Office of Planning and Development records

Collection — Box: 1-19, OBJ 20

Identifier: 8-1-447

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Collection includes the files kept by the Office of Planning and Development, 1962-1968, incorporating earlier files, 1920-1962, kept by the Committee on Buildings and Grounds of the University of Buffalo Council. These records concern the construction of and alterations to most of the major buildings on the Main Street campus of the University of Buffalo and include correspondence with architects and contractors, contracts, specifications, change orders, renderings blueprints and photographs. There is also a small amount of material on the rebuilding of the Law School on Eagle Street (1948-1949) and on Townsend Hall in Niagara Square. While these files incorporate the records of the old Committee on Buildings and Grounds, they do not include the minutes of that committee nor any materials concerning its meetings and deliberations.

Dates

1920-1968

Creator

State University of New York at Buffalo. Office of Planning and Development (Organization)

Language of Materials

Collection material in English.

Terms of Access

The bulk of the Office of Planning and Development, State University of New York at Buffalo Records, 1920-1968, are open for research. Building plans of university buildings may be accessed with approval of the University at Buffalo Facilities Plan Library.

Copyright

Copyright of papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the University Archives before publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

Historical Note

The responsibilities of the Committee on Buildings and Grounds of the Council as specified in the ordinances of the University of Buffalo adopted by the Council on August 3, 1920 were as follows:

This committee shall make recommendations for the location of new buildings and shall have general charge and oversight of the buildings and grounds of the University, and of such new construction, improvements, alterations and repairs as may be provided for by the budget or authorized by special action of the Council or the Committee on General Administration acting with the powers conferred on it. [Article I, Section 5©)]

In practice, the Committee on Buildings and Grounds worked closely with the Office of the Treasurer and Comptroller.

The Office of Planning and Development was established in 1962, after the merger of the University of Buffalo with the State University of New York. Its purpose was to coordinate with the Central Office of Planning and Development of SUNY in Albany and oversee site development, architectural development, equipment and space. [For more information, ask archivist for memo from Claude Puffer dated August 22, 1962 in the Archives accession file.

In 1967, a Vice President for Facilities Planning was established to oversee the development of the Amherst campus. The area of responsibility for Facilities Planning was expanded to cover both the Main Street and the Amherst campus and in 1968(?) it subsumed the responsibilities of the office of Planning and Development.

Extent

28.5 Linear Feet (19 cartons, 1 oversize notebook)

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in three series:

I. Building File
II. General Correspondence
III. General File

Acquisition Information

Collection was discovered by the Archives staff in abandoned filing cabinets in the basement of Hayes Hall and accessioned on April 13, 1978.

Additional records, 1957-1964, were transferred to the University Archives from Facilities Planning, via Al Dahlberg, August 17, 1979; found in Hayes Hall by the School of Architecture and Environmental Design and transferred via Alfred Price, Assistant Dean, to the Office of Facilities Planning. These records were apparently detached from a file removed by the Archives from Hayes Hall in April 1978. They have been re-filed and are noted with an * in the container list.

Item 20, Plans were added April 23, 2003.

Accruals and Additions

No further accruals are expected to this collection.

Related Resources

2/2/679, Committee to Name Buildings: Records, 1972-1980
3/1/464m, Committee for an Urban University, 1966
3/3/1128, Location, Location, Location: A Special History of the University of/at Buffalo, 2007
5/3/267B, President, Office of. Campus Planning,1954-1973
8/1/50, Office of Planning and Development Records, 1964-1966
8/1/328, Campus Planning Committee files, 1964-1966
8/1/497, Amherst Land Acquisition, 1964-1972
8/1/552, Capital Budget Requests and Campus Master Plan: Files, 1968-1979
8/1/664, Contracts and Legal Files, 1966-1979, 1969-1977
8/1/968, University Facilities Budget and Planning Documents, 1965-1978
8/9/993, The Amherst Campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo: A Historical Perspective, Masters Project by Angeline Janetakos, April 26, 1985
8/7/999, South Campus Planning Documents, 1957-1984
8/9/997, Amherst Campus Clippings, 1962-1980
8/9/1007, North Campus Construction Records, 1957-1991
8/9/1090, North Campus Construction Clippings, 1971-1979
8/10 Video 213, Press conference-New shopping/office center, 1992