Educational Resources

Center for Online Educational Resources

Dynamic National Archive of American Women Architects [DNA]
Investigate architect profiles at the Dynamic National Archive, formerly known as the Timeline of American Women of Architecture.

20th Century American Women Architects
Persuant to the Foundation's mission to expand knowledge about 20th century American women architects, BWAF collaborated with the American Institute of Architects' Office of Archives and Records, the Experiential Technologies Center at UCLA, and the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA to create the Dynamic National Archive. The Dynamic National Archive (DNA) is the first stage of an ongoing project to catalog the names, biographies, and work of female architects and designers who have contributed to the development of 20th-century architecture in the United States. For almost all, historical knowledge of their contributions to architectural history has been lost.
As little information exists about these women, BWAF needs the public to help. The DNA software allows everyone to contribute their knowledge.
We define architecture broadly to include building design, but also landscape architecture, interior design, urban planning and critics. This "wiki" style database lists over 1600 women architects who practiced between 1885-2000.

Bibliography
This bibliography is a collaboration between Arizona State University Professor Sherry Ahrentzen and the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation. Professor Ahrentzen’s paper, “The Space Between Studs: Feminism and Architecture,” available for download here, is the source for a majority of these texts. The Foundation’s goal in making this bibliography readily available to the public is to encourage exploration into the unique role of women architects within the architectural profession, as well as the larger role of women in the creation and understanding of constructed space.

Film
“A Girl Is A Fellow Here” ~100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, is a15-minute documentary film that explores an unknown legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright. Produced by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, the film premiered on June 10, 2009, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. At a time when few architectural firms would hire women, Frank Lloyd Wright unhesitatingly employed women, giving them both training and opportunity to practice. Ultimately, over 100 women architects and designers worked with Wright. The film tells the story of how six women worked and went on to distinguished careers of their own, beginning with his first staff member Marion Mahony, and including Isabel Roberts, Jane Duncombe, Lois Davidson Gottlieb, Eleanore Pettersen and Read Weber.

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