Clyde H. Dorsett (1925-2007) was an architectural consultant dedicated to mental healthcare design becoming the nation's leading authority in the design and construction of such facilities. Working as lead architectural consultant for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) from 1965 to 1982, he oversaw the federal government's ambitious program to transform the nation's monolithic state mental hospital structure into a wider variety of local and state facilities to address a spectrum of medical and social needs through more precisely tailored, yet humane and informal design approaches. Underpinning the work was the growing conviction that the built environment played a significant role in the healing process, and that such 'scientifically' derived design could be applied to social problems. Based at the institute's offices in Washington D.C., he both advised on individual projects through drawings submitted by architects nation-wide, as well as developing guidelines and standards for the accreditation, certification and funding of construction projects by the federal government. It is of these documents that the present collection largely comprises. He continued advising in the field long after his early retirement from the institute in 1982.

This collection documents the life and career of Edgar Allen Tafel: New York architect, Frank Lloyd Wright historian, and one of the original apprentices of the Taliesin Fellowship from 1932. The collection primarily documents Tafel's professional activities and his later independent architectural career which was most prominent from 1965-1985. The collection is made up of nine series: Personal Papers, Correspondence, Writings, Professional Papers, Office Records, Project Records, Photographs and Slides, Audio-Visual Material, and Printed Material.

Gordon Bunshaft (1909-1990) was an American architect who, as a partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, had a significant impact on large-scale corporate architecture. His projects include such significant urban office towers as the Lever House in midtown Manhattan, as well as modern office campuses set in natural landscapes, including such examples as the American Can Company in Greenwich, Connecticut or the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company headquarters in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Additionally, his interest in art caused him to actively integrate work by well-known modern artists into the public plazas and interiors of SOM's projects. The professional aspects of this collection can be found in clippings, project photography, oral history records, and publications, however, the majority of the collection is personal and reflects the life of Gordon and his wife Nina Bunshaft. Through correspondence, snapshots, objects, and personal papers the collection focuses on the Bunshafts' friends, their travels, and their impressive art collection of both modern and ancient sculptures and paintings.

Hugh Ferriss (1889-1962) was an architectural renderer known for his vision of the modern city and his ability to translate vast projects into dramatic but clear-cut images. Ferriss published two books: The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929) and Power of Buildings (1953). The collection was donated to Avery Library by Ferriss' family after his death, and has been supplemented by several later additions from other sources. 363 original drawings in the collection have been photographed and digitized and can be viewed via links in the finding aid's container listing.

This collection documents the life and career of J. Max Bond, Jr., one of the most influential and prominent African-American architects and educators in the United States. The collection primarily documents Bond's professional activities rather than his building projects; however, the collection does contain project records and office records. The collection is made up of six series: Office Records, Personal Papers, Faculty Papers, Professional Papers, Project Records, and Reference Materials.

Louis Henry Sullivan (1856-1924) was an American architect and partner in the Chicago architectural firm Alder & Sullivan. He is also known as a mentor to architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The core of the collection is made up of 122 drawings given to Frank Lloyd Wright by Louis Sullivan before Sullivan's death in 1924. The Avery collection represents the bulk of what remains of Sullivan's drawings. Most of the drawings in this collection are designs for ornament representing different stages of Sullivan's stylistic development. Some drawings are annotated by Wright. The collection also includes additional donations of drawings, objects, and papers collected over the years.

Max Abramovitz (1908-2004) was an American architect, whose firm Harrison & Abramovitz was one of the leading architectural practices in post-war America. Major commissions include Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall and the United Nations complex. The collection contains over 14,500 drawings, over 5,000 photographs, 24 boxes of manuscript material, 7 boxes of oversize material, 23 boxes of financial records, 5 boxes of reprint tear sheets, 36.75 linear feet of specification notebooks, photo albums, sketchbooks, art and artifacts.

Robert Allan Jacobs (1905-1993) was an American architect and designer active in the United States from the 1930s until his retirement in the early 1980s. His work consists primarily of commercial projects, including numerous skyscrapers in New York City, along with a richly varied corpus of other institutional, residential, and commercial projects--primarily centered in New York City and its surrounding suburbs but ranging as far afield as South Africa and the Dominican Republic. The son of the notable Beaux-Arts architect Harry Allan Jacobs, Robert Allan Jacobs was educated at Amherst College and the Columbia University School of Architecture. Jacobs began his career as a disciple of Le Corbusier, went on to serve as a designer and draftsman for Harrison & Fouilhoux, and then formed a partnership with Ely Jacques Kahn in 1941--thus commencing three decades of pioneering collaborative design work that would leave an indelible mark on the Manhattan skyline. Together, Kahn & Jacobs made their debut with the Municipal Asphalt Plant in 1941 and went on to design such iconic projects as 100 Park Avenue (1944), the Universal Pictures Building (1947), 1407 Broadway (1950), 425 Park Avenue (1957), the Seagram Building (in collaboration with Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, 1958), the Astor Plaza Building (in collaboration with Carson & Lundin, 1961), the New York Telephone Building (1969), and One Astor Place (1970).

An American architect and urban planner, Shadrach Woods was a student of Le Corbusier and worked extensively throughout North Africa, France, Germany and New York City on projects ranging from low-cost housing developments to university campuses. Also highly regarded as a critic and theorist, Woods taught at Harvard and Yale and lectured and published widely. The collection represents the span of Woods' life and career through papers, photographs, architectural drawings, writings, and published materials. A small group of materials documents his childhood and education through personal papers and photographs. However, the bulk of the collections relates to his professional work and collaborations.