Architects' Libraries

Tulane University Libraries have benefited from donations made by the region's architects and their estates. Many of these historic gifts bear the signatures of their owners or their personally designed bookplates.

Architect Frank G. Churchill (Natchez, MS 1876- New Orleans, LA 1924) created his own ex libris (shown above). After attending Tulane University during the mid-1890s, Churchill studied painting in Cincinnati, Ohio.(1) He was briefly a principal in the DeBuys, Churchill & Labouisse firm before entering private practice.

His library included a copy of George Louis Adams' L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne (Paris, 1847). The book is incredibly scarce, and Churchill's copy bears the stamp of the Mayor of Saint-Quentin (Aisne, Picardy, France).

James Gallier, Sr. (1798-1866) also owned a copy of L'architecture moderne. He pasted the plates from both volumes into a large scrapbook that he had purchased from H.G. Stetson & Company, 54 Camp Street.


(1)"Orleans Artist, Architect, Dies in Life's Prime." The Times-Picayune 7 March 1924.

Images above:  Frank G. Churchill. Ex Libris, Undated. As it appears in George Louis Adams. L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne, Vol. 2 (Paris, 1847). Rare Books Unit, Tulane University Libraries.  Jones Hall Rare Books (large) NA7346 .C5

James Gallier, Sr. Scrapbook.  Plate from George Louis Adams. L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne, Vol. 1 (Paris, 1847). Sylvester Labrot Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

At Large in the Library: Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week kicked off a few days ago, and it seemed a good time to mention Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.  Twelve publishers rejected the manuscript -- first titled Second-Hand Lives -- before Bobbs-Merrill finally released 7,500 copies on 6 May 1943.  The company's New York business manager felt that sales would never surpass more than 10,000 copies. Overall Bobbs-Merrill spent about $250,000 on promotions and within a few months Warner Brothers acquired the film rights.

The idea for the book stemmed from Rand's 1926 arrival to Manhattan; she later recalled that "there was one skyscraper that stood out ablaze like the finger of God, and it seemed to me that [it was] the greatest symbol of free man.... I made a mental note that someday I would write a novel with the skyscraper as a theme."

The novel's visionary architect-protagonist, Howard Roark, was widely believed to have been inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. There has been some recent speculation that Raymond Hood may have been the basis for the novel's other architect character Peter Keating.

The Fountainhead frequently appears on Top 100 lists of banned and challenged books.