menu
Skip to main content

UMN Libraries news and events have moved to www.lib.umn.edu/news

Please update your bookmarks and visit that site for current news and events, including event registration. To give to UMN Libraries, visit www.lib.umn.edu/about#giving.

This site (libnews.umn.edu) has been preserved as an archive and will be available until at least 2028.

Renderings

New Collections and Materials

To bring our readers up to date on our acquisitions over the last couple of years, here is a list of donated collections and material to the Northwest Architectural Archives:

  • Ankeny Kell papers: job files, plan sets, digital files, material donated by the firm.
  • Brighton Development Corporation: Woman owned firm that collaborated with Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton to revitalize Minneapolis neighborhoods. Job files donated by the firm owners.
  • Thomas Blanck papers: Local architect, historian, and a Cass Gilbert scholar who restored many homes around Cathedral Hill. His papers include plan sets, trade catalogs, with more to come.
  • Chiat papers (accruals): UMN professor emeritus, Marilyn Chiat, materials include family papers, research travel, photographs, and writings.
  • Close Associates: Last of files, books, ephemera before their office building sold; Hargens family papers, books, donated by Gar Hargens.
  • Cuningham papers: In 2025, John Cuningham, FAIA, donated a large part of his student work from both the U of M and the Harvard Graduate School of Design where one of his teachers was Walter Groupius.
  • Johnson papers: Leigh Johnson self-taught & expert furniture maker and who accurately restored colonial era homes on the east coast, includes historical house surveys, donated by Leigh Johnson.
  • Miriam Bend Lien,: UMN School of Architecture, material donated by the family.
  • Lovness Estate papers: the Frank Lloyd Wright designed residence for the Lovness family including correspondence, photographs, and ephemera.
  • Charlie Nelson Library: Former State of Minnesota’s Historic Architect, Charlie Nelson’s Library, material donated by the family.
  • A book belonging to Marion Alice Parker, inscribed by William Grey Purcell after her death, donated by a visitor to our “Making Room: Women’s Histories in the Northwest Architectural Archives” exhibition.
  • Rapson: Toby & Linda Rapson donated more material to the Rapson papers, including slides, ephemera, plans, drawings, and job files.
  • Inez Allen Roach material, donated by a former neighbor and exhibit visitor.
  • Roney collection: Craig Roney, an award-winning architect’s watercolor paintings of the built environment, donated by the family.
University Libraries

Author University Libraries

More posts by University Libraries

© 2026 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Report Web Accessibility Issues | Privacy Statement | Acceptable Use of IT Resources