Archival Resources
The following archives have important documents related to the life and work of Edward Durell Stone.
The American Federation of Arts records contain information on Stone's participation in the Form Givers at Mid-Century and Ideal Theater: Eight Concepts exhibitions as well as other traveling exhibitions that included examples of Stone's work.
The archives contain documents and letters in support of Stone's election to the College of Fellows. Nancy Hadley is the archivist.
Stone was an active participant in events and exhibitions held by the Architectural League, notably in the 1940s and early 1950s.
Stone was friendly with Crosby and planned business ventures with her related to the early use of stone and stone veneer in housing.
Francis Edwin "Hank" Brennan Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Hank Brennan was art adviser to Time magazine editor-in-chief Henry Luce for approximately thirteen years beginning in 1947. During his tenure, he advised Luce on the selection of architects for the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., a project that Edward Durell Stone did a preliminary design for. After leaving Time-Life, Brennan worked briefly with Stone as his communications director before resigning under contentious circumstances. Brennan's papers are housed off-site and a request to review them must be made with Library of Congress staff.
The Donald Deskey Papers contain images of Stone and Deskey's collaborative efforts on the Mandel House in Mt. Kisco, New York. The Department Research Files contain the transcript of an interview with Donald Deskey that references Edward Stone. The collection also contains a number of drawings executed by Stone for clients of Deskey's interiors practice.
Stone and Fulbright were lifelong friends, and, as a U.S. Senator, Fulbright was a highly influential advocate of Stone's, notably on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the earlier University of Arkansas Fine Arts Center.
Stone and Fuller met in the 1930s while Stone was an instructor at the New York University School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Fuller's remarkably extensive daily records document their friendship and Stone's advocacy of Fuller's design for the Dymaxion Deployment Unit.
Haskell was the editor of the Architectural Forum (1916-74), the preeminent architectural journal of the latter half of the twentieth century. He was friendly with Stone, and their correspondence mirrors Stone's rise to prominence.
The Clare Boothe Luce Papers provide information on the construction of and the daily life at the Luce's Mepkin Plantation, in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. It also mentions later projects done for the Luces and contains social correspondence between Stone and Mrs. Luce.
The Henry Robinson Luce Papers provide an account of the purchase, construction, postwar restoration and sale of the Luce's Mepkin Plantation in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, designed by Edward Durell Stone. It has an insightful exchange of correspondence between Architectural Forum editor Howard Myers and Henry Luce.
The Museum of Modern Art has extensive documentation on Stone's work for both the 1937 building done in conjunction with architect and Museum trustee Philip Goodwin and the 1939 sculpture garden. There is also information about Stone's involvement as an architectural adviser to the Museum prior to Philip Johnson's assumption of the directorship of the Department of Architecture at the end of World War Two. The Architecture and Design Collection acquired the archives of Architectural Forum, and the collection has photographs of Stone's work. The Drawing Collection has drawings prepared by Stone and Goodwin for the building and sculpture garden. The Museum Archives has curatorial files and press releases related to Stone's involvement with the Museum.
The National Building Museum has taped transcripts of interviews conducted by curators Judith Lanius and Anne Nissen in preparation for a planned exhibition of foreign office buildings done under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State in the postwar era. The interviews conducted with Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, Nelson A. Kenworthy, and Alan B. Jacobs are particularly noteworthy for their accounts of Stone's involvement with the design of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.
The Rockefeller family was linked to Stone from the beginning of his career, when he was the architect in charge of the Radio City Music Hall and Center Theater in 1931, through his work on the campus of SUNY Albany some thirty years later. Aside from Rockefeller Center and the SUNY campus, Stone was directly involved in the following Rockefeller-sponsored projects: the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Apartment, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Rockefeller Home Center, and the Rockefeller Apartments.
The records chronicle Stone's involvement in one of his most significant projects, which led to his influential 1958 Time cover story.
Stone's 1927 Rotch Fellowship, which provided a stipend for a two-year tour through Europe, was a pivotal event in his development as an architect, and the classical monuments that he was exposed to exerted an influence on his work for the rest of his life. The correspondence with the Rotch committee documents his travels during the early part of his fellowship.
Shepley was a pivotal mentor and advocate of Stone. The Shepley Papers and office records document Stone's involvement with projects while he was employed in the firm from 1925 to 1927. Shepley later served on the Architectural Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department's Office of Foreign Building Operations, and his papers document the proceedings of meetings that determined Stone's selection as architect for the U.S Embassy in New Delhi, India, and the genesis of what would become Stone's most publicized project. Rob Roche is the archivist.
The Stone Papers are the single most important source of information on Stone. They were donated by members of Stone's office and were processed by Stone's longtime associate Ernest E. Jacks, Jr.
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