William S. Huff collection on Louis I. Kahn
Scope and Content Note
The William S. Huff collection on Louis I. Kahn contain a complete set of drawings for the Tribune Review Publishing Company building in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and drawings for the Margaret Esherick House in Philadelphia. Also included are an extensive collection of newspaper clippings and periodical articles about Kahn, photographs and slides of other buildings designed by Kahn (Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Yale University Art Gallery addition, Yale Center for British Art, Carborundum Company Warehouse and Office, and First Unitarian Church and Community Center, Rochester, New York), correspondence with Kahn, correspondence with others about Kahn's work, and correspondence with Kahn's widow Esther Israeli Kahn and others pertaining to passage of legislation by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to purchase Kahn's papers. There are also numerous small, original works by Kahn, and ephemera. Transcripts of interviews by Alvaro Malo on four of Kahn's buildings--Yale Center for British Art, Kimbell Art Museum, Phillips Exeter Library, and Salk Institute for Biological Studies--and books about Kahn and his work are also included.
Dates
- 1949-2012
Creator
- Huff, William S. (Person)
Language of Materials
Collection material primarily in English.
Terms of Access
The William S. Huff collection on Louis I. Kahn, 1949-2012 is open for research. The collection is not fully processed; an inventory is available in Special Collections, University Libraries, State University of New York at Buffalo.
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 th collection. Most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.
Biographical Note
Louis I. Kahn was born in Estonia and raised in Philadelphia. He was trained in architecture in the Beaux-Arts tradition at the University of Pennsylvania under Paul Philippe Cret. As a mature architect, Kahn was distinguished from his contemporaries (in a period dominated by the International Style) by his unique personal philosophy of architecture and a style marked by a profound sense of history and pure geometry in design and the texture of materials in construction. His legacy is as much in his teaching and his unbuilt designs as in his major built works. He lectured and wrote on architecture beginning in the 1930s. He taught at Yale University (1947-1955) and was Cret Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania from 1956 until his death (Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission).
William S. Huff was born on June 8, 1927, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Huff attended Yale University where he received his undergraduate degrees (1949, 1952) and his master's degree (1972).
Huff first became aware of Louis I. Kahn in 1947 when he was a student at Yale, and Kahn was a visiting critic. In 1956 Huff decided that he wanted to either work for Kahn or study in Europe. When Kahn did not have an opening, Huff secured a Fulbright and went to Ulm, Germany to study at the Hochschule für Gestaltung. Huff began working in Kahn's office in
Philadelphia in 1958. Between 1958 and 1962, Huff was in charge of the project to construct the Tribune Review Publishing Company building in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Huff left Kahn's office in 1962. Huff discussed Kahn's association with Yale in his article, "Kahn and Yale" ( Journal of architectural education: JAE, v.35, no.3 (Spring 1982), pp. 22-31. See also, Huff's "Louis Kahn: sorted recollections and lapses in familiarities," Little journal, v.5, no.1 (Sept. 1981)
William S. Huff died on January 21, 2021.
Extent
28 Linear Feet (13 boxes, 6 map drawers)
Abstract
The William S. Huff collection on Louis I. Kahn contains a complete set of drawings for the Tribune Review Publishing Company building in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and drawings for the Margaret Esherick House in Philadelphia. Also included are an extensive collection of newspaper clippings and periodical articles about Kahn, photographs and slides of other buildings designed by Kahn (Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Yale University Art Gallery addition, Yale Center for British Art, Carborundum Company Warehouse and Office, and First Unitarian Church and Community Center, Rochester, New York), correspondence with Kahn, correspondence with others about Kahn's work, and correspondence with Kahn's widow Esther Israeli Kahn and others pertaining to passage of legislation by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to purchase Kahn's papers. There are also numerous small, original works by Kahn, and ephemera. Transcripts of interviews by Alvaro Malo on four of Kahn's buildings--Yale Center for British Art, Kimbell Art Museum, Phillips Exeter Library, and Salk Institute for Biological Studies--and books about Kahn and his work are also included.
Arrangement
A detailed inventory is available on site. The collection is not fully processed and has not been arranged in series.
Other Finding Aid
A partial inventory, created and annotated by William Huff, is available online at https://library.buffalo.edu/archives/pdf/ms-139-1-public-partial-inventory.pdf
Acquisition Information
The The William S. Huff collection on Louis I. Kahn was a gift to the University Archives, donated by William S. Huff, 2006-2012.
Accruals and Additions
Further accruals are expected to this collection.
Processing Information
Collection is unprocessed.
Finding aid encoded by Danielle White, August 2014.
- Architects -- Archives
- Architecture -- Designs and plans -- Working drawings
- Carborundum Company Warehouse and Office (Niagara Falls, N.Y.)
- Faculty papers
- First Unitarian Church of Rochester, N.Y. -- Buildings
- Huff, William S. -- Correspondence
- Kahn, Louis I.
- Kahn, Louis I. -- Correspondence
- Kimbell Art Museum -- Buildings
- Malo, Alvaro
- Margaret Esherick House (Philadelphia, Pa.) -- Design and construction
- Phillips Exeter Academy. Library -- Buildings
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies -- Buildings
- Tribune Review Press building (Greensburg, Pa.) -- Design and construction
- Yale Center for British Art -- Buildings
- Yale University. Art Gallery -- Buildings
Source
- University Archives (Repository, Organization)
- Title
- Finding Aid for the William S. Huff collection on Louis I. Kahn
- Status
- Unprocessed
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Archives staff.
- Date
- 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives Repository
420 Capen Hall
Buffalo New York 14260-1674 US
716-645-2916
716-645-3714 (Fax)
lib-archives@buffalo.edu