NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 26 number 2 - Winter 2006

Special Collections Acquires Extensive Golf Course Design Archives

By Lois Fischer Black, Special Collections Research Center

Last year, the NCSU Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center acquired the drawings, records, and working library of the firm Willard C. Byrd and Associates, one of the most prominent landscape architecture firms in the country. Byrd contacted the university regarding the disposition of his archive, because he desired to preserve the records at his alma mater and make them available to future generations of researchers.

Willard Calvert Byrd was born in Whiteville, North Carolina, on April 12, 1919. He served in the United States Navy during World War II on board a minesweeper. He enrolled at North Carolina State College, graduating in 1948 with a degree in landscape architecture from the School of Design. He then worked as a city planner for the Federal Housing Administration. Shortly thereafter, he established the firm of Willard C. Byrd and Associates, which soon specialized in golf course design. After a career spanning nearly five decades, Byrd died in December 2004.

Although Willard Byrd was best known for his work as a golf course architect, his work as a landscape architect was wide-ranging and included residential and resort communities, as well as commercial and industrial parks, built throughout the Southeast. His work changed the landscape of nearly 350,000 acres in more than a dozen states and several countries throughout the world. Notable projects include the Country Club of North Carolina, Wexford Plantation, and Myrtle Beach Golf and Yacht Club. Throughout his illustrious career, Byrd received many accolades. He was named a Fellow in both the American Society of Landscape Architects and the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

The more than 10,000 drawings in the collection, dating from 1956 through 2001, range in size from 8 x 10 inches to over 135 inches in length. They are drawn on a variety of media--including drafting film, paper, and tracing paper--and were executed mainly in ink or pencil. It is possible to trace the creation of each of Byrd’s projects from concept to design by studying the materials. Since the vast majority of design firms do not keep copious records reflecting the evolution of ideas and thoughts throughout the design process, this collection is unique and irreplaceable.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Lively, friends of the Byrd family, facilitated the collection’s transfer from Atlanta to Raleigh. After a collaborative effort to pack the drawings and files at Willard Byrd’s office, the Livelys drove a box truck to the NCSU Libraries’ Satellite Shelving Facility, where they delivered rolls of Byrd’s drawings, along with several boxes of project files and books.