James Gamble Rogers papers

Collection

Call Number: MS 396

Scope and Contents

11.75 linear feet (29 boxes)

Dates: 1913-1941

The James Gamble Rogers Papers came to Yale, probably in the late 1960s, and were first stored in the Plan Room at Buildings and Grounds, 20 Ashmun Street. Some papers were discarded by that office; others, including all plans, sections, and elevations for Yale buildings are still in use there. Some papers, especially detail drawings, were transferred to Manuscripts and Archives, and subsequently all architectural drawings for Yale buildings were placed in the Architectural Archives Collection.

What remains is an uneven and gap-ridden collection of office files; nonetheless it documents phases of the design and planning of much of the Yale campus and half a dozen of Rogers' other projects in New York. The papers are arranged by building or project; they include job files, schedules of hardware, specifications, photographs and drawings, but the files are not complete for any one building.

The job files for the Yale buildings consist largely of correspondence and other papers exchanged with the contractor, Marc Eidlitz & Son of New York City. There is also correspondence with consulting engineer Hollis French, of New Haven and Boston, who drew up many of the specifications.

The photographs are mostly of models for ornamental stonework, sculpted by René P. Chambellan. There are also many photographs of mantels, and photographs of buildings which Rogers hoped to imitate in some feature, and of people whom he planned to represent in the decorations.

More extensive Rogers' correspondence and architectural records can be found in the following collections in Manuscripts and Archives:

Architectural Archives --- YRG 46
Treasurer's Records --- 5 - B
Services Bureau --- 5 - I-9
Corporation Committee on Architectural Plan --- 1-E
Presidential Records: Arthur T. Hadley --- 2 - A-13
Presidential Records: James R. Angell --- 2 - A-14
Presidential Records: Charles Seymour --- 2 - A-15
Records of the Provost --- 3 - A
Records of the University Librarian --- 32 - C
George Parmly Day Papers --- MS. Grp. No. 174
James H. Penniman Papers --- 9
Anson Phelps Stokes Papers --- 299

Dates

circa 1890s-1984

Creator

Rogers, James Gamble, 1867-1947

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by James Gamble Rogers has been transferred to Yale University. These materials may be used for non-commercial purposes without seeking permission from Yale University as the copyright holder. For other uses of these materials, please contact mssa.assist@yale.edu.

Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the James Gamble Rogers estate, circa. 1960s, and of Pauline Rogers, 1987 and 1994.

Extent

44 Linear Feet (71 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0396

Additional Description

Overview

The papers consist of photographs, plans, drawings, specifications, job files, correspondence, contracts, and printed material, which relate to architectural projects, particularly residences and government, church, hospital, and school buildings, designed by James Gamble Rogers, or the firms of Hale and Rogers, James Gamble Rogers, Inc., and Rogers and Butler. The most extensive files are for buildings on the Yale University campus, but there are also substantial files on the Aetna Life Insurance Company home office, the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, the New Haven Post Office and Court House, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and buildings on the campuses of Northwestern University and Columbia University. The papers also include personal papers of James Gamble Rogers and his son Francis Day Rogers.

Biographical / Historical

James Gamble Rogers was born on March 3, 1867, in Bryants Station, Kentucky. He received a B.A. degree from Yale University in 1889 and a Diplo?me d'Architecte from the École Nationale et Spéciale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1899. He began his architectural practice in New York City in 1905 and was responsible for numerous residences and government, church, hospital, and school buildings. Rogers died on October 1, 1947.