The Kenneth Cardwell Collections spans the years from 1941-1994, and includes files created by Cardwell, the firms he worked for, and records pertinent to his research and teaching materials. This collection mainly documents his work as an architect, preservationist, and researcher.

Series I: Personal Papers (1941-1982) contains biographical information and photographs from Cardwell’s time serving in the U.S. military during WWII when he was stationed in New Guinea and England.

Series II: Professional Papers (1955-1991) contains correspondence relating to Cardwell’s time as faculty of the College of Environmental Design and the publishing of his book Bernard Maybeck: Artisan, Architect, Artist; unpublished writings, such as histories of places and biographies of individual architects; presentations; and various office records from the firm Hall, Goodhue, and Haisley.

Series III: Faculty Papers (1955-1965) contains teaching materials and work done by his students during his time as a professor at the Department of Architecture at UC Berkeley. Classes he taught include Housing Facilities (co-taught with Vernon DeMars), Neighborhood Health Centers, and Architectural Preservation and Documentation.

Series IV: Project Records (1949-1985) contains documents, drawings, and photographs of architectural projects designed by Cardwell. These projects, mostly residential, done for private clients in the Bay Area during the 1950s and 1960s and include additions and remodeling. These projects were done during the time that Cardwell worked for the firms Kolbeck, Cardwell, Christopherson, and for himself under the name K. Cardwell Architects.

Series V: Historical Preservation Records (1953-1994) consists of documents, surveys, drawings, and photographs relating to Cardwell’s work as an architectural preservationist and a historic architecture consultant. This includes work done as a private consultant for governmental agencies such as the Department of Park and Recreation, Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the firm Hall, Goodhue, and Hailsey where he worked on many historic architectural sites throughout Northern California creating historic evaluations, surveys, and structural reports. The Historical Preservation Records contains documents (such as reports, descriptive site evaluations, and research files pertaining to paint colors, vernacular designs, and other design notes), drawings, and photographs (from either archival sources, or taken by Cardwell).

Series VI: Maybeck, contains reference images relating to Cardwell’s lifelong research on Bernard Maybeck, teaching materials, and his book Bernard Maybeck: Artisan, Architect, Artist. These images include photographs, negatives, positives, and glass slides taken by Cardwell and others. This series also contains three sounds recordings from an interview done by Bernard Maybeck and Robert Schutz done in 1953 titled, “Men and Issues.”