In general, University of Delaware manuscript finding aids include biographical notes, scope and content notes, series outlines, series descriptions, and container lists. All complete finding aids, including container lists, are available in the repository. In addition to the unpublished finding aids and inventories, Special Collections maintains a database of literary and historical correspondence and manuscripts.
A selected listing of these sources is included below, along with their manuscript collection numbers. For assistance of any kind, please contact a Librarian in Special Collections.
Mss 356
Charles A. Rubicam architectural drawings
,
ca. 1855, 17 items
This collection contains seventeen architectural drawings made by
nineteenth-century Philadelphia builder Charles A. Rubicam. Included are three, possibly four, separate residential projects, at least one of which was commissioned by William S. Wilson, Esq. between 1853-1855.
Mss 357
Edward William Martin architectural works
,
1921-1961, 219 items
A partial list of drawings in this collection of Wilmington architect Edward Martin's papers includes
DuPont High School; Colwyck Senior High School; H. Fletcher Brown Vocational High School; Brookside Junior High School; Castle Hills Elementary School; New Castle Junior High School; Sunny Hills School; Smyrna High School; Newark Senior High School; the Friends School in Wilmington; the widening of Ritter Lane in Newark; a country house for Albert B. Kelley of Randor, Pennsylvania; the DeVries Memorial Building in Lewes; additions to the Chester County Hospital, in Pennsylvania; as well as the State Board of Education Building, the Delaware State Legislature Building, and the Hall of Records in Dover. Martin (UD B.S. 1916) received architectural training at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Liverpool. Notebooks and architectural sketches dating from 1921-1922 document Martin's continental study tours. Through the Depression-era Historic American Buildings Survey, Martin participated in surveying and preparing the layouts for several historic Delaware
buildings in both Wilmington (Brandywine Academy, "Old Swedes" Holy Trinity Church) and New Castle (the Amstel House, Chancellor Kensey Johns House, Old Town Hall, and the Van Dyke House).
Mss 359
Collins & Autenrieth architectural works
,
1852-1904, 422 items
The prominent Philadelphia architectural firm of Collins & Authenrieth designed buildings for both private individuals and civic institutions, and much of their work centered on the German immigrant community. The collection includes elevations, floorplans, perspectives, renderings, sections, details, blueprints, and several notebooks; the drawings are organized in four series: I. Competitions and exhibitions, II. Public structures, III. Private structures, IV. Journals and an indenture. Projects include the Academy of Music, Central Presbyterian Church, the
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. Building, the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Masonic Hall, as well as several private residences.
Mss 364
Charles Edward Rahn architectural drawings
,
1892-1933, 128 items and six volumes
Charles Edward Rahn (fl. 1885-1933) was a Philadelphia architect whose work was primarily in the design of
residential buildings. The collection includes floor plans, elevations, perspectives, details, diagrams and
calculations, blueprints, vandyke prints, and journals (1915-1933). A number of perspectives of
country cabins are unidentified projects set in the mountains; most
of the designs are of row houses in West Philadelphia, or of large suburban homes. These houses were generally created in styles popular around the turn of the century, including elements of the Queen Anne, the stick style, Romanesque, and Jacobean revival. Rahn's journals contain the names of his clients and the projects with which they were associated, as well as other professional
and personal contacts.
Mss 365
James C. Fernald architectural blueprints
,
c. 1906, 7 items
Projects by Philadelphia architect James Fernald in this collection are small-scale, such as designs
for stores or residential row houses for individuals.
Mss 366
American-Moninger architectural drawings of greenhouses and conservatories
,
1936-1958, 51 items
Based in Brooklyn, New York, the American-Moninger Greenhouse Manufacturing Corp. designed and
manufactured greenhouses, solariums, show houses, workrooms, and conservatories for clients around the United
States. The fifty-one drawings in this collection include perspectives, floor plans, elevations, cross sections,
and details, all sketched in graphite. Most of the plans are for clients within the city of
New York, or nearby in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut; several are from as far afield as Ohio,
Texas, or Missouri.
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