Now What?! Advocacy, Activism, and Alliances in American Architecture Exhibition Panels

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
Newman Library
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694
Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication.

Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], Now What?! Advocacy, Activism, and Alliances in American Architecture Exhibition Panels, Ms2025-095, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Summary

Extent:
8.5 Cubic Feet 7 oversized flat boxes
Creator:
Brown, Lori
Abstract:
This collection consists of 70 exhibition panels with text printed on foam core detailing the history of organizational and grassroots activism in the architectural profession, marking changes in the profession and contextualizing them within national and global events.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], Now What?! Advocacy, Activism, and Alliances in American Architecture Exhibition Panels, Ms2025-095, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

70 panels total, comprised of 33 large, 25 medium, and 12 small foam core boards, with text and contextual information related to the history of activism and advocacy within architecture since 1968. The exhibition was curated by members of Now What?! - Architexx, including Lori Brown and Sarah Rafson. The panels toured throughout the U.S. from 2022 to 2024.

Biographical / historical:

"Now What?! Advocacy, Activism & Alliances in American Architecture Since 1968" was a traveling exhibition curated by the non-profit organization Architexx. The exhibition ties the design community to larger liberatory movements of the late 20th century by placing advances in design practice in a larger social and historical context. Now What?! sets grassroots, local, national, and global politics in relation to one another to educate and inspire a new generation of practitioners.

Architexx is a non-profit organization, co-founded by Lori Brown and Nina Freedman, that advocates for gender equity in the architectural profession. The group includes academics and architectural practitioners who support and promote inclusion and retention of women-identified, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and allied individuals in the field of architecture.

Acquisition information:
Exhibition panels were shipped to Special Collections and University Archives in October 2025 by Architexx staff members.
Processing information:

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Now What?! Advocacy, Activism, and Alliances in American Architecture Exhibition Panels was completed in November 2025.

Arrangement:

Panels are not placed in any particular order; they are physically arranged by size, but otherwise there is no intellectual order other than the chronological progression detailed on the contents of the boards.

Physical description:
Some boards were damaged during shipping and unpacking: adhesive material (for hanging) on the backs of the panels transferred to adjacent panels, and the act of separating the panels resulted in small areas where the top layer of the board was removed
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard