Call Number:

AC208

Repository:

Princeton University Library: University Archives

Extent:

10 boxes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Robert Judson Clark Papers, Box and Folder Number; University Archives, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1741-1997 (inclusive)

Creator:

Clark, Robert Judson.

Abstract:

The Robert Judson Clark Papers consist of records pertaining to the architecture and grounds of Princeton University's campus and the surrounding area, compiled by professor emeritus Robert Judson Clark of the Princeton University Department of Art and Archaeology.

Robert Judson Clark *74 is a professor emeritus of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University. While earning his doctorate at Princeton in the early 1970s, Clark earned national recognition as a specialist in the study of decorative arts, chairing the Princeton University symposium "Aspects of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America" in 1972. A subsequent edited volume The Arts and Crafts Movement in America: 1876-1916 remains one of the most widely used texts in the field. Clark has also acted as a curator or advisor on many major museum exhibitions.

One of Clark's most enduring research interests as an acting professor and emeriti has been the architecture and grounds of the Princeton campus. Among undergraduates one of his most popular upper-level courses was a seminar given on Princeton architecture, which focused on the evolution of the campus in the context of modern architectural history. He also offered a similar course on the town of Princeton, though less frequently.

Robert Judson Clark also oversaw the research aspects of the Evolution of a Campus project. Undertaken as part of the University's 250th Anniversary Celebration in 1996-1997, this project compiled an architectural history of the University, focusing on the structural history of each individual building. The final online product incorporated three-dimensional digital models, photographs, and text to present researchers with single-point access to a digital narrative of the campus' past and present.

The Robert Judson Clark Papers consist of research materials compiled by Professor Clark on the history of Princeton University's campus, buildings, and surrounding area. These documents were used by Clark in preparing his courses on Princeton architecture as well as by the Evolution of a Campus project. Much of the material is drawn from the collections of the Princeton University Archives, held at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library; however there is also a significant amount of documentation from other sources such as architectural journals. Also present in the papers are records of the courses Clark taught with these materials, as well as correspondence and budget-related records from Evolution of a Campus.

As a result of Professor Clark's sources and research methods, the vast majority of the collection consists of copies of original material. In compiling information, Clark or one of his assistants would exhaustively make photocopies of relevant primary documents, and then annotate and interfile the copies into the appropriate building or subject's file. Hence, very little original material is in the collection, and some items appear in more than one file.

Please see series descriptions in the contents list for additional information about individual series.