Richard Nickel began documenting Adler & Sullivan buildings in the early 1950s as part of a class project directed by Aaron Siskind at the Institute of Design. Throughout his life Nickel recorded many other historical buildings, some just before demolition, as well as contemporary buildings during construction. He photographed the work of Burnham & Root, Holabird & Roche, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, C. F. Murphy Associates, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

The Richard Nickel Committee, a non-profit organization which administers the Archive, has printed some of the negatives to make the photographs more accessible to architecture, design and photography audiences. Access is limited to scholarly and professional research. For further information, please contact the Richard Nickel Committee