Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Albert Kahn was a Detroit-based architect, active from 1896 to 1942. He founded the firm, Albert Kahn Associated Architects & Engineers, which is today known as Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. He was best known for his industrial design work, including the Ford Motor Company's Highland Park and River Rouge plants; numerous commercial buildings in Detroit such as the Fisher Building, Detroit Athletic Club, and General Motors Building; and much of the University of Michigan's Central Campus, including Angell Hall, the Clements Library, and Hill Auditorium, as well as the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Ann Arbor, Michigan. After Kahn's death in 1942, his architectural firm, Albert Kahn Associates, Inc., has continued to be a worldwide leader in the design of factory buildings that enhance the manufacturing process. The Albert Kahn Associates records are composed of materials produced by Albert Kahn the architect, as well as materials produced by his firm, Albert Kahn Associates, Inc., and include correspondence, company files, photographs, published materials, and architectural drawings.

The Albert Kahn Associates records offer researchers the opportunity to study the correspondence, transcripts of speeches, photographs, and architectural drawings of the preeminent, American, industrial architect, Albert Kahn, and his firm, Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. On March 21, 2003 (the 134th anniversary of Albert Kahn's birthday), Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. (AKA) donated this collection to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan to ensure the conservation and accessibility of these records. Through this gift, AKA has shown its commitment to preserving the legacy of Kahn, whose factories on five continents influenced the development of industrial architecture and whose commercial, residential and institutional buildings define the character of Detroit and the University of Michigan today. The collection encompasses 166 linear feet (in 180 boxes) of correspondence, transcripts of speeches, newspaper and journal articles, company files, audiovisual materials, photographs and slides, as well as 90 leather portfolios containing photographs of completed buildings, 22 albums of sample architectural materials, 131 books, and 12,731 architectural drawings in 45 flat-file drawers and 114 oversize tubes.

The narrative and visual materials in the collection illuminate the breadth of Kahn's career and highlight the work of his architectural firm, Albert Kahn Associates, Inc., which continued to develop projects after his death, and remains a living institution. In pairing the textual materials with the photographs and architectural drawings associated with Kahn's projects, this collection offers a rich perspective on the master architect himself, illuminating his personal views on his own architecture and its place in a changing and often tumultuous world.

Michigan architect, mainly with firms Sanford Rossen A.I.A. Architects and Rossen-Neumann Associate in Southfield, Michigan, best known for design of several outdoor music venues, collection is primarily of buildings designed by Rossen with some papers related to various projects.

The Sanford Rossen Collection is comprised almost entirely of black and white photographs and color slides of buildings and complexes designed by Sanford-Neumann & Associates during the 1970s. There are a few folders of projects undertaken in the 1960s and in the early 1980s, but the bulk of the material represents the period during which Rossen was associated with Kenneth Neumann. Although the collection includes some slides and photographs of architectural drawings, there is little of substance in this regard, and there is virtually no printed documentation related to individual buildings. The collection will therefore best serve the researcher interested in the visual representation of newly constructed buildings in this time period.

Rossen utilized the services of Balthazar Korab, an internationally acclaimed Detroit-based photographer, to capture on film the essence of many of his buildings. (In 1964, Korab was awarded the American Institute of Architects' Medal for Photography of Architecture, and his photographs have been exhibited in numerous major galleries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts.) Rossen had numbers of these prints dry-mounted to hang on office walls and featured others in marketing materials. Some of the photographs are signed by Korab, but the majority are not, and for most, the identity of the photographer is unknown. Researchers wishing to study examples of effective and exceptional architectural photography, however, will find the collection a rich resource, particularly for Michigan area buildings.