Vote to preserve an Indiana family barm!

This year Campbell’s Soup will be preserving 5 barns as chosen by voters. One barn in the running is owned by the Dull family in Thorntown, Indiana.

Voting will take place from October 1, 2009 to January 5, 2010. You can cast one vote every day. It just takes a minute. http://www.helpgrowyoursoup.com/projects.aspx

About the Dull Family Farm:
"We are a family-owned corporation that row crops 2000 acres of corn and soybeans. We also run and maintain a tree farm that we use as part of a Christmas tree business.
Our barn is the centerpiece of our farm. It is the first building that customers see as they come around the bend in the road and up the driveway, so it needs to look good for that first impression. We are very involved in our community, and our farm is a recommended place to visit by the Boone County Convention and Visitors Bureau. During school tours, part of the barn is used for a petting zoo where the students and teachers feed and interact with our animals. We feel this on-farm connection goes a long way in educating our future consumers about where food really comes from.
This project would provide a unique service learning opportunity for all involved. It would provide an avenue where two local FFA chapters from different districts, FFA Alumni, national FFA staff and the Dulls can all work together to revive a tired barn into a centerpiece that's used to educate both the young and the not-so-young about food and agriculture."

To learn more about the Dull Family farm, visit their website: http://dullstreefarm.com/index.php

Indiana Diners & Drive-ins

Experience the history of the American diner!

The Drawings and Documents Archive’s new exhibit, Indiana Diners and Drive-ins, explores the architecture of the diner from its origin as a night lunch wagon where night workers and bar patrons bought five-cent ham sandwiches and pie after the regular restaurants had closed for the night, to the rocket ship-inspired drive-ins of the 1950s where teenagers cruised in their Ford convertibles, looking for a malt and a burger.

The humble diner is a familiar aspect of the American landscape. No road trip would be the same without its comforting neon beacon at the end of a long road. And every late night out deserves to be capped off with a visit to the local greasy spoon to ease the transition home. We may take the structure of the modern diner for granted, but it has experienced many architectural revisions in its progression from novelty business to regular customers. Indiana diners, as well as the diner’s midcentury offspring, the drive-in, developed according to cultural interests and pastimes and, therefore, architecturally reflect what was happening in the state and in the country.

The exhibit opens Thursday, November 12th from 4-6 p.m. in the College of Architecture and Planning’s gallery, located on the first floor. In honor of waitresses, car hops and short-order cooks everywhere, we will be serving pie!

Consider this your official invitation:

HABS Resources

The Historic American Buildings Survey, commonly referred to as HABS, was established in 1933 in an effort to relieve the crushing impact of unemployment in the United States during the Great Depression. It was created by the National Park Service with a mission to document the architectural heritage of the United States and to put people, such as architects, draftsmen, and others, back to work.

In Indiana, there is evidence that the HABS program was active as early at the inception of the program. The Drawing and Documents Archive here at Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning recently uncovered some HABS documents that show an overview of important historical structures located within the state. A year after the program was established in 1933, an Indiana HABS map from 1934 shows the locations of projects in District No. 24. Two years after this map, in 1936, a map showing the location of projects in Indiana districts was completed. These maps are not only important because they show the structures Indiana’s historic past, but also because these maps were on the forefront of a massive undertaking that was to help the United States pull itself out of an economic pitfall while reigniting the interest of America’s storied past. As a result, these maps are an important part of both the history of Indiana and the nation.

The Historic American Buildings Survey collection of documents, surveys, photographs, and more, is now housed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and is in the public domain. HABS is an ongoing project and new structures are being added to this important resource. Digitalization of the collection is also underway. For more information, please visit the Library of Congress website on HABS: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/. The Drawings and Documents Archive also houses many HABS drawings relating to Indiana architecture.

As a side note, there is also the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) as well at the Historic American Landscape Survey (HALS). These collections are also housed in the Library of Congress.


Posted by Matt Kriegl, Graduate Assistant at the Drawings + Documents Archive

Conservation in the Archive

Four extraordinary landscape architecture drawings were recently donated to the Drawings and Documents Archive’s Indianapolis Parks Collection. The drawings depict Garfield Park Conservatory, a design for an outdoor amphitheater, and Holiday Park; all located in Indianapolis. Each of the drawings are full-color pencil drawings on paper, dating from the 1940s to 1950s. Much of the Indianapolis Parks Collection contains architectural drawings and mechanical information for structures in the park, so these elegantly rendered landscapes and planting drawings are a welcome addition to the collection.

