Survey of Historic Architecture and Design

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Letter to Campus Liasions in Campus History

April 7, 2003

Dear Campus Liaison:

The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) has been awarded a two-year grant from the Getty Grant Program for the “Survey of Historic Architecture and Design on the Independent College and University Campus.” This project seeks to identify resources for further research about significant buildings, campus plans, open spaces, and heritage sites of American higher education. The first phase of this study is to prepare an inventory, from approximately 750 active and potential CIC members alike, of places of significant historic interest, in relation to distinctive developments in architecture, landscape, American history, and the history of education, religion, engineering, and culture. As a CIC Senior Advisor, and as an architectural historian, I am the project director of this endeavor.

The President of your institution has passed on the following materials regarding this project: a questionnaire about the most important places on your campus, a list of definitions and visual examples explaining the controlled vocabulary in part of the questionnaire, and guidelines for submission of materials. Please make every effort to complete the questionnaire so that your institution will be represented in the national study.

Think carefully about what places on your campus are the most meaningful and important to the institution, to students and faculty, and to the local community, state, and nation, in relation to the broad areas of study noted above. We are interested in places (buildings and spaces alike) that may not be especially well documented, including works of modern and vernacular architecture, and designed or natural features in the landscape. Works of interest also may fall into non-canonical categories of effective adaptive reuse and renovation, or may encompass border areas with the community that have been revitalized. An example of the latter might be an entire block of Victorian houses that have been turned into residences, creating a historic group of buildings along Main Street that is worthy of attention in our study.

There also may be examples of buildings on your campus that are representative of a style that appears across the country, such as Richardsonian Romanesque, and you may wonder whether to include it or not. If the building has significance in terms of its artistic merit, its importance to the mission of the college, or the history of education, or some aspect of the disciplines of history and culture in some important way, then it should be included.

We are also interested in places that may have been documented by agencies such as the National Register of Historic Places, the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)/Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and local historic groups. The paper copy of this letter that we have sent to your institution’s president identifies any buildings and/or sites on your campus that have been documented by these agencies. If you have not received this individualized information in the paper copy from your president, please contact my research assistant, Marianne Stolp Percival, at the following e-mail address: mpercival@cic.nche.edu.

Please remember that places you identify as significant need not have been officially documented by the National Register or HABS/HAER. What matters is their importance in the minds of those associated with your campus. For such examples, fill out the questionnaire to the best of your abilities.

Ideally, we would like you to complete every question. But if some part of the survey is especially problematic or you don’t know the answer, leave it blank and give a brief indication as to the problem. Also, if you need more time to complete a section such as the narrative, let us know, although we will appreciate every effort you make to complete the entire questionnaire by the date noted below.

Please note that if you and your institution consider more than one building or site of some significance, complete the questions in Part II of the questionnaire for each place, i.e., if there are three important places that you feel are significant, you will need to copy and complete all of Part II three separate times. If the campus plan alone or the plan and its arrangement of buildings is deemed significant, however, it may be possible to complete the questionnaire just once, depending on your institution’s particular situation.

Any relevant information regarding primary and secondary sources from campus archives, special collections, campus histories, or even discussions from your institution’s catalog will be most welcome and useful for subsequent phases of work on this project.

We ask that you return the survey in both the electronic (if at all possible) and hard copy formats. To that end:

1) please send the completed electronic form to the following e-mail address: gettysurvey@cic.nche.edu. In the subject line of your e-mail, please indicate your institution’s name, and

2) send the completed hard copy in the enclosed stamped envelope directly to me at the following address: Barbara S. Christen, Project Director, CIC Survey of Historic Architecture and Design, 3423 University Pl., Baltimore, MD 21218-2833.

Regarding images, note that you are asked to submit at least one image, in digital or hard copy (i.e., photographic form), for each place that you identify as important. Note that each image should be labeled clearly. Please consult the submission guidelines for further details about submitting images and the completed questionnaire.

The deadline for the return of both formats of the survey is on or before Friday, May 23, 2003.

Thank you, in advance, for your participation. Your efforts are much appreciated.

Sincerely yours,

Barbara S. Christen
Project Director

--Questionnaire
--Definitions and visual examples
--Submission guidelines