Since 2013, every February, the John G. Williams Fellowship dinner has recognized the legacy of the founder of the School of Architecture and Design, John Gilbert Williams. While the school may be named after the celebrated and internationally named graduate of the first class, the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design owes its existence to a sly fellow raised in Crawford County who knew what to do with a bit of good fortune and his own vision for a flourishing design program.
In 1946, after teaching for four years at the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, John Williams moved to Fayetteville to start a new teaching position at the University of Arkansas. The influx of students as a result of the GI Bill was one of the factors that created a demand for a curriculum in architecture, which Williams developed. The fortuitous and inadvertent inclusion of that curriculum in the 1946-1947 Course Catalog may be the unofficial birth of the architecture program.
From its inauspicious and unlikely debut, John Williams continued to attentively shepherd what emerged as the Department of Architecture as its chair for the next 20 years. In this capacity, he helped achieve full accreditation for the program by 1964. He brought several of the county’s most celebrated designers – Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward Durell Stone and Charles Eames – to speak at the university. He continued to teach until 1989, though he could often be found having lunch and exercising his undeniable wit at the Student Union with friends in the years that followed. While ostensively, William’s book, The Curious and the Beautiful, is a history of the School of Architecture; it is as much a love letter to the program and students that meant so much to him.
His contributions, however, were not limited to what was simply the Department, and then, School of Architecture. Williams was involved with the campus and greater community in many capacities. Significantly, as both an architect and a landscape architect, Williams contributed to defining the physical character of the U of A Fayetteville campus through his years as an architectural adviser. Williams, a gifted designer, also practiced professionally. His design projects, primarily residential, are refined examples of a thoughtful, regional modern aesthetic.
Special Collections is honored to be the repository for the John G. Williams Papers (MC 1015). Materials include the professional papers of John Gilbert Williams relating to his work as member of the faculty and an administrator at the University of Arkansas and as an architect and landscape architect. The academic materials include documentation courses taught, committee work, curricula, accreditation, scholarly research and professional affiliations. Extensive records of his work as the architectural adviser to the University of Arkansas, helping shape the environment of the campus, are included. Other materials relate to Williams’ work as a design professional, both as an architect and landscape architect. These include project files, drawings, reference materials, photographs and the labeled leather briefcase Williams used professionally.
