Title: Donald Torbert Photograph Collection
Dates: 1836-1960
Size: 640 items
Donald Torbert was born in Ohio in 1910. After receiving his education at Ohio State University, he obtained a teaching position there as an instructor of art. In 1936, Torbert entered the University of Minnesota, where he received his Ph.D. and subsequently joined the faculty to teach art history until his retirement in 1978. He served as a member of the Committee on the Urban Environment in Minneapolis (1968-78), the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission (1972-78), and the Minnesota State Review Board for the National Register of Historic Places (1970-78). Torbert authored A Century of Art and Architecture, A Century of Minnesota Architecture (1958), and Significant Architecture in the History of Minneapolis (1969). He died in Santa Barbara, CA, on August 24, 1985.
The collection consists of photographs of residences, commercial buildings, churches, bridges, hotels, government structures, and other buildings gathered by Torbert in compiling his doctoral dissertation, Minneapolis Architecture and Architects 1848-1908 (University of Minnesota, 1951). Also present are photographs of 19th century street scenes in Minneapolis and St. Paul and in a number of other Minnesota towns and cities.
Among the buildings documented are the Henry Sibley house, Mendota (ca. 1835); the St. Paul Union Depot (ca. 1880); Territorial and State Capitols (1851, 1896); Fort Snelling (1857-1896); Union Station, Minneapolis (n.d.); St. James Hotel, Red Wing (1873); and the State Prison, Stillwater (n.d.).
(See also: A Century of Minnesota Architecture Photographs)
Access: 1