Back to Fuller Main Page

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do you have any pictures of the Dymaxion Car?
A: See M1090, Series 13, Box 4

Q: Pictures of the Dymaxion House/Wichita House?
A: See M1090, Series 13, Box 4 or Series 13, Box 21

Q. Pictures of Bucky?
A: There are numerous pictures. Start with M1090 Series 13 Box 8, and Series 14 Box 13. There are some very early family photos in Series 13 Box 10.

Q: Do you have any models?
A: Models are stored off site and are usually only used for classes. However, you can access pictures of many of the models by using the OAC finding aid see http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf109n9832 and clicking on the small link in the upper left hand corner that reads Online Items.

You can also access some quicktime virtual-reality models online at the Stanford Humanities Lab Website. See http://shl.stanford.edu/research/bucky.html

Q: Do you have a model of the Dymaxion House?
A: Yes, we do have a model of the Wichita House (late 1940’s), approximately 0.75m in diameter, but due to the fragility of the model it is only accessed for special purposes. In general, the model should not travel beyond Special Collections.

Q: Do you have a model of the Dymaxion Car?
A: No, we do not have any models of the car. However, if you are a car aficionado, there is a pretty thorough site containing pictures and history of the car at this location: http://www.washedashore.com/projects/dymax/index.html
This site is not maintained by Stanford and we can’t vouch for the accuracy of the information; but it might be a good place to start for basic information.

Q: Do you have researchers that can dig up information/photos for me?
A: No, we do not have any researchers for hire.

Q: Do you have any of Bucky’s speeches?
A: Please refer to our digital collection, in which you can view approximately 80 hours of video footage and 300 hours of audio content for free after registering. Registration is easy and will allow you full access to the digital collection. Visit:
http://collections.stanford.edu/bucky/

There is another site showing footage of Bucky’s historic 42 hour lecture entitled “Everything I Know” located here:
http://memeticdrift.net/bucky/index.html

That site is not maintained by Stanford.

Q: Where can I find letters that Fuller wrote to other people?
A: Fuller organized all his correspondence in the Dymaxion Chronofile, (Series 2) which is a chronological arrangement of papers. In order to locate correspondence, you need to know the date or approximate date of interest. From there, page the boxes corresponding to that date, and you will be able to leaf through them to find the correspondence. If the correspondence happened prior to 1973, then both ingoing and outgoing correspondence is found in M1090, Series 2, Subseries 1. From 1973 through Fuller's death in 1983 his office staff maintained a separate file of carbon copies of all outgoing correspondence. Therefore, outgoing correspondence after 1973 can be found in M1090, Series 2, Subseries 2.

In some cases, for example if a box or folder contains correspondence with a well known or important figure, then that name will be referenced in the finding aid.

Q: Can I get copies of blueprints?
A: In general, no. These are very large and difficult to image.

Q: Do you teach any classes on Buckminster Fuller?
A: At present, no. In 2001-2002, two seminars were offered by Prof. Jeffrey Schnapp at Stanford on Fuller’s work. There was also a lecture series at Stanford that interviewed several of Fuller’s colleagues. Those interviews can be seen online at the Stanford Humanities Lab Website. See http://shl.stanford.edu/research/bucky.html

Q: Where can I find out more about R. Buckminster Fuller?
A: You can find more information about R. Buckminster Fuller, including resources, at our Special Collections website. See:
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/fuller/index.html

The Digital Media Collection referenced above also has information about R. Buckminster Fuller. Please refer to:
http://collections.stanford.edu/bucky/

The Buckminster Fuller Institute’s website has a wealth of information on R. Buckminster Fuller, both historical information and updates on current activities related to his work. Please see: http://www.bfi.org

Please report any broken links to the webmaster.