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Emilie M. Townes is a womanist ethicist and an author and speaker on African American women and the church, specializing in themes such as the oppressive forces of race, sex, and sexuality in the church and society. She has held appointments at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School, the Yale Divinity School, and Union Theological Seminary. The collection contains addresses and sermons, publications, correspondence, coursework and teaching material, memorabilia, and other related materials that reflect her life, work, and thought as a womanist theologian.

This collection is made up of architectural drawings, correspondence, specifications, contracts, invoices, minutes, financial statements, patents, advertisements, photographs, photograph album, test results and reports, memoranda, tile samples, factory order cards, and other materials pertaining to The Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company's projects. The dates of the materials span 1866-1985, with bulk dates 1890-1942. The architectural records include structural, decorative, and acoustical sample products and fragments. Also included are materials added to the files by George Collins (1917-1993), Professor of Art History at Columbia University. Prof. Collins secured the donation of this archive in 1963, and remained its custodian until it was transferred to the Drawings and Archives Collection at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library in 1988. The records document Prof. Collins' research efforts, as well as the Company's projects in forty states (including District of Columbia), four Canadian provinces, and eleven other foreign countries.