Over the course of its existence, the Radnor Historical Society has accumulated a wide variety of non-photographic archival material relating to architecture. The bulk of the collection comes from two sources: the records of Wayne-based builder Jonathan D. Lengel and the archive of local developer Walter Bassett Smith. The items from these collections span projects in various localities, not just Radnor Township.
Since the early 1990s, the majority of these archives have been kept on long-term loan at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, where they are available to view in person by appointment. These large format documents were conserved with the assistance of a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts and dgitized at the Athenaeum’s Regional Digital Imaging Center. Digitized versions of most of these archives are also available to view, though drawings that include floor plans of extant buildings are only available to the owners of those properties.
The collection is split into three sections:
1 – Architectural drawings
2 – Maps, site plans, and development plans
3 – Other documents, including specifications