William Adams Delano was born in New York City in 1874 and was educated in architecture at Yale and Columbia University. He joined the prominent New York-based architectural firm Carrère & Hastings, where he first met Chester Aldrich. In 1903, Delano opened a private practice in New York City with Aldrich, and the firm of Delano & Aldrich became largely known for its significant designs of Beaux-Arts-style country houses, cultural institutions, commercial, and civic buildings throughout the East Coast. After the partnership ended, Delano continued to practice through the late 1950s. He died in New York in 1960.

This scrapbooks includes correspondence, typescripts, printed materials, black and white photographs, postcards, and other ephemera relating to the life, work, and personal interests of William Delano and his partnership with Chester H. Aldrich.