Available for use in the Manuscripts Division reading room. Advance notice is requested.
There are no restrictions on the use of materials in this collection. Copies can be requested if the condition of the originals warrants it.
Lustron Houses plans (N 126), Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.
The Lustron Corporation, established by Carl Strandlund, was a distributor of prefabricated homes in the late 1940s. Because of the housing shortage after World War II, the federal government went into partnership with several private companies to build moderately priced homes for returning soldiers and other citizens. Lustron was one of these companies and received $40 million from the government to construct prefabricated homes. Between 1946 and 1948, Lustron received orders for 20,000 homes, but slightly more than 2,000 orders were filled before Lustron declared bankruptcy in 1950.
The collection comprises a set of Lustron house plans for the Model 02 home, dated May 1948. Also included in the collection are home research materials, including notes, photocopies of newspaper clippings and company brochures.
An unpublished finding aid with detailed contents is available in the Manuscripts Division.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.