Scope and Contents
The papers include documentation for many of Richard Kelly's projects, including layouts and detailed working drawings, details of lighting fixtures, correspondence and architectural design drawings, and financial records. They also include correspondence with various institutions, including universities and technical societies, as well as some personal papers and student work.
Dates
- 1909-1981
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is retained by Scott Kelly and Addison Kelly for materials authored or otherwise produced by their father Richard Kelly. After their lifetimes or May 1, 2054, their copyright passes to Yale University. 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 Scott Kelly, 2005; Alex von Bidder, 2012; Addison and Scott Kelly, 2014.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in three series: I. Project files, 1939-1977. II. Professional papers, 1909-1976. III. Personal papers, 1925-1981.
Extent
987.29 Linear Feet (434 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The papers include documentation for many of Richard Kelly's projects, including layouts and detailed working drawings, details of lighting fixtures, correspondence and architectural design drawings, and financial records. They also include correspondence with various institutions including universities and technical societies.
Biographical / Historical
Richard Kelly, architectural lighting designer, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on September 22, 1910. After graduating from Columbia University in 1932, he opened an office in New York to design and sell architectural lighting. He enrolled in the architecture program at Yale University, where he also studied with theatrical lighting designer, Stanley McCandless, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1942. After working for several architectural offices, he opened his own lighting design firm in New York in or around 1947. Kelly developed a new vocabulary for architectural lighting, exploring the ways in which light affects mood, and identifying the concepts of focal glow, ambient luminescence, and the play of brilliants. During his career, Kelly worked with many noted architects, including Louis Kahn, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Harrison and Abramovitz, Eero Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and Philip Johnson. Among his notable projects are: the Seagram Building and Lincoln Center in New York, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut. In addition to his own practice, Kelly lectured on lighting design at Yale University, Harvard University, Cooper Union, Columbia, and other architectural schools and organizations. He died in 1977.
Other Finding Aids
For a list of projects and the boxes in which project materials are located, please consult theProject Index.
- Title
- Guide to the Richard Kelly Papers
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- compiled by Laura Tatum, Melissa Doerken, Gene Cartwright, and Amina Blacksher
- Date
- July 2008
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
Contact:
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
beinecke.library@yale.edu
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
beinecke.library@yale.edu
Location
Sterling Memorial Library
Room 147
120 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511