The C. H. Detwiller Columbia 1885 Collection was a gift from his grandson, Frederic C. Detwiller, to Avery Library in 2006. Born in 1863, Charles H. Detwiller was in the first class of architecture students in the School of Mines at Columbia University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1885. As a practicing architect, Detwiller maintained offices in New York City and New Jersey for several decades, establishing a brief partnership in the 1890s with architect George E. Melendy. Detwiller died in New Jersey in 1940.

This small collection contains primarily Detwiller's student drawings, notes, course materials, books, class photographs, and graduation announcements from the period of his study at Columbia University from 1881 to 1885. These materials are supplemented by Detwiller's childhood sketchbooks, a diary, several drawings created by Detwiller as a professional architect, and other scrapbooks and ephemeral items relating to Detwiller's family and personal interests, spanning the years 1874 to 1940.