correspondence, accounts, estimates, specifications, invoices, contracts, samples, invoices, and other material related to Muschenheim's professional projects. The projects mainly represent Muschenheim's work in New York City, but also include work in Albany (NY), Amenia (NY), Bridgehampton (NY), Chappaqua (NY), Hampton Bays (NY), Malverne (NY), Massapequa (NY), Nassau Point (Long Island), Washington (CT), Washington DC, Westhampton Beach (NY), and Woodstock (NY), among other locations.