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Steno Book Travel Diaries with Conceptual Drawings
The Travel Diaries with Conceptual Drawings subseries is especially noteworthy for giving the researcher insight into the spontaneous daily writings, musings and drawings of the architect while on the road visiting projects around the world. Handwritten and sometimes in his native Latvian language, these notebooks give the reader a sense of how Birkerts interacted with clients and associates while traveling. The tiny conceptual drawings on the pages of these diaries represent the spontaneity of his creative process, as he sought solutions to design problems on a train or plane. The volumes are arranged chronologically, with the notes and drawings for particular building projects indicated in the finding aid. The travel diaries contained in Box 11 were deemed by Birkerts to be too personal to be accessible to the public at the present time and thus are restricted for 50 years until 2033 to 2045.
Steno Book Travel Diaries with Written Notes and Letter Drafts
The Travel Diaries with Conceptual Drawings subseries is especially noteworthy for giving the researcher insight into the spontaneous daily writings, musings and drawings of the architect while on the road visiting projects around the world. Handwritten and sometimes in his native Latvian language, these notebooks give the reader a sense of how Birkerts interacted with clients and associates while traveling. The tiny conceptual drawings on the pages of these diaries represent the spontaneity of his creative process, as he sought solutions to design problems on a train or plane. The volumes are arranged chronologically, with the notes and drawings for particular building projects indicated in the finding aid. The travel diaries contained in Box 11 were deemed by Birkerts to be too personal to be accessible to the public at the present time and thus are restricted for 50 years until 2033 to 2045.
Photographs
The images in the Photographs subseries were taken over five decades of the architect's career and offer us freeze-frame glimpses of Birkerts' life and work. A few of these show him designing diligently at his desk as a 30-year-old in 1955, surrounded by Lady Bird Johnson as well as many of the great modern architects of the twentieth century in Columbus, Indiana in 1967, and consulting with archivists on his drawings at the Bentley Historical Library in 1998. Combined with the written documentation of the architect's life and career, the photographic images contribute to the richness of the Gunnar Birkerts Collection and to our understanding of the man and his work.
Faculty Papers
Faculty Papers is the third series of the Gunnar Birkerts Collection. While Birkerts has practiced architecture around the globe for over 50 years, he has also maintained a commitment to educating students as a Professor of Architecture at the University of Michigan for almost 30 years. Here he conducted a design studio from 1963 to 1990, was a frequent and popular lecturer on the campus and was appointed Professor Emeritus of Architecture in 1990. Although his Honors Design Studio applicants' resumes, letters of intent and biographical sketches in this collection have been restricted from access for 75 years until 2047 to 2065 (in Box 11) because they are considered to be student papers, his course registers, syllabi, assignments and related materials are available and document Birkerts' experience in teaching and inspiring students. The course materials, correspondence and newspaper articles relating to his tenure as the University of Oklahoma Bruce Alonzo Goff Professor of Creative Architecture from 1990 to1993 are also included in the Faculty Papers series. Many of the lectures which Birkerts delivered at the University of Michigan and the University of Oklahoma appear in the Transcripts of Speeches and Audio-Visual Materials subseries of the Professional Papers series.