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Included are drawings made by Avery while studying under Jules Andre at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and sketchbooks containing sketches made in Paris and on excursions, 1872-1879. Architectural drawings and photographs of architectural drawings for proposed or executed residential and commercial buildings, churches, art galleries, monuments, and other structures, 1880s; competition drawings for public monuments, 1883-1887; experimental studies, 1885, for the pedestal of Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty; and 39 studies and finished drawings, 1888-1890, made for a competition for a memorial for Ulysses S. Grant which he did not win. Also, magazine articles by or about Avery and his work, 1883-1890; obituaries and death announcements, 1890; miscellaneous photographs, certificates, and papers; and invitations, clippings, illustrations, and photographs, circa 1892-1894, relating to the founding of the Avery Architectural Library at Columbia University.

Three sketchbooks; the first, 1893-1894, containing sketches from his student years at the Columbia School of Mines, Department of Architecture (he received his degree in 1894); the second, 1894-1896, containing sketches made as a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris; and the third, circa 1896-circa 1905, containing sketches for a variety of projects and designs. Buildings and other structures depicted include the Academy of Music on 14th Street, New York City (a seating plan); Wells Fargo Bank Building, Portland, Oregon, 1910; Reunion Hall, Princeton University, 1902; lantern for the Aetna Building, Hartford, Connecticut; Woodland Street entrance to Kinney Park, Hartford, Connecticut, 1905 (some drawings are by others). Program notes from the classes of Paul Blondel and J. Gaudet at the Ecole des Beaux Arts are included. Also, designs (some done in partnership with Joseph Urban) for proposals for the Metropolitan Opera Company on various sites in New York City, circa 1920s; and designs for shopping and music centers in New York City, to 1936.

The collection consists of papers related to the personal and professional life of American architect Ely Jacques Kahn. A small amount of personal papers was transferred from the Arendts Library at Syracuse University in 1992. Additional personal papers, including two large scrapbooks, were donated by Liselotte Kahn, wife of Ely Jacques Kahn, in 1992 and 1993. Also found in this collection are student drawings and an incomplete autobiographical essay, donated to Avery Library by Kahn himself in 1963. Completing the Kahn holdings are personal materials from Ely Jacques Kahn, including drawings done while Kahn was a student at the Ecole de Beaux-Arts in Paris (1907-1908), sketchbooks, diplomas, autographs from fellow students, a typescript of Kahn's autobiography, and scrapbooks containing clippings, photographs, telegrams and other ephemera. Additionally, there is a small holding for Liselotte Kahn within the collection, including her unpublished memoirs, some correspondence, and a watercolor painting. Liselotte Kahn's memoirs describe her childhood in Germany; her marriage to Dr. Ernst Müller and the birth of their sons; Nazi anti-Semitism; their emigration to Greece; her husband's medical practice in Athens; the Italian and German invasion of Greece; their escape to Palestine; and their emigration to and experiences in the United States.

This collections includes architectural drawings, files and photographs of projects designed by Woodbridge and his various firms, circa 1928-1960s. These include buildings at Presbyterian Church, Savoonga, St. Lawrence Island, Ala.; Cole Memorial Chapel, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL; Amherst College, Mass.; Smith College, Mass.; St. Mary the Virgin Church, Chappaqua, N.Y.; St. John's Chapel and Library, Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y.; the Keene Valley Congregational Church, Keene Valley, N.Y.; and the Brick Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Church Center, both in New York City; as well as other churches, residences, and miscellaneous projects. Also, included are drawings done by Woodbridge while a student at the Columbia School of Architecture, early 1920s; photographs of some of Woodbridge's buildings taken mostly by the architectural photographer Samuel H. Gottscho; a small sample of Woodbridge's correspondence, 1941-1942, documenting his role as chairman of the American Institute of Architects Committee on Architectural Services, relating to the role architects could play in the war effort; sketchbooks of various international locations; and photographs and documents relating to archaeological excavations at Antioch in Pisidia, Turkey.