The collection is open for research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], Elisabeth Whitworth Scott Photograph, 1928, Ms2024-053, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Elisabeth Whitworth Scott Photograph was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in Spring of 2020.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Elisabeth Whitworth Scott Photograph was completed in April 2024.
Elisabeth Whitworth Scott, architect, was born in 1898 to parents Bernard Scott and Lydia Margaret (née Whitworth) in Bournemouth, England. She attended the Architectural Association School in Bedford Square, London, from which she graduated in 1924. In 1928, her design proposal for a Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was unanimously selected by an international prize commission from among 72 submissions, making her the first woman to win a major architectural competition in Britain. The commission was completed in 1932.
Before World War II, Scott's firm (Scott, Chesterton, and Shepherd; later Scott, Shepherd, and Breakwell) was responsible for the Fawcett Building at Newnham College, Cambridge, in addition to several schools , residences, and a hospital alteration. After the war Scott primarily practiced in Bournemouth, where she re-designed the pavilions on Bournemouth and Boscombe piers. She retired in 1968.
Scott was also a member of the Fawcett Society, previously the London Society for Women's Suffrage, an advocacy organization that campaigns for gender equality.
She died on June 19, 1972.
Sources:
Stamp, Gavin. "Scott, Elisabeth Whitworth (1898–1972), architect."
The collection consists of one folder containing a single photograph. A book accompanying the purchase was cataloged separately and is housed in the Rare Book Room (see note on related materials).
The book
The guide to the Elisabeth Whitworth Scott photograph by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (
One 8"x10" photograph of Scott in London, accompanied by dealer's description.