Unfortunately, they were previously housed in a mechanical warehouse with engines and exposed to decades of soot and dirt, and thus came to the Archive covered in a layer of grime that obscured their beautiful colors, subtle details, and handwritten planting notes. The first pair of white, cotton gloves used to move the items to the Archive were quickly blackened from the soot covering nearly every inch of the items.

In order to be placed within the collection and enable researchers to utilize the information contained in the drawings, they required careful cleaning to remove the layer of grime that obscured them, without removing the image itself.

This image of the Garfield Park Conservatory drawing was taken with the cleaning was nearly complete. You can see, on the left side, the extent to which it was darkened.

How to research a historic Indiana neighborhood

For new students in the Historic Preservation department, or for researchers who just want to learn more about their own neighborhood, writer Tanya Marsh details her method of researching the Brightwood neighborhood in Indianapolis. Read her interesting article at
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/property/2009/09/tracing-the-history-of-a-neighborhood.html

New Exhibit on Indiana's Conservation Design History

The College of Architecture and Planning's gallery is now hosting an extraordinary exhibit titled Celebrating Indiana’s Conservation Design Heritage: Selections from the Archives of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, curated by Christopher Baas, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, and Ryan Smith, a second year graduate student in Landscape Architecture.

Displaying drawings mined from the vast archives at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Engineering, this exhibit explores a wide range of drawing types for state owned properties: master plans, conceptual designs, and construction drawings. The majority of the collection is the federally funded New Deal Era landscapes and structures, but several date to the reservoir construction era of the 1960s and 70s.

Due to security issues, the exhibit contains high-resolution images scaled to the original size of the drawings, not the original drawings themselves. However, two original, featured works from the exhibit are on display at the Drawings and Documents Archive down the hall from the gallery. They are a Jens Jensen design he created for the Prairie Club Fountain, Indiana Dunes State Park in 1932, and an elaborate drawing by John Lloyd Wright for Beach Cabin Units, also at the Indiana Dunes State Park, in 1930.

Jens Jensen, as a member of the Chicago’s Prairie Club, was instrumental in attempts to establish a Dunes National Park in the years leading up to WWI. After the attempts faltered, Indiana created a state park in the late 1920s (the National Lakeshore was not established until the late 1960s). As a thank you, Prairie Club members held a fountain design competition of which this design of Jensen’s won. The fountain was dedicated in 1932. It was unearthed from a dune and moved to a location near the park’s visitor center in the 1980s.

This drawing was likely the landscape architect’s proposal to the state seeking approval for construction (a reasonable explanation for it being in the DNR archives). A similar set of construction drawings is located at the Jensen Archives at the University of Michigan.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, John, had a practice in Long Beach, Indiana. He had a lengthy career both in Indiana, and later in California. He was also the inventor of Lincoln Logs. Little is known about this commission beyond what the drawing communicates. Wright presents a conceptual plan for a multi-story motel that is cleverly integrated into the dune landscape. The project was never constructed.

Green Design at Minnetrista, September 19th

https://ilocker.bsu.edu/users/mdgibson/WORLD_SHARED/bfly_announcement_web.jpg

Preserving Modernism

The New York Times reported on building and landscape preservation efforts to save Modernist environments on Cape Cod.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/garden/27cape.html

Fall semester hours at the Archive

The Archive is open Monday, Tuesday Wednesday 9-noon, 1-5; Thursday 9-noon, 2-5; Friday by appointment. If you'd like to schedule an appointment, please email ddarchive@bsu.edu or call (765) 285-8441.

Archive Open House

The Drawings and Documents Archive, Architecture Library, and Visual Resource Center are hosting an open house for faculty Friday, August 21, from 1-4 p.m. During the lull between beginning of the school year meetings, please stop by to:

Check out the new Building Material Samples Collection in the Visual Resources Center (AB 117).

Discover resources in the Drawings and Documents Archive (AB 120).

Browse new books and videos in the library. (AB 116)

Have some refreshments! (sorry-only in the Library, not the Archive)

For non-BSU patrons, you are always invited to stop by the Archive, for the open house or to conduct research.

International Open Building Student Competition

After the successful completion of the First International Student Competition in Open Building in 2008 here at Ball State University, the CIB W104 is organizing the 2nd student competition in association with Tecnalia in Bilbao, Spain in May 2010. The competition has two aims:
1) to invite critical observation of the traditions of architecture as a profession, and
2) to invite creative and focused thinking on the needed advancements in design methodology to meet the challenges of a dynamic new urban morphology mutating with the changes of contemporary urban life.

