H. H. Richardson Architectural Drawings Preservation Project

Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Over the years the H.H. Richardson collections have sustained constant and intensive research use. In a condition assessment of the drawings, conservators determined that a majority were brittle, torn, and dirty. The photograph albums suffered from broken bindings and brittle paper. Local finding aids needed enhancement to make them more useful to scholars beyond the immediate Harvard community.

In 1993, the Harvard University Library received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a three-year project to ameliorate these problems. Project accomplishments are outlined below.

Architectural drawings in the Houghton Library

Creation of 257 catalog records for 137 architectural projects. All 5,243 drawings received item-level entries in each record. All records were entered into HOLLIS, Harvard's on-line catalog, as well as in the national bibliographic databases, RLIN and OCLC.
Treatment and rehousing of drawings. All 5,243 drawings received item-level entries in each record. All records were entered into HOLLIS, Harvard's on-line catalog, as well as in the national bibliographic databases, RLIN and OCLC.
Installation of a custom designed storage unit. Storage for the Richardson drawings now meets archival standards in an environmentally controlled space in Houghton Library.
Microfilming of 5,238 drawings on 21 reels.
– 4,377 drawings filmed at reduction ratios from 12-30x
– 719 drawings larger than 31 x 44" but smaller than 40 x 56" filmed by the Spaulding Company, Stoughton MA, and spliced into the appropriate drawing sequence
– 187 drawings over 40 x 56" were photographed on 8 x 10" negatives, from which 10" x 14" inch prints were made. These prints, accompanied by explanatory targets, were inserted among the 4,377 smaller drawings in the correct sequence, then microfilmed
– note: 40 drawings, some over 10 feet in length, could not be filmed as single frames; these 40 were captured on 120 frames
Creation of finding aids for the collection. In addition to the HOLLIS records, the drawings are accessible on-site through a computer database, printed inventories, and microfilm indexes.

Photograph albums in the Frances Loeb Library

Rehousing. All but one of the albums was disbound. Individual photographs were surfaced cleaned, sleeved in Mylar, and placed into drop-spine boxes.
Full restoration of one album. The Loeb Library collections conservator fully restored one album so that researchers could see how it originally looked.
Inventorying and cataloging of 3,600 photographs. All of the images were indexed on-line using the Special Collections database in the Loeb Library.
Storage of the albums in environmentally controlled space in Special Collections.

With the rehousing and indexing of the photo albums, researchers now have detailed, flexible access to the images they contain.

Henry Hobson Richardson Collections at Harvard

The Houghton Library acquired Richardson's archive of 5,016 drawings in 1942. These drawings document 123 projects, among which are some of Richardson's best-known works: Trinity Church in Boston, the Glessner House in Chicago, the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, the Ames Town Hall in North Easton, Massachusetts, and the State Capitol in Albany, New York. The collection also documents the full design process, from initial conceptualization and sketches, to scale drawings, presentation renderings, and construction documents, as well as drawings of furnishings and ornamental details.

In addition to the drawings at the Houghton Library, the Frances Loeb Library at the Harvard Graduate School of Design holds 54 photograph albums assembled by Richardson as a visual reference file. The albums include photographs European, Near Eastern, and American architecture, as well as exterior and interior architectural and decorative detail.

Together, the archival materials at Harvard represent the single richest concentration of original resources for the study of H.H. Richardson. Given the breadth of Richardson's influence, they are an essential resource for national and international scholarship. In addition, the drawings provide indispensible documentation for architects seeking to preserve or restore Richardson's buildings.