Art Properties and the Rare Books and Manuscript Library (RBML) recently acquired photographs by the pioneering African-American photographer and filmmaker, Gordon Parks (1912–2006). Parks was largely self-taught but found work as a freelance photographer in the mid-1940s at magazines such as Glamour and Ebony. He earned a position at Life magazine with an acclaimed photojournalistic […]
Drawings & Archives Acquires Personal Papers of Chip Lord
Drawings & Archives recently acquired the personal papers of Chip Lord, a prominent American media artist and educator whose work has significantly influenced contemporary media practice and the architectural design world. Originally trained as an architect at Tulane University, Lord co-founded the revolutionary collective Ant Farm, which created projects such as Media Burn and Cadillac […]
Architectural League of New York Records Arrive At Avery
In April of 2026, Avery Drawings & Archives acquired the records of the Architectural League’s from 1975 through 2005. The Architectural League of New York (ALNY) was founded in 1881 by Cass Gilbert and a group of young architects as a forum for discussing architecture and its connections to the arts. In its first 15 […]
Drawings & Archives Acquires David T. Henken Papers
Avery Drawings & Archives recently acquired the papers of David T. Henken, an architect and engineer who was the founder of Usonia, a cooperative community in Westchester County, New York, founded on principles espoused by Frank Lloyd Wright in his designs for “Broadacre City.” Henken first encountered Wright’s ideas for Broadacre and Usonian architecture during […]
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals Now Available with Full Text
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) and The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals have just released Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals with Full Text, a robust new resource for architecture and design researchers and students. The new product is offered alongside the existing Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, which continues to provide citation-only indexing. Produced in collaboration […]
“Scarce, valuable and splendid books”: Davis, Town and their libraries on architecture
Written by Janet Parks, retired Curator of Drawings & Archives In August 2024, Avery Classics acquired a third copy of John Wood’s work, The Origin of building. While it is rare for the collection to add copies of books it already holds, this copy was truly exceptional. An inscription facing the book’s title page […]
2025 MA in Art History Presents
From 2017 to 2024, candidates in the MA in Art History program have worked with Art Properties to organize small in-house exhibitions related to the University’s art collection, resulting in both in-person and online presentations showcasing their curatorial research. In 2025, this program, MA in Art History Presents, launched a new initiative that offers candidates an opportunity […]
Columbia GSAPP presents PEOPLE CROSS AGAINST THE LIGHT: Michael Sorkin’s New York
Columbia GSAPP presents PEOPLE CROSS AGAINST THE LIGHT: Michael Sorkin’s New York, on view from February 26 through June 26, 2026 at the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery in Buell Hall. The exhibition focuses on eight speculative architectural projects that Michael Sorkin and collaborators designed for New York City between 1987 and 1996—a period during which […]
Drawings & Archives Acquires Oral Memoirs of SOM Partners
Avery Drawings & Archives recently acquired a collection of oral memoirs documenting the reminiscences and reflections of twenty-five Skidmore, Owings & Merrill partners including Gordon Bunshaft and David M. Childs, Srinivasa Iygenar and J. Walter Severinghaus. Founded in 1936, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the world’s largest and most influential architecture, […]
Fragments: Pieces of our Past
Avery Library partnered with GSAPP’s Historic Preservation program on an exhibition of architectural fragments organized by Richard Pieper, Norman Weiss and Mika Tal. The fragments come from the collection of the Preservation Technology Laboratory and the private collections of the organizers and professionals in the field. The exhibition can be found in the display cases […]