Materials regarding the design, history, usage, and contents of the Bryan Lathrop House. The house, designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White for Bryan and Helen Aldis Lathrop, was completed in 1892 and has been the home of The Fortnightly of Chicago since 1922. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Contains overall information such as architectural plans printed from microfilm; reports regarding the condition and structure of the house; and interior and exterior photographs. See also Series 10: Audiovisual, Subseries 1: Photographs for additional photographs. Administrative information includes mortgage information, interior and exterior maintenance records for the house, appraisals, insurance, and licenses.

Also includes more specific information regarding the design, contents, and furnishings. Member Rue Winterbotham Carpenter played a significant role in the interior decorating and furnishing of the Lathrop House in the 1920s. One item of note is a copy of “The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer” published in 1896 by William Morris’s Kelmscott Press. Known as the Kelmscott Chaucer, only 425 copies were printed. Materials also cover some pre-Lathrop House information regarding meeting locations of the Fortnightly of Chicago prior to 1922, such as the Fine Arts Building, and information about groups and clubs that rented space in the Lathrop House.