Search

There are over 10,700 photographic items in the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives related to Frank Lloyd Wright's personal life and the Taliesin Fellowship. This collection also includes portraits of Wright and his family members. Contact the department for further information.

The Oral Histories collection is made up of audio recordings, videotapes, and transcripts of interviews conducted by Foundation members. The oral histories document the life and activities of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship. Interviewees include apprentices, clients, family, friends and acquaintances, scholars, associates, and other architects.

This collection contains audio recordings of Fellowship talks delivered by Olgivanna Lloyd Wright to members of the Taliesin Fellowship nearly each week, usually on Sundays organized chronologically from 1952-1984. These talks continued a tradition begun by Frank Lloyd Wright; they similarly cover a range of topics from Frank Lloyd Wright's Organic Architecture (often read from transcriptions of his Fellowship talks) to the daily activities of the Fellows. Many include her reading from poetry and philosophy and her own theories on moral character and the ethics of hard work. The collection also includes other talkes, speeches, and interviews with Olgivanna Lloyd Wright.

This collection primarily contains photographic prints, including contact sheets, depicting Frank Lloyd Wright, Iovanna Lloyd Wright, the apprentices, and buildings at Taliesin West in the 1950s, made by Stuart Weiner. Additionally there is a small group of photographs documenting Wright's presentation of his plans for the Arizona State Capitol in April 1957 and another small group of photographs by Weiner documenting Wright's presentation of that same project to students at Phoenix Union High School several days later. Additionally, there is a small group of photographs by Weiner showing the Raymond Carlson residence in Phoenix, Arizona, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1950. Also of particular note are two original architectural drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Susan Lawrence Dana residence in Springfield, Illinois, showing a gate and an exterior elevation. Lastly, the collection contains a complete copy of the February 1956 Arizona Highways special issue on Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin West, and a copy of Wright's self-pubilshed "Oasis: plan for Arizona State Capitol submitted by Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect, February 17, 1957.".

Approximately 1,000 architectural drawings, circa 1880-1959, with related correspondence, clippings, announcements, specifications, legal documents, and photographs. Major projects represented include Auldbrass Plantation, Yemasee, S.C; the Guggenheim Museum, New York City; Fallingwater (the Edgar J. Kaufmann residence), Bear Run, Pa.; and Wright's own home and studio in Oak Park, Ill. Also, Wright's correspondence relating to exhibits and publication of his work; other professional matters; and correspondence with his son, John Lloyd Wright, 1920s-1950s; manuscript, typescript, and printed versions of articles and addresses by Wright; photographs, programs, invitations, issues of SQUARE-PAPERS, and other materials, circa 1920s-1940s, relating to Taliesin; and miscellaneous invitations, programs, announcements, honors, appreciations, memorials, clippings, and other documents relating to various aspects of Wright's career.

This collection includes over 300 film reels which have been digitized. By format, the collection contains 179 16mm film, 109 8mm film, and 17 35mm film. While the inclusive dates of the collection range from 1922 to 1984, the bulk of the films are from the 1930s into the 1960s. Footage includes home movies of Wright and family, life and events of the Taliesin Fellowship, and informal site and building visits. The collection also includes documentaries on Wright's career and projects, as well as professional produced interviews and talks by Wright and promotional coverage of his built works.