International Archive of Women in Architecture

03/20/2026

There's a new exhibition on view on the first floor of Newman Library! Stop by to look at items curated around themes related to housing, domesticity, and material feminism 🏡

03/27/2025

Short notice, but I'll be co-hosting an Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon with a colleague over in the School of Visual Arts tomorrow in Newman 120, 12-2:30 pm!

Registration link (if you register as an editor here, the event dashboard with log your edits for the event): https://artandfeminism.org/edit_a_thon/blacksburg-artandfeminism-2025/
Zoom link for remote attendees: https://virginiatech.zoom.us/j/89843474900

Helpful edits include adding new information, images, or even citations to credible sources! 👩‍💻💫

03/19/2025

Happy Women's Month! It's hard to believe we're already in the back half of March. The IAWA has two exhibits up in Newman Library at the moment honoring the 40th Anniversary of its founding, both curated by archivist Jade Snelling. The cases show the range and variety of our collections, from models to stamps. Hope you can stop by if you're in Blacksburg!

09/13/2024

New blog post on the 1973-1975 AIA Task Force on Women, roughly 50 years later: https://scuablog.lib.vt.edu/2024/09/13/organizational-politics-and-the-evolution-of-the-aia-task-force-on-women-in-the-profession/ 🍂

Created in 1857, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) is the primary professional organization for architects in the United States, the stated purpose of which was and is “to unite in f…

04/30/2024

New blog post, written by one of our wonderful student assistants! Her name is Neera and she's a rising third year landscape architecture student at VT. This semester she's been processing the project records of the Steven and Cathi House collection. Her post features a House + House Architects project, Casa Cabo Pulmo on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. Check it out!

This post was written by IAWA Student Library Assistant Neera Naran. She studies landscape architecture in the College of Art, Architecture, and Design at Virginia Tech. The Steven and Cathi House …

03/14/2024

Do you like buttons? (We have buttons.)

A new crop of images curated from IAWA collections will be making their swag debut at next week's IAWA Symposium over in Cowgill Hall, including this weird lil guy 👀

03/04/2024

Happy Women's History Month! Once again, materials from the IAWA are on display in the Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room.

"Building the Commons: IAWA Case Studies in Constructing Shared Spaces" is a curated selection that focuses on cross-cultural case studies of public space, urban planning, community building, and resource allocation. Collections featured include Beverly Willis, Merle Easton, Dina Stancheva, Silvia Păun, and Melita Rodeck. The photo below is from the Dina Stancheva Architectural Drawings Collection, and is of a group of Bulgarian schoolchildren in front of a school building Stancheva designed in the Zaimov neighborhood of Sofia, Bulgaria. 📸🏫

01/06/2023

Items from the IAWA are on display now! Stop by Special Collections and University Archives in Newman Library to see select materials related to black-and-white photography’s role in promoting modern architecture. 📸

Collections featured include Rebecca Wood Watkin, Lois Gottlieb, Han Schroeder, and Liane Zimbler. Photo below taken by Ernest Bauer, from the Rebecca Wood Watkin Architectural Collection.

09/02/2022

AWA+D is celebrating their centennial this year! The theme of the event is "Building Our Legacy" and will be held next Saturday at HenryBuilt in LA, and IAWA Collections Archivist Jade Snelling will be giving a talk on donating materials to the archives! Here's a link with more info (including how to register if you'd like to attend!): https://www.awaplusd.org/events-listing #!event/2022/9/10/awa-100th-building-our-collective-legacy

03/25/2022

https://scuablog.lib.vt.edu/2022/03/21/the-unrealized-vision-of-architect-merle-eastons-school-street-concept-a-window-into-public-education-reform-in-1970s-west-philadelphia/

The Merle Easton Collection is fully processed and the finding aid is available here. Born in 1940, Merle Easton grew up in Sitka, Alaska, a port town on Baranof Island, southwest of Juneau, just t…

03/17/2022

ICYMI the IAWA Symposium begins next week, and once again, it will be virtual! Kathryn Prigmore will be delivering her keynote speech on Wednesday March 23rd at 7PM and presentation sessions are Thursday March 24th. Click the following link to register and view the program: https://iawacenter.caus.vt.edu/2022-symposium/

Hope to see some of you there! 💚

WEDNESDAY KEYNOTE REGISTRATION THURSDAY SESSIONS REGISTRATION 2022 SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM Within every woman’s body of work, there are known or identifiable breakthroughs: singular or multiple instances exist that have influenced the designer’s creative and professional path, and that may have advanc...