Andrew Seager Archives of the Built Environment

OUR HISTORY

Although the Andrew Seager Archives of the Built Environment (formerly known as the Drawings + Documents Archive) wasn’t “formally” organized until 1978, the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University began receiving architectural drawings and landscape records, as gifts to the school, soon after the college's formation in the mid-1960s. One of the first major acquisitions made by the College, the Pierre and Wright collection, was a donation from the Indiana State Museum.

Proper archival housing was not provided for records until 1978. It was at this time, under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Architecture, Michael Tomlan, that the records in the collection were moved from storage holdings in the Architecture Library, to the basement of North Quad, the former home of the University Library, where they were sorted and cataloged. By this time, it was estimated that the archival collection had grown to nearly 15,000 items. Responsibility for the archive and role of Director was passed along to Architecture Department faculty member, Andrew Seager, the following year. An addition to the Architecture Building was in the planning stages by this time, and in 1982, the expansion was complete, which provided a specially designed area devoted entirely for archival research and storage.

Located on the first floor of the Architecture Building, the Andrew Seager Archives of the Built Environment has remained in the same location since its 1982 transition from the North Quad basement. In the 2000s, the Ball State University Libraries assumed oversight of the Seager Archives, and in 2020, the Drawings + Documents Archive was officially renamed in honor of Andrew "Andy" Seager's contributions to Ball State University.