2008 competition award winners: http://www.bsu.edu/web/capweb/bfi/openarchitectureconference/competition_awards.html

Information on the 2010 competition:
http://open-building.org/archives/2010_spain_competition.pdf

Students are encouraged to enter this prestigious competition!

Soldiers and Sailors Monument undergoes renovation work

At the very heart of the city of Indianapolis stands an impressive limestone monument erected to honor Indiana soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War and other wars prior to World War I. It's officially called the State Soldiers and Sailors Monument, but locals tend to refer to it as Monument Circle, or just the Circle. Visually, it's a stunning piece of art and architecture that functions as the central axis from which the original city plat radiates.

Completed in 1901, the structure and sculpture has spent over a century exposed to the harsh climate of Indiana so it's no surprise that it is in need of repairs. The City of Indianapolis is embarking on a $600,000 project to rebuild the leaky observation deck and repair the water damage that has resulted from the leaks. You can read more about the project at http://www.indystar.com/article/20090811/LOCAL/90811008/City+to+renovate+monument+on+Circle

One of the tasks of the project is to install anchors to make it easier to hang Christmas lights on the monument. Every Christmas since 1962, it transforms into a gigantic Christmas "tree", with lights strung from the top to the ground. It's a popular destination in December and a well-loved city symbol that brightens up the often-dreary winter weather.

Who do we have to thank for thinking to decorate the monument? Indianapolis architect Edward D. Pierre (1890-1971) came up with the idea in the 1930s, but due to limitations of the Depression, it wasn't realized until 1945. Pierre began with modest displays on each side of the monument that expanded over time, culminating with the addition of the lights in 1962. Themes of the first display were Peace on Earth, on the north side, Hoosier Christmas on the south, The Night Before Christmas, on the east fountain, and Fairy Land--Little Orphan Annie, on the west fountain.

Pierre was an extraordinary architect who combined is passions for architecture and urban planning into a long and influential career. He was so influential that Indianapolis mayor Richard Lugar eulogized him as being "one of the most significant and imaginative thinkers in regard to the beauty of Indianapolis." The Indiana Society of Architects established the Edward D. Pierre Medal to honor subsequent architects who also embody his spirit of urban renewal through architecture.

The Drawings and Documents Archive chose its Pierre and Wright Architectural Records as the first collection we digitize. Over 2,000 pieces of the collection are currently being photographed and scanned and entered into our online Digital Media Repository (http://libx.bsu.edu/).

We're going to debut the first part of the collection--the amazing 3-D model set of downtown Indianapolis Edward Pierre created in 1953--soon, but I wanted to give you one sneak peak at the collection before it goes live, here is the model (scale is at 1:720) of the State Soldiers and Sailors Monument:

With the dark backdrop it looks remarkably similar to two night scene postcards we have in another collection:



For more information on the State Soldiers and Sailors Monument, visit http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/indianapolis/soldiersandsailors.htm

http://www-lib.iupui.edu/kade/soldiers.html

Architecture as Aid

The Drawings + Documents Archive's mission, as mentioned above in the banner for the blog, is entirely focused on Indiana. However, the Archive is physically situated within a college that has a global world view. Ball State College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) students and faculty come from all over the planet, and students regularly conduct internships and study abroad during their time here. CAP also strives to help, through architecture, landscape architecture, planning, or historic preservation, communities as close as Muncie and as far away as New Delhi. For that extraordinary reason, you will see some postings here about architecture outside of Indiana.

One fascinating example of helping communities through architecture is happening in the high Himilaya of Northeast India, where exiled Tibetans are building new lives. American John Ullman first visited the region in 2007 to fulfill an internship requirement for his architecture license. Once in Tawang, Arucnacnal Pradesh, he experienced this impoverished community's need for architecture and decided to do something about it. Ullman organized Architecture for Tibet to improve the lives of these people, particularly children, who have had to leave their homes in Tibet. He also hopes to help preserve their culture at the same time. Their first project is to build an Academic Center for the Manjushree Orphanage, to replace their current schoolhouse.

