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 is an unprocessed collection.

This collection includes correspondence, research, and legal papers related to the operations of the Coalition to Save City and Suburban Housing, Inc., the complex's tenants, community activists, and their joint efforts to obtain a designation of the complex as a New York City landmark.

Included are architectural drawings, surveys, maps, and site proposals, for Columbia's Morningside Heights campus, designed primarily by McKim, Mead & White. Other architects represented include Adams & Woodbridge; Arnold Brunner (who designed the School of Mines); Eggers & Higgins; the Columbia University Buildings and Grounds Department; Howells and Stokes (designed St. Paul's Chapel); Reinhard, Hofmeister and Wahlquist; and James Gamble Rogers. Drawings for buildings no longer in existence or never constructed and drawings for later alterations, are included. Architectural drawings of the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum, and surveys of the asylum site prepared for Columbia, 1888-1894. Also included are site plans and proposals, surveys, and maps, circa 1890s-1910s, showing the surrounding area, including such institutions as the Jewish Theological Seminary, St. Luke's Home, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Grant's Tomb, and others. Drawings for the Womans's Hospital in the State of New York (designed by Allen & Collens, erected 1903, demolished in the 1970s), circa 1903-1914, are also included. This building was used to house the Columbia School of the Arts in the 1960s since it was located near the campus.

Architectural drawings (no longer in current use by Facilities Management), transferred to the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library from the Dept. of Facilities Management pertaining to proposals, construction, alteration and addition of properties formerly used or owned, and buildings demolished or still extant. The dates of the materials span 1895 to today. The drawings include plans showing the heating and ventilation systems, electrical and plumbing details, and some original construction materials. Some of the buildings represented in this collection are: Avery Hall; Earl Hall; St. Paul's Chapel; Teachers College; Low Library; Ferris Booth; and Uris Hall, as well as details of fences; steps; statues; and bronze railings. Some of the architects hired by the University include McKim, Mead & White, Howells & Stokes, James Gamble Rogers, and Allen & Collens, as well as builder and architect R. Guastavino Co. who was responsible for the domes and vaults of St. Paul's Chapel, Earl Hall, and the Van Amringe Memorial

Additional materials include carbons of typescript correspondence of lectures given by Dean William A. Boring (academic year 1933-1934) and Professor Theodor Karl Rohdenburg (academic year 1946-1947). Also design problems, the earliest of which were given in conjunction with the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, from academic years 1918-1919, 1926-1927, 1936-1937, 1949-1950, and 1957-1958. Also materials for the Architecture 51 class; correspondence of Joseph Hudnut; course outlines; correspondence relating to the search for a new dean of the school, 1957-1963.

This collection consists of administrative papers related to the Centennial Celebration organiziational efforts. The collection is made up of 7 series: Departmental Files, The Making of an Architect, Exhibit, Mapping Project, Interviews, Photos, and Bulletins, Brochures, and Books.

This collection consists of 257 video recordings (from 484 dvds) capturing various GSAPP events conducted from 2005 to 2010. These events encompass lectures, debates, conferences, and symposia and feature practicing architects, architectural historians and theorists, preservationists, and other influential figures within the architectural field. Currently, we are in the process of digitizing these video recordings, and they will be accessible online to Columbia affiliates upon completion [anticipated summer 2024]. Additionally, these recordings will be made available to the public in our reading room. They have been organized chronologically, with undated recordings appearing at the end of the collection.