The Donald and Sylvia Reay Collection spans the years 1938 to 1999, and includes the Reays’ personal papers, records from private practice and professional careers, and materials generated by the firms DeMars & Reay, Reay Associates, and Reay-Tsuruta Associates. The collection is organized in five series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Faculty Papers, Office Records, Project Records.

The collection is extensive and contains a wide range of materials documenting primarily Don Reay’s long career as a designer and planner. The Personal Papers series contains his biographical material, personal correspondence, and photographs as well as Sylvia Reay’s papers that contain biographical records and some of Sylvia Reay’s student work. The Professional Papers series includes correspondence with other architects, writings and presentation notes, awards, and records related to professional organizations. Research and reference files are extensively represented. The Faculty Papers contain material related to Don Reay’s professorship at the College of Environmental Design. Primarily, this series contains official correspondence with other members of the UC Berkeley Architecture faculty, committee work documentation, and course materials such as syllabi and lecture notes from classes he taught.

The Office Records series documents administrative operations, public relations efforts, financial transactions, and correspondence. The majority of the Projects Records series documents DeMars & Reay, and Reay-Tsuruta Associates, and Reay Associates projects spanning the years 1955-1998, and document the firms’ work through drawings, photographs, and administrative files. Projects undertaken by Sylvia Reay solely are noted in the Project Index.