The images throughout the Texas Architecture: A Visual History Web site were selected from two discrete yet complementary collections of slides. These collections contain unique and valuable images documenting architecture of both extant and lost buildings throughout Texas.

The Drury Blakeley Alexander Collection

3,214 slides were selected for digitization from Alexander’s vast collection. These slides represent Texas architecture from the 18th-21st centuries. Images consist of residential, civic, commercial and religious architecture, including more than 390 images of buildings at The University of Texas at Austin.

Alexander was born in Paris, Texas, on February 4, 1924. He obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree (1950) and a Bachelor of Science in Art degree (1951) from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Arts degree (1953) from Columbia University in New York. Alexander taught as an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin from 1955-1960, an Associate Professor from 1960-1967, and in 1967 was promoted to Professor of Architecture. Alexander’s collection is located in the Alexander Architectural Archive.

The Marian Davis Collection

Donated by the estate of Marian B. Davis, this collection consists of nearly 4,000 slides, 750 of which document 19th- and 20th-century architecture in Austin. Images of residential, civic and religious architecture are represented, including a special emphasis on turn-of-the-century commercial architecture on Congress Avenue and 6th Street (which has been included as part of this Web site).

Marian B. Davis was born in St. Louis on September 24, 1911. Davis received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mary Institute in 1932, a Master of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1935, and a Ph.D. in art history in 1948. From 1941-1944, Dr. Davis was with the Worcester Art Museum, and in 1945 she became an Assistant Professor of Art at The University of Texas at Austin—rising to Professor in 1960, and retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1978. Dr. Davis was a member of Open Forum, an important contributor to the Austin Travis County Collection and Austin History Center. She was a member of the College Art Association (director 1951-1955) and the Society of Architectural Historians and contributed numerous articles and reviews to art and history journals. Marian B. Davis died on October 26, 2000. She is remembered with admiration and affection by hundreds of former students, family members and friends.