Wright, Frank Lloyd, Undated

This collection houses correspondence, research materials, flyers, promotional materials, plans, clippings, newsletters, reel-to-reel audio tapes, and other items documenting James W. Elmore's work as an architect and urban planner. Among the subjects covered are Elmore's proposal for an aerial light rail system in the Salt River Valley, city planning in Phoenix from the 1950s to the 2000s, the development of the Rio Salado Project, and Arizona State University's College of Architecture. The collection has been divided into five series.

Series I: Urban Planning and Development has been divided into three sub-series. Sub-Series A: Light Rail and Rapid Transit consists primarily of flyers, promotional materials, and research materials documenting Elmore's vision for a regional aerial rail net. Also included are the letters that Elmore wrote to numerous civic leaders encouraging them to consider his aerial transit concept and the responses he received.

Sub-Series B: Phoenix and Maricopa County houses plans, correspondence, clippings, and other materials documenting a variety of planning and development projects in the Phoenix area. Among these projects are the 1957 additions made the State Capitol Building (including the proposal that the Capitol be moved to Papago Park); work undertaken on the Capitol complex in the 2000s; the 2006 City Scape project (which proposed to construct four high-rise towers, hundreds of condominiums, a boutique hotel, and a 100,000 square foot public plaza in downtown Phoenix); and Elmore's vision of a walkable Downtown (including 1-mile a pedestrian mall on Central Avenue between Lincoln Street and West McKinley Street).

Sub-Series C: Rio Salado and Valley Forward houses primarily correspondence, reports, informational literature, newspaper clippings, and other materials documenting the development of the Rio Salado program and Tempe Town Lake. Although Elmore conducted some independent work on Rio Salado during the years shown, the majority of his efforts were channeled through Valley Forward. Also included are materials showing Elmore's efforts to interest Valley Forward in lobbying for his 36-mile aerial transportation network in Phoenix and the Salt River Valley. Because Valley Forward never assumed a significant role in advocating for this network, however, the majority of the materials on this topic may be found in Sub-Series A.

Series II: Arizona State University includes correspondence, reports, newsletters, and other materials documenting Elmore's career as a Professor and Dean in ASU's School (later the College) of Architecture. Of particular interest are the materials showing the construction of the new Architecture building in the late 1960s and the Faculty Bulletins that Elmore distributed to all faculty members between 1963 and 1969. These bulletins were intended to keep their recipients up-to-date on the College's work, to forward documents for department-wide review, and to request feedback from the faculty on various issues. Also included are materials showing the College's Architecture Foundation, which was established in June if 1958 to raise money to enrich the College's programs.

Series III: Personal and Biographical Papers includes correspondence, biographical sketches, curricula vitae, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia providing an overview of Elmore's career and documenting such subjects as the Arizona Architects Medal, Elmore's military service, and the Santa Maria Mining Company.

Series IV: Audio and Visual Materials has been divided into four sub-series. Sub-Series A: Photographs includes portraits and snapshots of Elmore, numerous examples of student work undertaken in the College of Architecture, images of the Architecture building completed in the early 1970s, and photographs taken in the 1990s and 2000s as part of Elmore's work on light rail and rapid transit. Sub-Series B: Slides contains 35mm slides depicting a wide variety of subjects. Titles assigned by Elmore are given in quotation marks; all other titles were inferred or assigned by the archivist. Sub-Series C: Drawings houses two sets of drawings not clearly connected to any other project in this collection. Sub-Series D: Audio Recordings and VHS Tapes consists primarily of twenty reel-to-reel audio tapes documenting a speech by Buckminster Fuller, several meetings of the American Institute of Archivists, two speeches by Elmore, and a speech by Howard Dearstine regarding the Bauhaus. Also included are a copy of Conversations Regarding the Future of Architecture on compact disk and three VHS tapes.