Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect

This is an exquisite catalogue, which accompanied the exhibit of the same name, Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect. As with the exhibit, the catalogue is a project of collaborators within the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. Also making significant contributions are an independent architectural scholar and a professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Buffalo. Heather Isbell Schumacher, archivist of the Architectural Archives, contributed the prologue; Molly Lester, associate director of the Urban Heritage Project, crafted the biography; Franca Trubiano, associate professor, curated and framed the subject’s personal writing; William Whitaker, curator in the Architectural Archives, compiled the catalog raisonné; Elizabeth Felicella, independent architectural photographer, provided the portfolio of her work documenting existing structures; and Despina Stratigakos, professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Buffalo, wrote the introduction. As exhibit catalogues do, it captures the essence of the exhibition, which was displayed at the Harvey and Irwin Kroiz Gallery, the Architectural Archives, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which ran from March 21 through July 22, 2023.From the first page of the introduction, Stratigakos frames an understanding of early women architects as a quest for evidence, both of individual existence as persons and professionals and the lives and structures they created for themselves and others. In fact, throughout the work, the collaborators ensure that the readers are acutely aware of the detective work conducted to craft a narrative of both Parker Nichols’s personal and professional lives. Schumacher’s prologue sets the stage perfectly, subtly drawing parallels between the loss of Parker Nichols designed New Century Club to 1970s Philadelphia’s urban redevelopment to the loss of her place in the record. Yet the architect, through this carefully researched exhibit, has been rediscovered.Minerva Parker Nichols (1860–1949) was a woman who grew up in extraordinary circumstances, whose father was a casualty of the Civil War, then raised by a twice-widowed single mother who traveled the country from Illinois east, exposing her two daughters and son to many communities before settling in Philadelphia. There Minerva trained in art, shifting to the architecture profession, mentored by a male architect with a builder’s background before situating herself in an independent practice. She supported her family throughout her life, married a minister-reformer with whom she shared the reform impulse, was a diligent mother and daughter, and had a stable and productive career nearly up to her death.Lester crafts a biography that draws a picture of Minerva from substantial, though very fragmented, evidence. Research includes interviews with descendants, an exhaustive examination of trade and newspaper publications, and remaining available correspondence. Lester is careful to situate Parker Nichols’s life within a larger context, embedding the subject in the general narrative of women’s life experiences in the period, specifically focusing on the work of middle-class club women and Progressive Era reform efforts (where the biography is strongest). It is solid historical writing.Elizabeth Felicella’s portfolio is beautiful. Her images of Parker Nichols’s remaining works are precise and do justice to the structures that still exist. Researchers of all kinds are fortunate to have this work, undertaken for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), available for use. Whitaker’s catalog raisonné, which follows nicely, brings depth to the architect’s structures which can be documented. Carefully noting which structures were built, still stand, were razed, or may never have been built, one finds one asking what more we may know but for records lost.Franca Trubiano’s curation and analysis of Parker Nichols’s writings allow the reader an insight into the architect’s value system and illustrates how personal and professional lives intertwined and affected her approach to not only architecture, but the world in which she lived and in which she left her mark. It is incredibly complimentary to Lester’s biography and makes for a strong close to the catalogue.The clear yet nuanced writing, carefully curated selections, excellent images, and balanced organization speaks to everything done right in an exhibit. It also translates well in the catalogue.It is apparent that this work is a labor of love for all involved. Minerva Parker Nichols’s work lives on in many forms—sifted pieces in archival collections, the exhibit, this catalogue, the overarching project on the internet (https://www.minervaparkernichols.com/), and the HABS collection at the Library of Congress.In short, this catalogue is a must have for academic and public libraries whose collecting and research policies cover architecture and urban planning history, and the history of Pennsylvania, the mid-Atlantic, and the New England states. It is also a valuable resource for those who study the Progressive Era, women’s history from 1860–1940.