Marcus Whiffen Collection

This collection consists primarily of manuscript materials relating to the career of architectural historian, journalist, and educator Marcus Whiffen. The collection spans the period 1930s-1990s and includes fifteen boxes of materials arranged in six series: 1) General Correspondence, 2) Book Projects Files, 3) Triglyph Files, 4) Academic Files, 5) Professional Files, and 6) Miscellany. Within most series there exist subseries. Any discernible order imposed by Professor Whiffen at the folder level as well as with the documents inside folders has been retained in the processing of the collection.

The bulk of the collection consists of documentary materials that reflect Marcus Whiffen's interaction with publishers, architects, academic colleagues, and students. Of particular note in Series One, General Correspondence, are copies of letters sent to Professor Whiffen from noted British architectural historian, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. Other correspondents in this series include architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Sir John Summerson, and architects Walter Gropius, Paul Schweikher, and Bart Prince (a former student). Another important body of material is Series Two, Book Projects Files, which contains extensive correspondence between Professor Whiffen and the co-author of the work American Architecture 1607-1976, Frederick Koeper. The letters between the two authors provide a useful study for the evolution of a scholarly work. Also within this series are a number of photographic prints by Marcus Whiffen used in the latter volume and the book American Architecture Since 1780: A Guide to the Styles.

Marcus Whiffen's professional editorial experience is reflected in Series Three, Triglyph Files, and Series Five, Professional Files. The latter series contains materials from his period as editor of the Journal of Architectural Education. The Triglyph series contains correspondence with contributors to this journal published by the ASU College of Architecture and Environmental Design. Notable contributors included Reyner Banham, Will Bruder, Herb Greene, David Gebhard, Robert Maxwell, Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Antoine Predock, and Bart Prince. Series Six, Miscellany, contains an important folder of biographical material titled Personalia. The folder includes newsclippings, vitas, and photographs regarding Marcus Whiffen's career.