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.
Foster Dunwiddie papers (N 142), Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.
The collection is organized alphabetically by commission name.
Foster W. Dunwiddie was born in Fox Lake, Wisconsin on January 29, 1925. He graduated from high school in Port Washington, WI, in 1942 and served in the 14th Armored Division of the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945. After the war, he graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, earning a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 1948. Dunwiddie was granted a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1951 and a master's degree in architecture in historic preservation in 1979, both from the University of Minnesota. He joined Thorshov & Cerny, Inc., in 1950 as a draftsman and rose to become an associate in the firm. In 1960, when Robert Cerny left to form his own firm, Cerny Associates, Dunwiddie went along as a partner and later became vice president. In 1963, he, along with colleagues from Thorshov & Cerny and Cerny Associates, formed Miller, Whitehead, Dunwiddie Inc. Four years later the firm became Miller-Dunwiddie Associates Inc. and continues to the present time. Dunwiddie taught historic preservation classes at the University of Minnesota from 1979 until his retirement in 1989. He retired from architectural practice in 1997.
Principal works by Dunwiddie include: Metropolitan Stadium (razed)(Bloomington, MN, 1955-64); Minnesota Centennial Building (St. Paul, 1960); Sheraton Hotel (razed)(Minneapolis, 1959-63); restoration of the Commandant's House and Officers' Quarters, Ft. Snelling (St. Paul, 1975); restoration of the Minneapolis City Hall (1983); restoration of the Minnesota State Capitol (St. Paul); and several facilities at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (1960s-1980s).
The collection contains reports, papers, and lectures from Dunwiddie's historic preservation classes at the University of Minnesota; reports, photographs, and plans of Minneapolis flour mills and other historic structures for the Historic American Buildings Survey; drawings, specifications, and job files of buildings designed by Dunwiddie, including Metropolitan Stadium and the Sheraton Hotel; and appointment books, slides, and photographs of projects and historic buildings from Dunwiddie's personal collection.
An unpublished finding aid with detailed contents is available in the Manuscripts Division.
Cerny Associates papers (N 29)
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.