You can learn more about Architecture for Tibet and the work they are doing, complete with photographs, maps, and architectural drawings, at http://www.architecturefortibet.org/Architecture_for_Tibet.html

Connecting the Corridor: Indianapolis to Noblesville Light Rail Exhibit

If you travel from Hamilton County to Indianapolis on a regular basis you know there's a real need for effective public transportation to connect the Northeast corridor. The combined effects of increased fuel costs, congested roads, and concern for the environment have created a climate ripe for innovative solutions to the problem of getting from point A to point B as painlessly as possible. A proposed light rail line, installed on existing Nickel Plate Railroad track, would help alleviate the traffic congestion and provide commuters a more environmentally friendly choice for getting to work.

Federal funding may actually make this a possibility in the near future and it is no surprise that Ball State students and professors have been involved during the planning process. Students in Professor Harry Eggink's graduate architecture class and Professor Scott Truex's urban planning class spent the semester envisioning the northeast side of Indianapolis after a proposed light rail line is up and running. The line would run from 146th Street in Noblesville to South Street in downtown Indianapolis along the existing Nickel Plate rail line.

You can see their work in a new exhibit, Next Generation Neighborhoods: Investing in Transit, on display at the Ball State Indianapolis Center through August 21st. The public is welcome to stop by the Center at for this free exhibit. The Center is located at 50 S. Meridian Street, suite 302 and is open from 8-4.

CIRTA (Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority) http://www.cirta.us/ and the Ball State College of Architecture and Planning www.bsu.edu/cap/ teamed up to create the exhibit. Approximately 20 display boards showcase transit history and depict new employment hubs, the revitalization of urban neighborhoods and specific station stops as well as the challenges of opportunities of each of those stops.

"The exhibit is meant to help us see the possibilities," said Ehren Bingaman, executive director of CIRTA. "A lot of people have been talking about the possibilities, but when you get a chance to 'see' what a transit stop at 22nd Street or 116th Street could look like and how it could affect a neighborhood, it takes the vision to a whole new level."

"Projects like this reflect the impact Ball State students are having on Indiana's economy," said Ball State President Jo Ann M. Gora. "These initiatives are tangible, practical and, simply put, are helping Hoosier companies and communities move forward. And from an academic perspective, our students are receiving an education grounded in immersive learning experiences that cannot be duplicated anywhere else."

The idea of light rail in Indiana may seem really revolutionary to some but probably not to anyone over the age of 65 or historians. Those who remember the interurban or have researched it will tell you that Indiana used to have a highly effective public transportation network that connected neighborhoods within Indianapolis and small towns and large cities throughout the state from approximately 1900-1941. For more information on the rich history of interurbans, contact the Indiana Historical Society at http://www.indianahistory.org/. Here are a few images from their collection:
a

Indianapolis Midcentury Modern Home

This weekend, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting architect J. Parke Randall at a party in one of the Midcentury Modern homes he designed. Randall is best known in Indianapolis for his work on the City County building during his time with the architectural firm Wright, Porteous, and Associates. He also designed a number of spectacular midcentury homes in the Indianapolis area. Influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, but also fashioning his own ideas on living with nature, Randall said he designed his houses on a pedestal from which to observe nature. He had no intention of living like "Tarzan and Jane" as he put it, however he still wanted to be a removed observer. Thus, the house is built on a platform that appears to float in the trees and has a full wall of windows on the back, a vantage point that gives one an ideal perch to see the birds and other wildlife.

The home had fallen into disrepair before the current home owner purchased it three years ago. In a short time, she has managed to revive the character, beauty, and functionality Randall created over fifty years ago. When asked about the renovation, Randall positively radiated his joy at seeing the house he designed brought back to life and enjoyed.

As you can see from the pictures, Randall gave the homeowner (to the right of Randall in the group photograph) original pencil drawings of the home's design. He also gave her contact sheets of images he took during the home's construction. The homeowner has given the Archive copies of these, which appear below.

Many thanks to Atomic Indy which coordinated this party, the first in the Atomic Crash Indy party series. (Atomic Indy founder, Baz ,is to the left of Randall in the group photograph ) If you're interested in Midcentury Modern or seeing more tour pictures of the house, I highly recommend reading their blog at http://www.atomicindy.com/

College of Architecture and Planning’s Summer Workshop students introduced to Archive

Each summer the College of Architecture and Planning welcomes outstanding high school juniors and seniors to the CAP Summer Workshop. Over the course of two weeks in July, 48 aspiring students are immersed into the realm of environmental design through exercises that increasingly challenge the young mind and its understanding of the built environment.

