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Professor of architecture at the University of Michigan; includes correspondence, professional organizational activities files, documentation, photographs, and architectural drawings accumulated during his work with the Michigan Historic Buildings Survey

The Emil Lorch papers are valuable for their documentation of the career of this important architectural educator and for that material about Michigan architecture and historic structures that Lorch accumulated in the course of his professional study and organizational involvement. The collection includes extensive correspondence with many of the country's leading architects, most notably members of the "Chicago School," and architectural educators, and manuscript and photographic documentation resulting from Lorch's involvement with the Michigan Historic Buildings Survey and various restoration projects, including Mackinac Island.

The Museums was comprised of the Museums of Anthropology, Zoology, and Paleontology, the Herbarium, and the Museum of Natural History (formerly, the Exhibit Museum). The record group consists of committee files; records related to the construction of the Museums building, including correspondence with architect Albert Kahn; topical files of directors including Alexander Ruthven and Carl Guthe; and topical files of Irving G. Reimann, prefect of exhibits.

The records of the University of Michigan Museums measure four linear feet (and one oversize folder) and date from 1863 to 1976. The great majority of the material, however, falls between 1930 and 1970. The files have been arranged alphabetically.

The bulk of the material consists of files created from two sources: various committees involved in the Museums' governance or Irving Reimann. The committee records are detailed and are particularly complete for the Operating Committee (1945-1956). This committee's documentation is supplemented by various other committee records.

Most of the records created by Reimann relate to the planning or construction of exhibits, as well as the public role of the Museums. This material makes up the bulk of the non-committee files, supplemented by an extensive run of reports (1935-1969). A few records created before Reimann's appointment also exist. These are generally items authored by either Guthe or Ruthven. Of particular interest from Ruthven's era are files (located under "Building") discussing the construction of the Museums building between 1925 and 1928. Records include substantive correspondence between Ruthven and the building's architect, Albert Kahn. Guthe is represented by the Works Progress Administration's Michigan Museum project (located under "Works Progress Administration, Statewide Museum Project").

Blueprints, renderings, and blue-line prints of original University structures, and additions to, and alterations of existing structures. Architects and architectural firms represented include: Albert Kahn, Alexander J. Davis, Pond and Pond, C. William Palmer, and William LeBaron Jenney.

This collection of University of Michigan architectural blueprints, renderings, and blueline prints has been drawn together from different sources. The provenance is not always clear, though most of the sheets probably originated with the Buildings and Grounds Department of the University. The collection is selective and does not include all campus buildings. Significant buildings are included, however, as are important architects and architectural firms. Represented in the collection are the works of Albert Kahn, Alexander J. Davis, Pond and Pond, the Chicago architectural firm, C. William Palmer, William L. Jenney, and York and Sawyer of New York.