The collection represents the life and work of a highly creative and successful American architect during the last half of the twentieth century. In 1990 the American Institute of Architects awarded Jones the AIA Gold Medal and his most famous building, Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas is included in the AIA list of the Top Ten Buildings of the Century. Thorncrown, the Jones’s own residence and the Dr. and Mrs. H.D Hantz residence in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the Shaheen/Goodfellow weekend residence (Stoneflower) on Eden Isle, Arkansas are on the National Register of Historic Places. Jones is known for his chapels, pavilions, and residential structures. The collection is a complete record of Jones’s teaching, his practice, his philosophy of architecture, and his skill as an artist.

Personal material includes biographical information from Jones’s childhood through his World War II service to his academic and professional associations and interests. Professional materials include a large series of project files generated by his office in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Jones began designing several residences in collaboration with other young architects in 1950. He opened his official practice, Fay Jones, Architect, in 1954. In 1977 it became Fay Jones and Associates, and in 1986, with his partner Maurice Jennings, the name was changed to Jones and Jennings. Materials documenting 226 building projects from 1950 to 1998 include correspondence, construction schedules, notes, sketches, reports, and product literature. Over 22,000 separate sheets of drawings illustrate the development of projects from conceptual sketches to presentation and construction drawings. Unmeasured line drawings of many projects can be found in Photo Mechanical Transfer (PMT) format. Over 20,000 slides and photographs record Jones’s architectural creations and travels. Recorded interviews and audio-visual items featuring Fay Jones discussing his work are in VHS and DVD formats. In the academic records, one can find early project ideas, lecture notes, class rosters, and University of Arkansas School of Architecture administrative records.

In addition there are numerous carefully kept appointment books, registration certificates, sketch books, and phone messages which provide details not found elsewhere. Printed resources include: posters from seminars and meetings, magazines that feature Jones’s work, clippings, and a portion of Jones’s own library.

Framed items in the collection were used in two exhibits: “Outside the Pale,” a retrospective of Jones’s entire career, presented at the Old State House in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1999 and “E. Fay Jones: Artist/Architect,” presented by the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2001. Three-dimensional items include 21 metal and wood details of design or construction importance. Six working models are in the collection, including: Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Thorncrown Worship Center in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista, Arkansas; Pinecote Pavilion at the Crosby Arboretum near Picayune, Mississippi; The Hermitage Chapel at the Little Portion Community near Eureka Springs, Arkansas (not built), and the Fraser/Chapman Chapel, originally designed for Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Fraser at Lake Lanier, Georgia (not built). Another version of the Fraser Chapel was altered and presented to Chapman University in Orange, California (also not built).

Acquisition and processing of the material was made possible by a donation from Don and Ellen Edmondson of Forrest City, Arkansas. Another donation from the Edmondsons produced four crafted display tables for the models, as well as a brass emblem for the archives door, Room 126 in Special Collections.