An important element of the students’ time at Ball State is learning how to access the dynamic resources the University Libraries have to offer. Amy E. Trendler, Architecture Librarian, and Carol A. Street, Archivist for Architectural Records, introduced the students to digital and print resources in the Architecture Library as well as unique architectural collections from the Drawings and Documents Archive.

Over the course of an afternoon, the students met in small groups and explored a wide range of materials, from books on vertical gardens and urban planning to original Cuno Kibele architectural drawings from 1917. The session prompted students to consider how architectural drawings were used in the past and introduced them to the wealth of current material available to them at Ball State.

In case you are wondering what the students are looking at, on the table are architect Cuno Kibele's drawings for additions to the Wysor Grand Theater in Muncie, Ind. (1917); Werking & Son's drawings for the Granada Theatre in Connersville, Ind (1926); and Joseph O. Cezar's drawings for the Lafayette Road Drive-In in Indianapolis (1952). Models in the foreground are from architect Edward D. Pierre titled Indianapolis: 25 Years Hence, which is an incredible set of models of downtown Indianapolis that combines how the city looked in 1953 and the architect's vision of progress to take place in the following twenty-five years. Many things, such as a subway and a Riley Children's Center were never realized. The model collection is currently being digitized and will be avaible online soon at http://libx.bsu.edu/

South Bend's Blackstone-State Theater Will Be Sold in Online Auction

The historic Blackstone-State Theater in South Bend, Indiana will be auctioned off this month. The current owner, nonprofit religious group, Way of Life, purchased it three years ago and have since spent a reported $300,000 on renovations. The group has suffered in the present economic downturn and is looking to sell the property in an online auction.

The building, located at 212 S. Michigan Street, is a landmark in downtown South Bend. Built in 1921, this classical revival style theater was designed by Harry Newhouse. It is on the National Historic Register (#85001204)

The theater boasts some famous scars from bullet holes left during the 1934 shootout following John Dillinger's last bank heist from a bank down the street.

The current owners have created a video tour of the inside of the building. For the video and more information, go to http://www.publicenemies.us/?page_id=12

Guggenheim Archives Digitizes Frank Lloyd Wright's Correspondence

Wright's Papers Go Digital

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives recently received funding from the New York State Council on the Arts to support the digitization of the Frank Lloyd Wright correspondence, a collection that documents the construction of the museum between 1943 and 1959. The project will enable low-resolution images of records from the collection to be publicly displayed through the Archives' Web site.The Frank Lloyd Wright papers consist of correspondence between Wright and trustees of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, including Solomon R. Guggenheim, Harry F. Guggenheim, and Albert E. Thiele; NYC Building Commissioner, Robert Moses; and the museum's Directors, Hilla Rebay and James Johnson Sweeney. The correspondence includes discussions of the museum site, plans, models, building costs, architect fees, contractors, name, and display of artwork. Ultimately, the correspondence documents not only the construction of the permanent museum building, but also a revolutionary turn in the conception of American architecture and museum exhibition spaces.
View the digitized records in the folder list of the Frank Lloyd Wright correspondence. A0006.

Detail of a telegram from Harry Guggenheim to Frank Lloyd Wright regarding a meeting to demonstrate theory of presenting paintings, November 30, 1958, Frank Lloyd Wright correspondence. A0006. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York, NY

Historic Landmarks Save

Historic Landmarks is currently restoring this Victorian cottage on the east side of Indianapolis. Here's what it looked like before renovation:

http://www.historiclandmarks.org/ForSale/Pages/ForSaleDetails.aspx?ForSaleID=78

And here is what it looks like now, mid-renovation:

To the north of this house is busy New York Street, which is the main street heading east from downtown. The house stands in a depressed area that has much to offer, in terms of accessibility and architecture. Kudos to Historic Landmarks for making a positive impact on the neighborhood!

The Historic Patterson Block, Muncie

News was just posted last week that the Patterson Block, located at the intersection of Main and Walnut streets in downtown Muncie, Indiana will house Ivy Tech students in the hospitality and culinary program this fall. Ivy Tech faculty member Heather Pier cites their interest in "using existing buildings to help revitalize downtown." This is certainly a positive development for one of Muncie’s finest examples of late 19th century commercial architecture.

Built in 1876 by Arthur F. Patterson, one of Muncie’s wealthiest and best-known businessmen of the time, the Italianate style Patterson Block is a three-story rectangular block, constructed of brick, with a clipped corner in its northwest quadrant. It was built in two stages, with the original structure being the first three bays of storefronts to the south along Walnut Street. The second section, begun in 1881, introduced four additional bays to the Walnut Street façade. Fine craftsmanship and detailing is evident throughout the building, particularly in the window treatment of the upper two stories and the massive, bracketed cornice.

