Blanche Lemco van Ginkel
Research on Canadian Women Architects, 1986-1997

Ms88-122
0.2 cu. ft.

Introduction:

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel was educated at McGill University (B. Arch, 1945) and Harvard University (M. City Planning, 1950). She is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, having taught there since 1977. She has been Principal of van Ginkel Associates, Architects & Planners, of Toronto, since 1957. She is a fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, an honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and a founding member of the Board of Advisors for the International Archive of Women in Architecture at Virginia Tech (1985-present). Ms. van Ginkel has been particularly active in researching and disseminating information about the history of Canadian women architects.

Much of the literature in the collection is about an exhibit van Ginkel organized in 1986 about the history of women graduates in architecture in Ontario. The collection is almost exclusively composed of photocopies.

Provenance:

The Blanche Lemco van Ginkel collection was originally donated in 1988 with additions in 1997. The collection was originally processed in 1995, and reprocessed in April 1998 by Gina Ellis, student assistant, and Laura Katz Smith, Manuscripts Curator, Special Collections Department.

Contents List:

• Folder 1: 1986--Information about an exhibit, "For the Record: Ontario Women Graduates in Architecture, 1920-60," on view at the University of Toronto School of Architecture from September 17 to October 3, 1986. Includes a short paper describing the exhibit with names of women graduates in architecture at Ontario. Also includes a one page description of the exhibit and of the history of the education of women architects in Canada from 1920 to 1960, as well as an advertisement and flyer for the exhibit.
• Folder 2: [1986]--Photocopy of a graph showing the number of women in each graduating class of the School of Architecture, University of Toronto, from 1900 to 1986.
• Folder 3: 1986--"Events/History of Architecture at University of Toronto," by van Ginkel. List of events from 1889 to 1986.
• Folder 4: 1987--Curriculum vitae of van Ginkel’s professional experience, personal commissions, associations, publications, and lectures.
• Folder 5: 1988--"Women graduates in Architecture from Canadian Universities: A Preliminary Overview," by Mary Clark, created in June 1988. Includes information about the establishment of programs in Canada, enrollment of first women’s architectural programs, graduates of Canada, 1890-1985; survey questionnaire; and a list of registered women architects in Canada from 1920 to 1960. Also includes a November 1987 draft.
• Folder 6: 1988--"Registration of Women in Architects in Canada: the Results of a Survey," by Mary Clark, August 1988.
• Folder 7: 1988--August 31, 1988, manuscript note to Milka Bliznakov about files of the registration of women architects in Canada for the IAWA.
• Folder 8: [1988]--List of women architects, of Quebec, Canada, with their years of registration, radiation, and resignation.
• Folder 9: 1991--copy of the March 1991 Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada. Theme of the issue is "Women and Architecture," with an article by van Ginkel, "Slowly but Surely (and Somewhat Painfully): More or Less the History of Women in Architecture in Canada."
• Folder 10: 1991--Alumni News, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture of the University Toronto, Vol. 2, Winter 1991 issue. Includes a picture of van Ginkel at an alumni reception.
• Folder 11: 1993--The Canadian Architect, November 1993 issue, with van Ginkel’s article "Slowly but Surely (and Somewhat Painfully): More or Less the History of Women in Architecture in Canada."
• Folder 12: 1994--"Building Barriers: Images of Women in Canada’s Architectural Press, 1924-73". An article by Annmarie Adams, published in RFR/DRF.
• Folder 13: 1995--IAWA Newsletter, no. 7, Fall 1995, with an article "An Anniversary Tribute to the International Archive of Women in Architecture" by van Ginkel.
• Folder 14: 1996--Photocopied article, "Top Forty" published in the October issue of RIBA Journal. Ranking of the top forty most influential women architects in Canada.
• Folder 15: 1997--Press release announcing the publication of Constructing Careers-Profiles of Five Early Women Architects in British Columbia, published by the Women in Architecture Exhibits Committee. Women listed include Mother Joseph, Ester Marjorie Hill,. Sylvia Grace Holland, Leonora Markovich, and Catherine Chard Wisnicki.
• Folder 16: n.d.--Photocopies of twenty-eight biographical sheets of woman who graduated with degrees in architecture form the University of Toronto from 1920 to 1960. Women listed include:
  • Alice Ayer Alison
  • Dama Lumly Bell
  • Joan Burt
  • Audrey Koehler Christie
  • Margaret Gisborne Christie
  • Phyllis Cook Carlisle
  • Mary Patterson Clark
  • Beatrice Centner Davidson
  • Margaret Synge Dryer
  • Lennox Grafton
  • Elizabeth Lalor Harding
  • Katharine Jefferys Helm
  • Jean Hall
  • Marjorie Hill
  • Mary Imrie
  • Kathleen Connor Irvine
  • Martha Stewart Leitch
  • Natalie Salkauskis Liacas
  • Ann Gauthier Malott
  • Monica Nomberg
  • Joan Robinson Grierson
  • Joanna Barclay de Tolly Ozdowski
  • Ruthetta Kaplan Reiss
  • Shelagh Macdonnell Rounthwaite
  • Marjorie Sewell Shepland
  • Catherine Currie Smale
  • Isobel Grace Stewart
  • Jean Taylor Strange
• Folder 17: n.d.--"An Intimate Portrait of the First ‘Girl’ Architects," by Adele Freeman, in the Globe & Mail, Toronto.

Send questions or comments to:
IAWA Archivist, University Libraries
Virginia Tech, P.O. Box 90001,
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001