Scope and Content Note
The papers of Edmund Randolph Purves (1897-1964) span the period 1916-1964, with the greater part from 1950 to 1964. The collection consists of correspondence, speeches, articles, appointment calendars, architectural drawings, and printed material relating partially to Purves's career as director (1941-1949) and executive director (1949-1961) of the American Institute of Architects. The collection is organized into Family Correspondence , General Correspondence , Speech and Article File , and Miscellany series.
Included in the Family Correspondence are letters to members of Purves's family regarding a memorial in England to his parents. In the General Correspondence are letters of a congratulatory nature from other architects on his appointments as director and executive director of the American Institute of Architects and on his becoming an associate of the firm Chatelain, Gauger, and Nolan. Among the correspondents are Leon Chatelain and Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Speeches and Articles File series contains copies of many of Purves's articles for the AIA Journal. In the Miscellany are papers relating to his military career in World War I and World War II, appointment calendars, a few architectural drawings, and printed matter, some of which relates to the British writer Kenneth Grahame.