The seven storefronts have held a succession of businesses, typically florists, jewelers, confectionaries, clothing stores, groceries, and drug stores. The building is also noted for housing a few local “firsts” -- the first local telephone exchange and the first Muncie police station. You can see some of the early tenant listings on this Sanborn map from 1887: http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/SanbrnMps&CISOPTR=35&CISOBOX=1&REC=1

The Drawings and Documents Archive has numerous items in its collections relating to the Patterson Block. The architecture firm Garrard & Keely, formerly known as Kibele & Garrard, created drawings in the 1930s that envisioned renovations for the building which were never realized.

There were efforts to modernize the building between the 1940s and 1960s, which resulted in the concealment of the original cast-iron columns and entablature. An image from 1968 depicts the changes in the building facade: http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/sg&CISOPTR=3369&CISOBOX=1&REC=5

The Archive has the restoration feasibility study created in 1982 that proposes a rehab sympathetic to the original structure. A few years later, students involved in the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Historic American Buildings Survey project, conducted the field work and created an official HABS drawing.

Both the field notebook and the HABS drawings, as well as the other material mentioned, are available for viewing in the Archive. For an appointment, call Carol Street, archivist for architectural records, at 765-285-8441. The current photo of the Patterson Block is courtesy of http://www.munciedowntown.com/

Pages from the HABS field notebook:

The Drawings and Documents Archive will be closed July 3rd.

MCCM, or Mid-century Concrete Masonry

Concrete is not just a modern-day construction material, but one that has been used for thousands of years. The Romans mixed a basic form of concrete using coarse sand, small stones, hot lime, water, and often horsehair for reinforcement to construct their roads, buildings, and aqueducts two thousand years ago. Since that time, inventors have refined the production of concrete for greater strength, consistency, reliability, cost-effectiveness, as well as adapting forms and shapes to ever changing design aesthetics.

In the early 1900s, block making was often a backyard affair. Individuals could easily purchase a small hand-operated block machine for minimal investment and create concrete blocks in their spare time for additional income. During this period, concrete was considered inferior to stone or brick, a much costlier product, so emphasis was placed on trying to replicate the look of stone in concrete. Concrete block became increasingly popular with builders in the 1920s, and the small operation block makers began to be replaced by a number of full-time concrete block plants with enhanced capacity. The National Concrete Masonry Association was formed in 1920 in an effort to promote the use of concrete as well as structure industry standards in a formerly unregulated industry.

Another period of change for the concrete industry occurred in the post-war housing boom of the late 1940s and into the 1950s. Factories that had been used for the war industry were retrofitted to become concrete block plants to meet the demand for building fast, relatively inexpensive housing for returning soldiers and their new families. Homes of this era are common in many Indiana neighborhoods, and illustrate how widely accepted concrete had become by this time. Architects and inventors experimented with new techniques using concrete, one example is Frank Lloyd Wright’s cantilevered rebar-reinforced concrete decks at Fallingwater, which essentially allowed concrete to shed its need to disguise itself as stone or brick and become a material for architects to showcase.

No other publication did a more thorough job of celebrating the many uses of concrete than Pictorial, the National Concrete Masonry Association’s subscription-based magazine which began publication in 1944 and was sent to over 30,000 building professionals each month. Smartly designed for the aesthetics of the day, Pictorial relied heavily on photographic essays to highlight a different use of concrete each month.

Issues in our collection are devoted to concrete homes, offices, large businesses, banks, fencing, fireplaces, outdoor recreation, screen block walls, decorative wall patterns, and hotels. A typical cover photograph is a highly saturated color image of an impeccably dressed woman posed within a scene that includes an extraordinary use of concrete materials. The model is clearly there to sell the idea of the ease and beauty of the concrete product, but one has no doubt that the decorative building façade, swimming pool, or screen wall is the real star of each picture. Inside each issue are black and white photographs depicting different examples of the main theme, encouraging designers and architects to explore the many forms and uses of concrete.

You are invited to visit the Drawings and Documents Archive, located at Ball State University, to view all of the issues of Pictorial in our collection, as well as explore our extensive holdings of architectural drawings and architectural records. To schedule an appointment, contact Carol Street, the Archivist for Architectural Records, at ddarchive@bsu.edu or 765-285-8441.