Largely a self-supporting research facility within the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley, the Environmental Design Archives (EDA) is a premier archival program dedicated to raising awareness of the significant architectural and landscape architecture heritage of Northern California. With a mission to collect, preserve, and provide access to the primary records of the built and landscaped environment, the EDA is an invaluable resource for preservation, restoration, education, and scholarship. The collection is used by design professionals, students, scholars, homeowners, and other researchers.

For more than ten years, the EDA Advisory Board has provided the Archives with leadership, dedication, time, and financial backing. These contributions and efforts have been tremendously successful and fostered a fledgling documents collection to its maturity. In recent years, the Archives has become an internationally-recognized archival program, one that requires increasing annual resources to maintain its mission and its leadership role in the world of design archives. To meet these goals, the Archives is presently forming a broader and more diverse support group that will advocate and fundraise for the program, as well as contribute ideas for collection development, educational programming, and public service.

This new group is the Friends of the Environmental Design Archives. Its members include former Advisory Board members as well as long-time Archives supporters, researchers, and enthusiasts from the Bay Area's design, art, and research communities. The Friends promises to be an extraordinary group of committed individuals who will support the Archives mandate with advocacy and fundraising!

How to Join

We invite you to join The Friends of the Environmental Design Archives at the level that works best for you. As a Friend you will become identified with the invaluable work of this great archival program and growing collection and be kept in touch with its activities through the lively newsletter Tracings. From time to time, the EDA will offer unique membership opportunities, such as special lectures, tours, publications, and collection-inspired merchandise.

It is only with the Friends contributions and support that the Archives will be able to uphold its reputation and fulfill its mission. We hope you will join us to both insure the success of this important institution and to participate in its stimulating programs!

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE!!!   Make your contribution to the Archives by joining the Friends membership between now and September 1, 2006, and you will be listed as a "Founding Friend."

Ten percent of all new memberships will go to building the Lifchez / Archives Endowment Fund.

Click here to download the PDF Membership Form.

• A subscription to Tracings, a newsletter of the EDA published twice a year
• An invitation to an annual lecture by a prominent faculty member or scholar
• A print of an image from the collection

• All of the above, plus
• An introductory gift of a monograph from the Berkeley/Design/Books publication series

• All of the above, plus
• An annual gift of a monograph from the Berkeley/Design/Books publication series
• Invitations to pre-event receptions

• All of the above plus,
• Wurster Society Membership, which recognizes leadership gifts to the College of Environmental Design, the benefits of which include invitations to special CED events and the annual Wurster Society Dinner, priority seating at all CED lectures, and recognition in the annual CED Honor Roll, FRAMEWORKS, and on the CED web site
• A complimentary research visit to the Archives

• All of the above, plus
• A curated tour of the Archives for up to six people
• An archival quality print
• Invitations to special events including exhibition openings and symposia

Donations to the Environmental Design Archives are entirely or partly tax deductible. For more information on the Friends of the Environmental Design Archives, to make a gift, or if you have other questions please contact:

Waverly Lowell, Curator
Environmental Design Archives
College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley
230 Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820
phone: 510/ 642-5124
fax: 510/ 642-2824
email: designarchives@berkeley.edu