Records of the Campus Commission

This series documents the efforts of the Campus Commission to solicit and select a comprehensive design for the Northwestern University campus. While most of the records date from the period 1909-1910, the series also includes two 1905 letters from Daniel Burnham and George Maher's 1907 study.

Materials relating directly to the Commission include a copy of the working rules of the Campus Commission approved by the Board of Trustees on February 15, 1909. It also includes the minutes of the Commission from its organization on March 22, 1909 through May 3, 1910 when it was decided that a competition be held to choose a comprehensive campus plan. The series includes a copy of the Olmsted Report, a letter outlining the conclusions of the Maher Study, and a copy of a Maher Study drawing of the proposed campus plan. There are several drafts of a sub-committee report outlining a general campus plan, based primarily on the Maher plan. There are several drafts of the program for the proposed competition, which document its evolution during 1910. The series contains a letter from George Maher complaining that the proposed competition would usurp ideas he had already presented to the Commission. There is a copy of the published competition program. The series also includes eight narrative descriptions of plans that accompanied drawings submitted for the competition. There is a copy of the winning plan entered by Palmer and Hornbostle. The Northwesterrn University Archives holds none of the original competition drawings.