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Architecture and Urbanism Resources at Harvard

A brief guide to resources on architecture, landscapes, and urban planning at Harvard

Loeb Design Library Special Collections

Loeb Design Library's Special Collections holds an extensive collection of rare books, drawings, manuscripts, and photographs that spans the history of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning from the Middle Ages through the 20th century.

Getting Started
From the library's website: "we strongly recommend all researchers to contact department staff in advance to assure access to materials. A substantial amount of material is stored off-site and it may take some time to be assembled." Appointments can be scheduled with Inés Zalduendo, Special Collections Archivist and Reference Librarian.


Highlights from the Collection

  • The Cluny Collection
    Books, periodicals, drawings, various objects, and correspondence related to medieval architectural history. The material documents Kenneth John Conant's forty years directing archeological excavations and research at the Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, France.
  • Le Corbusier Research Collection
    A collection of material by and about the Modernist architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965) that includes extensive printed material as well as paintings, drawings, a tapestry, and an unpublished sketchbook. 
  • Photographs Collected by Henry Hobson Richardson
    A collection of photographs assembled by the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson that depict architecture in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Especially notable are photographs of Romanesque architecture in southern France.
  • Josep Lluis Sert Collection
    Drawings, plans, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs and ephemeral from the personal and professional files of architect and planner Josep Lluis Sert. There is significant material related to projects that Sert executed at Harvard, including a campus master plan, the Science Center, Holyoke Center (now the Smith Campus Center), and Peabody Terrace.

    Banner: Detail from The Chimbote Plan. The Josep Lluis Sert Collection, 1925-1983. Gift of Josep Lluis Sert, 1979-1982. The Chimbote plan, 1948. Folder B075t. Frances Loeb Library, Harvard University Graduate School of Design.