The Yale University Library has been awarded $177,702 by the Getty so that the library’s Manuscripts and Archives department can catalog and preserve its extensive collection of drawings, specifications, photographs, and other materials by Eero Saarinen (1910-1961), considered one of the twentieth century’s most influential architects.

Despite Saarinen’s wide reputation and influence, comparatively little study of his life and work has occurred because these materials have been heretofore unavailable to most scholars and researchers. In the 1970s, Saarinen’s wife, Aline, donated to Yale a number of the architect’s sketches, photographs and other materials documenting his career. However, the bulk of the architect’s papers remained with his successor firm, Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, until 2002, when the firm donated Saarinen’s materials to the library. Since its arrival, the Saarinen collection has become one of the most heavily used collections in Manuscripts and Archives, supporting a number of Yale courses as well as numerous scholarly and engineering research projects.

Richard Szary, the Carrie S. Beinecke Director of Manuscripts and Archives, noted that the grant will support the great interest that the donation of the Saarinen collection has generated. “The Getty has given us the resources needed to ensure long-term preservation and access to the collection for the many students, architectural historians, preservationists, and architects who are interested in understanding the design approach and techniques that Saarinen pioneered.”

“The Getty is proud to support Yale in its efforts to ensure access to the Saarinen collection,” said Deborah Marrow, director of the Getty Grant Program. “These are materials of enormous significance to the history of twentieth-century architecture.”

Saarinen, who immigrated to the United States from Finland in 1923, studied architecture at Yale, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1934 and joining his father’s practice. After his father’s death in 1950, Saarinen started his own firm. During his short tenure as an independent architect, he designed a remarkable array of prominent buildings, including several which have become cultural as well as architectural icons.

Perhaps best known for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch) in St. Louis, Mo., Saarinen also designed the TWA Terminal at Kennedy International Airport in New York City, the Terminal Building at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., and Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, N.J. He also designed several prominent buildings for his alma mater, including the wavelike David S. Ingalls hockey rink and the complex that houses Morse and Ezra Stiles colleges.

A pencil sketch of Eero Saarinen’s design for Ingalls Rink at Yale University. The rink is commonly known on campus as the “Yale Whale.”

Richard V. Szary, Carrie S. Beinecke Director of Manuscripts and Archives, examines Eero Saarinen’s architectural drawings with student assistant Matthew Benton.

Contact: Richard Szary, Director, Manuscripts and Archives

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Page Last Updated: 11/24/2009