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Minoru Yamasaki Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: -
Date: Jul 1967



Biographical History

Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986) was an American architect. Born in Seattle, Washington, he studied at the University of Washington (graduated 1929) and at New York University. He began his career working for Gitchen and Kelly (1935-1937) and teaching watercolor at New York University. In 1937 he moved to Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, designers of the Empire State Building, and then in 1945 he moved to Detroit to work for the firm of Smith, Hinchman, and Gryll. Four years later he became a partner in Limweber, Yamasaki, and Hellmuth and soon after opened his own firm, Yamasaki & Associates, based in Birmingham, Michigan.

Yamasaki's work, which is distinctly modern in tone, includes banks, schools, auditoriums, airport terminals, libraries, conference centers, and consulates. He was the designer of the United States Science Pavilion for the Seattle World's Fair and of the New York World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2, which were destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century and his firm, Yamasaki & Associates, continues to do business today.


Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Minoru Yamasaki Papers includes correspondence, subject files, projects, and manuscripts. Correspondence consists of a single outgoing letter. Subject files contains a radio broadcast made by Yamasaki for the Voice of America. Projects contains photographs and data for a number of Yamasaki's works, including the Dhahran Air Terminal in Saudi Arabia, the United States Pavilion at the World's Fair in Seattle, Washington, and the World Trade Center in New York City. Manuscripts contains two manuscripts by Yamasaki.


Arrangement of the Collection

Each series is arranged alphabetically by title or topic.


Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.


Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has the papers of a number of architects. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.


Subject Headings

Persons

Yamasaki, Minoru, 1912-1986.

Corporate Bodies

Yamasaki & Associates.

Subjects

Architecture -- United States -- 20th century.
Architecture, modern.
World Trade Center (New York, N.Y.)

Genres and Forms

Manuscripts for publication.
Photoprints.

Occupations

Architects.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Minoru Yamasaki Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries


Table of Contents

Correspondence

Subject files

Projects

Manuscripts


Inventory