Grady Clay papers

Louisville journalist Grady Clay is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, who received his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1938 and his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1939. During World War II he was on the staff of Yank, the U.S. Army's weekly publication. A longtime resident of Louisville, Kentucky, he was the real estate editor and later the first urban affairs editor for the Louisville Courier-Journal, a position he held until 1966. That year he joined Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism to help establish its Urban Journalism Center. Clay has held numerous academic positions: he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1947; a research associate to the Joint Center for Urban Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1960-1961; and a Guggenheim Fellow between 1973 and 1974. He has lectured extensively in universities both in the United States and abroad and was visiting professor at the University of Kentucky, Northwestern University, the University of Salzburg, Austria, and at the University of Louisville. In 1966 he became editor of Landscape Architecture Quarterly, the journal of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a position he held until 1984. He is also a former president of the National Association of Real Estate Editors. He is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects. Clay is the author of many articles and books, including works on architecture, water resources, urban planning, and historic preservation. His major writings include Alleys: A Hidden Resource (1978); Closeup: How to Read the American City (1980); plus a television documentary, Unknown Places: Exploring the Obvious (1982). Clay has also been a contributing author to several other works. He has served as advisor on several major projects including the Environmental Planning Advisory Council for the Amelia Island, Florida developments of the Sea Pines Corporation (1971-1975), the Review Committee for Williamsburg and Busch properties, for the Kingsmill community development project in Virginia.